EDR 626 - Teacher-constructed Assessment of Comprehension

A. Text Preparation 1. What are the important understandings to be developed with this text? For those important understandings, facts, examples/illustrations, ideas provided that the learner can use to build the important understanding should be identified within the text. This is probably already done. This text compares and contrasts amphibians and reptiles in several ways; backbones, cold-blooded, body coverings, and eggs. Both amphibians and reptiles have backbones. They are also both cold-blooded. However, they differ in the way that they heat their bodies and where they can live. Their body coverings are also different. Reptiles have scales allowing them to leave in much different environments than amphibians who have skin that must be kept moist. It goes on to talk about how amphibians encompass a wide variety of animals with their own similarities and differences. The discussion on differences also includes the eggs that each group of animals lays. The article goes on to delineate the differences among amphibians. These differences include body structure and number of legs and how they breathe, whether it is with lungs, gills, or through their skin. The article ends by talking more specifically about amphibian skin, including those that have poisonous skin or skin that can be used as camouflage. What are some implications to be drawn from important understandings of this text? These implications must be supported by the text. May be done. Amphibians and reptiles have similarities and differences. And within just the amphibians, there are similarities and differences. Could this idea be expanded to include other groups of animals? What are the conceptual challenges? That is, in what ways will those important understandings or implications be difficult for the learners? This text provides information on several points, but does not go into great detail on any one topic. This leaves many questions for the reader to further investigate on their own. What are linguistic features of the text that are important? Think at the sound, word, sentence, paragraph levels of both the difficult and useful. The author does not use transition words, making the transition from each topic abrupt. Students need to be familiar with science terms such as amphibians, reptiles, cold-blooded, basking, vertebrates, caecilians, gills, and predators. Based on background knowledge and familiarity with these words, some may need to be taught prior to reading. What are graphic features of the text that are important? Think in terms of what they depict and how they direct (or not). The illustrations do support the text for the most part. On the first page, the title asks How Are Amphibians Different Fro m Reptiles? yet the graphics show only reptiles on that page. Students who are unfamiliar with the topic may struggle with this disconnect. B. Incoming knowledge, experience, interest. It is often easier to develop this after developing questions to elicit important ideas. Jason expressed an interest in animals during our interview at the start of the semester. He has a lot of background information on animals, amphibians and reptiles in particular. C. Think Aloud Data and D. Follow-up questions:
Seg. Important Idea Think Aloud Response Analysis of response Question Response to Question

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3.

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EDR 626 - Teacher-constructed Assessment of Comprehension

Seg. 1

Important Idea Similarities and differences of reptiles and amphibians

Think Aloud Response UmI actually know most of the stuff about the amphibians and about the reptiles. They both are cold-blooded. That is true and they both have backbones. The one I did not know was that reptiles can keep moisture in their bodies. I did not know that. That actually sounds really freaky. UmMost of this stuff is easy to know cause you can actually see it in different places. Frogs are amphibians and you can see them all over. Fishes is actually have a similar trait to reptiles cause they have scales so there are certain types of animals, they have similar traits to. You see the reason why the amphibians have similar traits to fish as well. They can swim underwater.

Analysis of response Jason reviews the text and repeats key ideas from the text. He responds emotionally to the text as well. He reveals his previous experience with the topic. Jason reasons by making comparisons with other animals (fish) not discussed in the text.

Question

Response to Question

Differences in skin covering- skin and scales

How does a tropical rainforest make an ideal environment for amphibians?

