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Learning Module's Name: Alignment of pre-assessment, instruction, experiences, and assessment Description: This LM will help you understand the alignment of pre-assessment, instruction, experiences, and assessment. A five step model will be discussed. NCTM PSSM being Understand relationships among the angles, side lengths, perimeters, areas, addressed: and volumes of similar objects Activities: Fenced in; Shape S Quizzes & Questions: Answers to Quizzes: References and further Stepans, I., Schmidt, D.L., Welsh, K.M., Reins, K.J., Saigo, B.W. (2006) readings: Teaching for K-12 mathematical understanding using the Conceptual Change Model. Saiwood, CA: Saiwood Publications.

How do you ensure that you are improving your teaching and your students' learning when you design a lesson? What sort of "alignment" do you think about when designing a lesson? An example of aligned instruction and assessment Let's use the topic of area and perimeter to illustrate alignment of student expectations, instructional experiences, and appropriate assessment strategies. Listed below are 15 relevant content expectations (items 1-5), process expectations (items 6-10), and disposition expectations (items 11-15) for students in grades 6-8 that are adapted from NCTM Standards 2000. In grades 6-8 all students should: 1. understand and select appropriate units for area and perimeter of two-dimensional figures such as rectangles, squares, and circles; 2. use common benchmarks to select appropriate methods for estimating measurements; 3. select and apply techniques and tools to accurately find perimeter and area of common figures; 4. distinguish the relationship between area and perimeter of common shapes; 5. develop and use appropriate formulas; 6. use appropriate problem-solving strategies; 7. make and investigate mathematical conjectures; 8. communicate mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to others; 9. recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside mathematics; 10. create and use various forms of representation to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas (e.g., tables, graphs, drawings, words, or equations);
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11. initiate ideas (e.g., propose and pursue ideas about how to find the area of any polygon); 12. exhibit persistence in solving problems; 13. show confidence in pursuing questions about geometry; 14. show an appreciation for the importance of studying geometry; and 15. enjoy being challenged. Assume that we want to help students meet expectation 4. How will we know they have meet that expectation? Table 1.1 and 1.2 portray the alignment of a learning experience for expectation 4 with appropriate assessment strategies and with sample criteria for determining whether the expectation is met, developing, or not met.

Table 1.1. Example of the alignment of instructional experiences, assessment strategies, and assessment criteria with a content expectation regarding area and perimeter. Content expectation: Student should distinguish the relationship between area and perimeter of common shapes Instructional experience using the Conceptual Change Model Activity: Fenced in Situation: A piece of fence can be made into a non-square rectangle, a square, a triangle, or a circle.

1. Predict whether the areas created by the fence are the same or if one shape will enclose more area than the others. Give reasons for your predictions. 2. Share your predictions and explanations with others. 3. Get the necessary materials (e.g., string, grid paper) and test your predictions. 4. Based on what you have observed and discussed, what statements can you make about what happens to length and area when the shape changes? 5. What are some applications of this concept? 6. What are some questions and problems you want to pursue related to the topic?

Assessment strategies Expectation met

Interviewing; drawing; summarize in your own words; other paper and pencil tasks (various) Concludes that the circle is the shape that will maximize the area for the given length of fencing; consistently uses appropriate terms; consistently uses appropriate units for area and perimeter; consistently makes accurate predictions in relating perimeter to area and visa versa; consistently makes correct calculations of area and perimeter.
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Expectation developing

Fails to consider the circle, or cannot compute the area of a circle with a given perimeter; concludes that the square is the shape that will maximize the area for the given length of fencing; seldom uses appropriate units of measure for area and perimeter; seldom makes accurate predictions in relating perimeter to area; usually makes correct calculations of area and perimeter Fails to conclude that either the circle or the square is the figure that maximizes area for a given perimeter; seldom uses appropriate terms; seldom uses appropriate units of measure for area and perimeter; does not make accurate predictions in relating perimeter to area; often makes errors in calculating area and perimeter.

Expectation not met

Table 1.2. Example of the alignment of instructional experiences, assessment strategies, and assessment criteria with a content expectation regarding area and perimeter. Content expectation: Student should distinguish the relationship between area and perimeter of common shapes Instructional experience using the Conceptual Change Model Activity: Shape S 1. Predict whether it is possible to change shape S into other shapes made up entirely of squares and that have the following properties. The perimeter is the same as shape S, but the area is smaller. The perimeter is the same as shape S, but the area is larger. The area is the same as shape S, but the perimeter is smaller. The area is the same as shape S, but the perimeter is larger. Situation:

2. Share your predictions and explanations with others. 3. Get the necessary materials (e.g., geoboard or geoboard dot paper) and test your predictions. 4. Based on what you have observed and discussed, what statements can you make about what happens to perimeter and area when the shape changes?
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5. What are some applications of this concept? 6. What are some questions and problems you want to pursue related to the topic? Assessment strategies Expectation met Expectation developing Expectation not met Interviewing; paper and pencil tasks (various) (You try) (You try) (You try)

Original reference for the activity in Table 1.2 (Fuys & Tischler, 1979, p. 356)

Additional questions for the activity:

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What is the area and the perimeter of the original figure ? What is the area and the perimeter of each of the new diagrams? What conclusions can you make about the relationship between area and perimeter? Does this hold for any polygon you create?

