Blog #11: Assessments for Active Learning
- Makenna Carlson
- Mar 21, 2023
- 1 min read
Updated: Apr 4, 2023
Active learning (as opposed to passive learning) can completely transform a student's education. There is a quote my Mark Twain that says, "don't let your schooling interfere with your education". Well, this is exactly how you do that. As a teacher, your role shifts from presenter/lecturer to manager and facilitator. Not only giving your students information, but then acting as a guide as they DO something with that information is what will help them retain that knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of the given concepts. Not only that, but active learning in the classroom helps students apply those skills in other settings using the higher order thinking skills they have developed.
Formative assessments are an "active learning" spin on tests. Instead of teaching your students and then rating them on how well they can spit it back out and then moving on to the next unit, formative assessment is the use of little checkpoints along the way, so that the teacher does not just find out at the end of the unit that the students know nothing, but rather can take the information gathered from the formative assessments and adapt their teaching to fit the students' needs. It also gives students the opportunity to react to feedback and understand and apply it immediately, ensuring their progress.
I love the quote you included by Mark Twain because it is so true. I agree that active learning helps a student more in the classroom and I really think it is more important as well. In the classroom, I would prefer formative assessments wayyyy more than an actual physical test.
I love what you said about active learning changing students' education, and especially what you said about Mark Twain saying, "Don't let your schoolwork affect your education." This is a very new direction for me to think about. I have been thinking about how to better help students in active learning, and I have not paid too much attention to teachers. You mentioned that as a teacher, our role has changed from presenter/lecturer to manager and facilitator. What I understand from this sentence is that our teacher acts as a guide to help guide the students to develop a deeper understanding. Formative assessment is a measure of students' active learning that can be tested and evaluated through exams to provide…