Um, well, its really moist there and theres a lot of water that falls from the sky that helps keep the moisture there. And actually you can tell what types of animals live there, cause you know its called the rainforest, so theres going to be animals that love the rain and moisture. Well they might actually find different types of areas to hide in and then they would just sit there and study them. Like they might just hide in bushes and watch like a cobra or they might, um, like take a car and camouflage it and make where its super quiet and Ive actually seen that happen before in savannas and stuff. They try to find out their behavior, their eating habits, and what they mostly do during the night, morning, and the day, or in the afternoon, I mean. Well staying moist and there is the hot rocks that keeps their body temperature up, but not too high so when they get too high they like, they will leave and when they have to stay warm or else they cant move, but if they get too warm, they will die. For the reptiles, its actually a hot rock. They use hot rocks to keep hot and then like when the, uh, they use moisture to keep themselves really moist. They have ways to keep themselves moist. Both amphibians and reptiles actually do that. They keep moisture in their bodies. They have a certain mucus that keeps them slimy so they can escape from hostile predators. Um...like by circling specific items that have to do with that section. Because they are actually on the ground and stuff, but for frogs and stuff and amphibians

From what you have read so far, how would you say that scientists approach the study of animals?

What do they try to find out about them? UmThat is actually really true that they do have that kind of less time to stay active. They tend to stay less active because some types of amphibians are actually in the water and if they are not in the water they are actually above ground, you know, in just really cool temperature areas like in, underneath shady trees. They are usually near lakes and ponds. Rose Lake is one of them. It has its infested with frogs all around the lake. The reason why the frogs dont go too far out is because of the turtles they have in there. We have seen several snapping turtles towards the edge of the lake and you can see them poking their heads out.

Cold-blooded animals have different ways of regulating their body temperatures

Jason reasons with the text by integrating his own experiences with animals and provides his own explanation of where frogs might be found. Jason elaborates on the text by giving examples of where a frog may be found regulating its body temperature.

What are some ways amphibians regulate their body temperature?

How is this different than reptiles?

How should we organize all of this information that we are getting from the article? Jason reviews the text and relates to the graphics Why do reptile eggs need to be so much

Differences in amphibian and reptile eggs and how that dictates

UmI think that is actually quite true and it shows pictures of what the eggs look like.

EDR 626 - Teacher-constructed Assessment of Comprehension

Seg.

Important Idea where amphibians can live

Think Aloud Response Theres the, see, they can, the reptiles can lay their eggs in the sand, like, you know, turtles and reptiles so they can lay here but the frogs have to lay them in riverbeds so the eggs can stay in one place. See this is a picture of an underwater lizard. Its really, really cool.

Analysis of response provided, drawing attention to the location of the eggs. Jason reviews the content of the graphic. Jason incorrectly identifies the animal in the graphic and then responds emotionally. Jason is evaluating the text by saying that the text is accurate. He is elaborating and reasoning with the text from his own personal experience with seeing salamanders.

Question tougher than amphibian eggs?

Response to Question and stuff they have to have it in water thats why its not that tough. Well, here it shows a picture of the amphibian eggs. Its right there. Thats a huge pile of amphibian eggs right there.

Amphibians look very different but have certain characteristics that make them amphibians. They are vertebrates, however leg structures can be different depending on type of amphibian.

UmIm thinking that um, actually, that some of them are true that they can swim, but the most weirdest place weve seen a salamander was in a, um, driveway, of what was it, a church, a baptism church. Yeah, we found it in the driveway.

What do different leg structures allow different species of amphibians to do?

Uhactually a special type of amphibian is the frog cause they have long legs that allow them to jump great distances, but as for salamanders they actually have small legs and thats what makes it super easy for them to run on the ground. The tail comes in handy too because the tail is longer than their body. Maybe circling it or just having it catalogued or underline it or something

Any more ideas how we can organize this information? 7 How amphibians breathedifference between lungs and gills. Well, if salamanders have to be on land so how do they breathe? Dont they, like dont they breathe through gills or is it just, you know, they need to keep moisturized and just breath through their skin or something. And actually the one amphibian that has lungs and gills is the frog. Its really big frog though. Certain types of frogs can get really big, like the bull frog is a type of frog that can get really big and so is a toad. And actually the type of, um, the type of amphibian that can actually do that is the poison skin frog. Its like blue with black dots all over its body. The blue is really light, like a whitish darkish color, like halfway white and dark color, like a gray sort of. Jason questions the text wondering how salamanders breathe. Jason elaborates on the text revealing associations with his prior knowledge.