Measurement Relationships: Area and Perimeter If you have 24 meters of fencing and you want to use it to make a rectangular pen for your puppy, you must consider both the perimeter of the pen and its area. What relationships exist between these two measures? Do shapes with the same perimeter have the same area? Lets investigate. 1. You want to use all 24 meters of fencing to make the rectangular pen, that the dimensions of the pen in meters will be whole-number values, and that you want the maximum area for your puppy. a. What are the dimensions of each of the possible rectangular pens? Sketch each pen on grid paper. (You may want to use toothpicks to model the pens.) b. What is the area of each pen? 2. All of the pens have a perimeter of 24 m., yet the areas of the pens differ. What do you notice about the shapes of the pens with small areas as opposed to those with large areas? What are the characteristics of a rectangular shape with the greatest area? 3. Another situation involving perimeter and area: Joe, a student in a sixth grade class, was asked to find the approximate area of his hand traced onto a sheet of paper. He took a string and placed it around the perimeter of his hand. He then took the length of string that represented the perimeter of his hand, reshaped it into a rectangle, and found the area of the rectangle.

Joe concluded that the area of his hand and the area of the rectangle were the same. Will his strategy work? Why or why not? 4. Looking at perimeter from another direction: Do figures with the same area always have the same perimeter? Use 12 one-inch square tiles to explore this question. Arrange, and rearrange, all 12 square tiles to make figures in which each tile must share at least one side with another tile. (The shapes do not have to be rectangles.) Record your shapes on grid paper. Then determine the perimeter of each shape you create. a. What is the smallest perimeter possible using all 12 square tiles?
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b. What is the largest possible perimeter? 5. Using any number of one-inch color tiles, is it possible to make rectangles with perimeters of 14 through 26 inches? If not, choose one perimeter that you could not make and explain why it is impossible. 6. In real life, under what circumstances might you want the smallest perimeter? 7. Consider this rectangle drawn on grid paper. What is the perimeter? A common misconception made by some students is to think that the perimeter is 16. What do you think those students are doing wrong? What do you think they are doing wrong if they say the perimeter is 24? How about 21?

An example of aligned instruction and assessment We used the topic of area and perimeter to illustrate alignment of student expectations, instructional experiences, and appropriate assessment strategies. In grades 6-8 all students should: distinguish the relationship between area and perimeter of common shapes; You looked at two CCM activities and the alternate activity to help you understand what this standard means. What did you come to understand from the activity in Table 1.1? What did you come to understand from the activity in Table 1.2? What are your ideas about what it means to distinguish the relationship between area and perimeter of common shapes ? How do we know for sure what is meant by distinguish the relationship between area and perimeter of common shapes ?
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Look to: NCTM PSSM, best practices, and research on the teaching and learning of the concept.

6-8 NCTM Expectation Understand relationships among the angles, side lengths, perimeters, areas, and volumes of similar objects Supporting prose under goal one: "For example, an investigation of the perimeters, areas, and side lengths of the similar and congruent triangles in the kite example could reveal relationships and lead to generalizations. Teachers might encourage students to formulate conjectures about the ratios of the side lengths, of the perimeters, and of the areas of the four similar triangles. They might conjecture that the ratio of the perimeters is the same as the scale factor relating the side lengths and that the ratio of the areas is the square of that scale factor. Then students could use dynamic geometry software to test the conjectures with other examples." (NCTM, 2000, p. 234).

The alignment process

"These aligned components create a loop of continuous modification and improvement of learning and teaching." (Stepans et al., p.20)

What is the difference between assessment and evaluation? Answer

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Steps to planning with alignment 1. Expectations from students 2. Rationale for the importance of these expectations 3. Students' prior knowledge and experience - ways to determine What am I building on? What do they know? I need to test some assumptions before I teach Find their entry level 4. Assessment strategies (degree to which students are meeting expectations) 5. Criteria to show students are meeting expectations (keys and rubrics) 6. Appropriate experiences provided (strategies, activities, questions, and challenges) 7. Rationale for the experiences provided 8. Plans to reflect and revise expectations, experiences, and assessment

Answer to: What is the difference between assessment and evaluation? assessment refers to assessment of learningwhat is done to determine the degree to which students meet the specific expectations of the lesson evaluation refers to evaluation of instruction and other experiences provided to students - how well did the lesson help the students meet the expectations

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