One problem with multiple paths to solution. Students connect as many skills as they can to the problem. I listed eight possible skills two of which wouldn't necessarily apply to the problem. Students had to assess themselves on the skills they demonstrated.
Question of the day: "Mr. Cox, is it possible to use all of these skills?"
Answer to Question of the day: "It's possible that some of the skills don't apply."
For this first iteration, I used the standard Ticket Problem.
Below are samples of student work.
As an exercise for the reader:
1) What are your thoughts on this process?
2) How did each student do?
Let me know in the comments.
Student A
Student B
Student C
Student D
I think the range of answers shown are really interesting. Student D kinda cracks me up--it's as though the student were writing down EVERYTHING imaginable and bypassing efficiency with regards to solving the system algebraically (with reference to how they used systems for both x and y instead of plugging one in to find the other).
ReplyDeleteLooking at B, I'm curious to know where they scored themselves. They did write an equation and graph a line but they didn't solve the system by graphing or algebraically--perhaps because they felt it was unnecessary? I see what could be perseverance in the long t-table, but I'm unsure as to why they kept going once they had a solution in the third row. An interesting blend of methods here.
Kiddo A looks like they got lucky finding the answer after only 5 attempts. Perseverance (maybe? hmm), but not really any equations and definitely no graphing.
Student C seems to be the most to-the-point answer. Two equations, solves using a system, shows solution graphically. Perseverance? I don't know on that one. They solved the system two different ways, which is interesting to see (though the first way is a bit on the crizazy side--wow!).
I'm wondering how many students gave themselves 5's in perseverance just because they got the answer correct. For those that understand this process of solving a system, is it really an act of perseverance? I would say it would not be for myself, but I'm unsure where to draw the line with students.
Overall I really like this idea. Problems will have to be chosen oh-so carefully and I don't have the slightest clue how to grade them. I'm wondering how much of a primer the list at the top is for them. It didn't seem to do much for Student A and B here, but C and D feel like they could have been influenced by it (c for the two ways of solving a system D for the oodles of info). And I'm not saying that's a bad thing at all--It's a good check for the kids and might help them to keep in mind the alternate (and possibly more efficient) strategies in the future.
Thanks for posting this!
I would love to see my students get half of this, some interesting investigations, and great detail. Is this one of the MVP worksheets or one you created.
ReplyDeleteI am also interested to see how Student B would score. Although they did not use some of the skills, they still have an effective strategy (if not the most efficient).
ReplyDeleteI like this idea because I think self assessment can be a powerful tool. Can you explain more about the instruction to "use as many skills as you can" from the list? I wonder if that guided some students in their thinking? I wonder how students responses would be different if they solved the problem first and then were given a list of skills to rate?