Multiple Assessment Project

Kate Hickam
I consider myself very lucky, I was partnered with the great December. She was slow to
open up to me but once she did it was great! I was excited to see her begin to gain confidence in
science and a basic understanding of the Great Salt Lake, this acted as my understanding
throughout the process. I learned so much about her as a student I was blown away. As I got to
know her some of my goals changed, but my understanding never did. The skills I assessed
throughout the project helped with this general understanding.
The formal assessments I conducted with December included a pre and post test focusing
on her understanding of the Great Salt Lake and her interest in science as a whole. In both of
these tests I asked her, on a scale of 1-10 (10 means it is your favorite subject) how much she
likes science. When we started out she said she was at a 7, when we ended our time together she
said she was at a 10, which I consider the best results possible based on my understanding. She
did not however changed her answer to the question, how much do you know about the Great
Salt Lake? She still choose the option saying she didnt know very much. Which was not too
much of a surprise as I got to know her as a person and student.
From the first time I met December I could tell she was shy to open up unless she knew
her answers/responses would be considered, right. It was clear that even when she did know
something she would use the automatic response of, I dont know as a get out of jail free card.
This was the first idea that changed my interactions with her. I began to say, I dont know so to
encourage her to rely on her own ideas. I also tried to encourage her to brainstorm or throw out
ideas by saying things like, no wrong ideas let's just say what were thinking. By the end she

was more willing to express her thoughts to me and I was blown away that when it came time to
present to a larger audience at Westminster she blew everyone who talked to her away.
Each of the informal assessments I conducted were done everyday I got done meeting
with December. They were one page 5 question scales based on her inquiry skills. Also on quick
reflections I did about our interactions and what came easy and hard to her. These informal
assessments changed not only how we interacted, like I mentioned with trying to build her
confidence, but also what I looked for the next time I would see her. When it was clear that she
was doing well in certain areas my focus went on to the next skill or trying to find ways to push
her forward and to a deeper level with that skill.
One thing that was clear from when I first met her was she was great at following
directions. She seemed slightly less comfortable with it when it came to whole class instruction
but still was able to get everything done. This was evident in my first informal assessment, when
I looked at the question, student conducts a simple investigation on a scale of 1-4 (4 being
proficient). I marked her at a 3 but by the last day she was a solid 4, she was so good at paying
attention and following all directions I adjusted how we looked at experimentation after the first
day. I knew if I laid out instructions she would follow them exactly so i wanted to push her to
make her own directions to follow. On the Great Salt Lake day I was able to really turn things
over to her. With as many of the activities as possible I let her take the lead. By the end she was
not afraid to say what she wanted to work with and when I asked her how to collect the brine
shrimp she wanted to work with she was able to lay out the steps to get them. Once we were in
the water she was actually giving tips and pointers to her fellow classmates!

Two areas that concerned me and became a large part of my focus was if she related prior
experiences to what we were working with and made out of school connections to what we were
learning. Im not sure if it was because of her bashfulness or because she really struggled with
tapping into her funds of knowledge. The first day I rated her at a 1 in both of these areas
because she didnt raise her hand when we were making connections as a whole class and when I
talked to her later one on one she didnt seem like she could tie anything together. This was the
one thing that every time I would mark it after meeting with her it changed. Some days she was
at a 4 like the poster day. Because on that day she was able to answer high level hypothetical
questions of how to change it as well as relate our results to the findings of her friends in the
class. However, other days it was like she couldnt even begin to relate to things outside of
school unless it had something literally from the work we were currently working on. At the lake
the big change in her mindset came when we got to the station with Jamie where we measured
the salinity and turbidity of the water. Because her class had been working with similar tools
throughout the year she was able to explain the process to me and make connections to that work
as well.
I feel like this is a skill that she needs to continue to work on and develop, because she
struggles making slightly more abstract connections. One thing that I noticed time and time again
was her lack of confidence and voice when we entered larger groups. In her pre-test I asked, how
she learned best? and she responded, working in a small group. I think she was right on with
this. When it was just her and I or even us and one other group she did great but as soon as a
third group came along or we were in a whole class setting she would start to second guess
herself and shut down. She grew confident in making predictions and inferences and when in

small enough groups felt comfortable guessing what was causing some of the results we found
throughout our time together. They key to all of it being a small enough group for her to voice
her opinions.