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Gary Hess

EDUC448, Social Studies Methods

Mrs. Carolyn Ramirez

14 December 2017

Final Exam, Part 1

1. Mrs. Logan has begun a new unit in social studies about the American Revolution.

She wants to figure out what her student might know about this specific topic. List

some ways that she could assess her students knowledge of the American Revolu-

tion.

a. Mrs. Logan could prepare a quiz covering important information from the unit

and have the class take the quiz before any instruction is given to determine cur-

rent knowledge and identify areas where student understanding may be weak.

b. Mrs. Logan could have a brief discussion on each important topic in the lesson

unit and have students hold up a colored index card to indicate their understand-

ing. For example, red could indicate a through knowledge of the topic, orange for

medium understanding, yellow from some understanding, and white for no under-

standing. Fingers, from one to five, could also be used to indicate understanding

and there are even phone apps available to help track such information, provided

each student has a cell phone.

c. Mrs. Logan could have students pair off with each other and have a brief, two-

minute discussion on the topic. She could then have each group discuss what they

know about the American Revolution and use this discussion to expand on their

knowledge.
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d. Mrs. Logan could begin a discussion with the question: What can you tell me

about the American Revolution? She could then begin listing student input on a

chalk/white board. At the end of the learning unit, she could revisit the same

question so students would be able what they have learned during the course of

the study.

2. Give an example of an informal, formative and summative assessment.

a. An informal assessment would be similar to the example used above with colored

index cards. You would use an informal assessment to try and gauge student un-

derstanding at the beginning of a lesson to assess prior knowledge, during the

middle of a lesson to assess current learning on a topic, or at the end of the unit to

determine weak areas that may need additional discussion before testing occurs.

b. Formative assessment can be as simple as a teachers observation of student

learning during a unit/lesson study. Formative assessment helps teachers deter-

mine the direction the class should go based on the teachers observations. These

assessments can be as simple as hands raised to indicate understanding or more

formal methods, such as paper-and-pencil quizzes and tests, may be used.

c. Summative assessments are assessments conducted after learning has ended. Ex-

ams, projects or research papers may formulate these types of assessments.

3. You are introducing a new lesson on the New England colonies to your 5th grade

students. What are some powerful tools that you could use to enhance the lesson

study on geography and life in the New England colonies?

Virtual tours, fieldtrips, historical video presentations, or a mapping project are all

interesting and potent ways to pique student interest. The mapping project would
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allow students to use their creativity and later present their handiwork to the class.

This project could also be a combined effort of a pair or group of students for

presentation to the class.

4. Your class has been studying about colonial days for the past few weeks. Research

some virtual or actual field trips you could plan to get students to actively engage in

their learning of this lesson/unit study. List at least one activity for before, during

and after the trip.

a. Purpose I like touring historical sites, so I would opt for a fieldtrip. Actually,

having students participate in a fundraising drive to take a trip somewhere like

Colonial Williamsburg1 would be something they would remember their whole

lives. I would inform students of the upcoming trip and engage them in a discus-

sion about the location and history of Williamsburg and encourage them to find

out whatever information they could on our upcoming trip from their home com-

puter. I would also tell them that a two-page research paper would be due at the

end of the actual fieldtrip week so they could start working on it in advance.

b. Pre-teach I would schedule the trip near the end of the New England colonies

unit lesson so students would have as much information and understanding about

Williamsburg as possible before taking the trip. Of course, the unit lesson will

have already been almost completed by the date of the trip, so the students should

have a through understanding of the locations significance.

c. During field trip Each student would supply, or be given, a small notebook for

notes to jot down their thoughts for later reflection. There would be certain loca-

1
Colonial Williamsburg (www.history.org/history/teaching/grouptours/index.cfm)
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tions in Williamsburg that students would be required to visit and comment about

in their research paper. This information would have been relayed to them during

the pre-teaching period prior to the trip. I would ensure students were able to find

and locate all required information and visit the most important areas.

d. After field trip The students research papers, which would require specific in-

formation related to the trip, would provide an assessment tool for the value of the

trip and help to reframe possible future trips.