Handouts are available below

Big Idea

Here’s a question that comes up a lot in my workshops: If Standards Based Grading is meant to assess the science skills (aka. curricular competencies, SEPs – science and engineering practices) a student can demonstrate, what about the science content? Aren’t we doing a disservice by not testing to see if students actually understand and know the science content?

Episode Notes

• The content is still there – we still teach content – but the content should be used to teach and practice science skills (aka. curricular competencies, SEPs in the NGSS), which is what we assess in Standards Based Grading.
• Craft better test questions that require students to include content while demonstrating a skill. For example, students could be tasked to write an argument based on data that is given to them on a science test. Students could be required to use the CERR (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning, and Rebuttal) framework for their response. Under the reasoning and/or rebuttal sections, students would need to include science concepts and content that provide explanations to their argument.

Thanks for watching, and let’s talk science education again soon.

Resources

Handout(s): Ep56 Handouts – Where’s the Content in SBG?

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