Amphibian skin and the variablilities within that featuresmooth, moist, thick and leathery, mucus. Poisonous skin and color is a warning sign to predators. Chameleon characteristics

Jason elaborates by focusing on what he knows. Jason elaborates by providing a description of a poison frog.

What are some reasons that an amphibians skin is so different from one type of amphibian to the next?

Because certain types dont live in different areas. Some types live in different areas than some do. One of, an example of that type of amphibian would be the toad and a frog. A toad has thick leathery skin and, uh, like toads have, uh, toads live in muddy areas. Thats why they have thick, leathery skin. And uh, frogs they have moisturized skin with a type of substance known as mucus that helps them maintain their moisture and thats because they live in watery areas. Um, for this topic, the only information that I would give would be, um, the most information that tells what to watch out for and what not to watch out for. Like the dangerous types of amphibians and reptiles

What additional information do you feel that you need to cement your understanding of

EDR 626 - Teacher-constructed Assessment of Comprehension

Seg.

Important Idea

Think Aloud Response

Analysis of response

Question this topic?

Response to Question and the non-dangerous, like stuff you can actually pick up and stuff. There is certain types of amphibians that I would love to study. Some people say that the toad is a very mysterious creature because it lives in muddy areas. And I would want to figure out how they blend into the muddy areas. And with the reptiles, I would actually like to learn more about iguanas and cobras. It will be really dangerous. That is true, it will be dangerous.

What would you like to explore further?

Note that follow-up questions are designed to elicit important ideas and should reflect your analysis of the conceptual challenges and the linguistic and graphic characteristics of the text. Note that if we want deeper thinking, then, we have to go there first - the important ideas that we state must involve this kind of thinking or reasoning with ideas of text. Questions are asked after reading if student did not spontaneously articulate ideas. It often makes sense to read the text again as well as allow student to look back in text to create favorable conditions for responding to questions. The follow-up questions are positioned within the chart here for easy comparison between what student says about the same important idea under different conditions.

E. Performance assessment: Student engages in a task that is fun, interesting, allows for an authentic response to text, and provides an alternative (to direct questioning above) route to developing and expressing as well as extending understanding. What criteria will be used in teacher evaluation and student self-evaluation of performance? Performance Assessment: You have just finished reading an article about the differences between amphibians and reptiles. For your performance assessment, you will choose one amphibian and one reptile to compare. You will compare their skin coverings, eggs, how they breathe, how they warm themselves, what they use or do to protect themselves, and how or if they warn others of their species to danger. You may create this comparison in any way you choose. You may make a poster, create a book, make a PowerPoint or use an idea of your choosing. When you finish the task, you will become the teacher and teach the rest of the class about the differences between amphibians and reptiles.

Rubric:

EDR 626 - Teacher-constructed Assessment of Comprehension

5 Presentation is organized, colorful, and has pictures. Information is accurate. Sentences are grammatically correct. Oral presentation to class is fluid. Student can answer all questions posed by classmates. 3 Presentation contains color and pictures. Some sentences are grammatically correct. Oral presentation jumps from topic to topic. Student can answer some questions posed by classmates. 1 Presentation is disorganized and has little information. Most sentences are grammatically incorrect. Oral presentation is unorganized and hard to follow. Student can answer only one or two questions posed by classmates.

Jason and I discussed what he would like to do using the information he gave me during the questioning. He decided to create a comparison. I left how he could do this to him after we discussed several options. He will follow the rubric provided and self- evaluate after the presentation. For the self-evaluation, Jason will answer the following questions: Did I compare all of the required topics- skin coverings, eggs, how they breathe, how they warm themselves, what they use or do to protect themselves, and how or if they warn others of their species to danger? Was I able to effectively convey the information I learned to my classmates? How do I know this? What did I learn? What else do I want to know about this topic? For teacher evaluation, I will look at what Jason creates to see if he has used information from the article and extended upon it to make new connections. I will also check the comprehension of the other students after Jason completes his presentation to determine if he has imparted the main ideas to his classmates. I will use Jasons presentation and report to determine if I have taught him the pertinent information on amphibians and reptiles.