Formative Assessments through Data-Gathering Apps

6th Grade Science

Kyle Nolting & Chris Marro

Problem Identified: Mr. Marro and Mr. Nolting noticed the persistence of misconceptions in 6th grade science content and wondered how we could best address this in real time. As we are teaching a lesson we are not always aware of what concepts students are struggling with until the end of the unit exam. We wanted to find a way to get real time information on what students needed help with and have it be organized on the computer for easy access.

Hypothesis: If teachers are able to obtain immediate, in-class results from formative assessments by using data gathering apps (edmodo/quizizz/nearpod) then teachers can better adjust lessons to meet the learning needs of the class.

Data Collection: By using these apps (edmodo/quizizz and nearpod) we have been able to access real-time information on student progress and mistakes. On the last quizizz mastery check, we noticed a large proportion of incorrect answers for questions about the Ribosome cell organelle. Mr. Marro and Mr. Nolting were able to address this issue by spending more time focusing on this content in the next lesson. An edmodo formative assessment showed us that student understanding of the content had improved by 40%.

Actionable Step: Using formative tech in class is simple and can be provided as a supplementary activity to the lesson. Use it as tool to measure student progress after teaching a lesson heavy in content.

Overall Findings/Impact: Using these tools to collect real-time data on Do Nows, Exit Tickets or quick responses has been extremely beneficial to keeping track of student understanding.