The Importance Of Performance Assessment Education Essay

The Importance Of Performance Assessment Education Essay Introduction Assessment had undergone a major shift from that as a measure of students performance in pencil and paper test to assessing a broader area that does not only include students knowledge and understanding but also essential skills. These skills for instance, communication, problem solving, investigation and even thinking skills are few of the intended abilities that are required for teachers to instil in their teaching. These are also one of the aims of the Ministry of Education in the new education system, SPN 21. In Brunei itself, the secondary schools have begun to implement such task in their curriculum. Brunei Common Assessment Task or better known as BCAT has started in the year 2011. Students are assessed base on their performance on the task by using rubric which comprised of three assessed dimensions. The first dimension is knowledge and understanding while the second dimension includes thinking skill, problem solving and investigation skill and the last one is communication skill. The Importance of Performance Assessment Performance assessment, also known as alternative or authentic assessment, is a form of testing that requires students to perform a task rather than select an answer from a ready-made list. It is designed to provide a more complete picture of student achievement in a particular area (Sweet, 1993). In other words, students are assessed through observing their performances and examining the products they have produced throughout the lesson. The purpose of performance assessment is to evaluate the actual process of doing an object of learning. Students are expected to be able to apply knowledge learnt in class to solve problems in the task. Apart from that, students may need to use their thinking skill in order to complete the task. Teachers as evaluators will be able to judge the quality of their students abilities, witness their students progress and facilitate them to a higher level of conceptual and procedural knowledge (Slater, n.d.) during which the task is conducted. Tasks that are meaningful may enhance students interest towards mathematics learning as they could make sense of what they learnt while performing (Ng, Koh, Kelly Yue, 2009). With further understanding on the tasks, students will be able to apply mathematical concepts learnt in real life context (Goldman Hasselbring, 1997; Lim, Tan Wei Lin, 2011). Not only that by giving performance assessment tasks students are well guided on their level of achievement as they get immediate feedback based from the rubric assessed by their teachers. Self and peer assessment are also encouraged in order to acknowledge their level of competencies in that particular topic. The importance of performance task does not focus on the students only. Teachers also benefit from implementing such tasks in their teaching. Different topics could be integrated into one performance task, thus teachers need not to give up certain topics or favourite activities in their classroom and time would be managed efficiently. This kind of integration along with traditional testing would give a comprehensive picture of students performance. The aforementioned was suggested by Hibbard, Wagenen, Lewbebel et al. (1996) whereby traditional testing should be simultaneously working with the performance task in order to produce a better way to deliver the curriculum (Figure 1). http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/images/publications/books/hibbard1996_fig1.gif Figure 1. Students literacy. Students Difficulty in Learning and Understanding on Fractions The topic being assessed was on fractions in real life. Fraction is considered one of the most difficult topics encountered by students. Many studies had reported of its difficulties where students struggled in understanding the concept on fractions. Suffolk and Clements (2003) studied students in Form 1 and Form 2 from 27 secondary schools in Brunei had found out that many students were experiencing serious difficulties with elementary fractions tasks. Another study by Zurina (2003) involving Form 4 (N-Level) students discovered that students had very poor knowledge and understanding of fractions and decimals. The major contributing factors were that teacher spent large amount of time on preparing students for high-stake examination, therefore the traditional drill and practice method was mostly employed by teachers. She further commented that teaching and assessment methods were not generating towards the desired quality of the students. Description of the Task The task comprised of six questions with the first four related to each other. The next two questions are the application problems which are quite similar to the first four (refer to Appendix A). Question 1 until 4 assesses the students knowledge and understanding of their concept on fractions. These include the interpretation of fraction and understanding the key word which is remaining and remainder. Meanwhile Question 5 and 6 are the application of operation in fraction to solve problems, through which the thinking skills, problem solving and investigation, and communication skills are assessed (refer to Appendix B for rubrics). Each dimension were given a score from 1 to 5 depending on the different criteria as stated in Appendix B. Lesson plan for carrying out the task was designed prior the class (refer to Appendix C). Class Observation The task was conducted on the 27th September 2012 in an all girls school in Brunei Darussalam. It was intended for Year 7 students and the topic being assessed was on Fraction in Real Life. There were 22 students involved in this study with an average mathematical ability. The duration of the study followed the mathematics period which was 50 minutes. The session started with a brief review on the topic specifically on the four operations of fractions. After 5 minutes, the task sheets were distributed to the students including the rubrics. Students were given an explanation of what they should do for the task and what was expected according to the rubric. Students were asked to work together in a pair and the use of calculators was allowed. Teachers involved were making rounds while giving help when necessary to the students throughout the lesson. During the lesson, most of the students were working on their task with few of the students did not communicate with their partners. It could be observed that few students were struggling in understanding the first question. These students managed to shade the boxes with their colour pencils. However, they did not label their shadings as they were instructed in the question. Furthermore, students were found having difficulty to proceed to the next question. Since the second question was asking the students to shade three-eighths of the remainder, few students had shaded three boxes on their diagram. More problems arose as they moved on to the next question where students were found to shade ten boxes rather than four, which was the actual answer. As for the fourth question, since they got it wrong from the second and the third question, their final solution was also incorrect. Questions 5 and 6 were the application problems. Students need to understand the problems and think before they could proceed. The first part of the question was an easy and straight forward question which a lot of the students managed to answer. Whereas the second part of Question 5 was difficult for students to solve even though it was a similar problem to those in Questions 1 to 4. Question 6 was the least answered by the students during the lesson. Results and Discussions Table 1 Mean Scores for Each Dimensions Knowledge and Understanding Thinking Skills, Problem Solving and Investigations Communication Skills 3.59 1.77 1.68 From the analysis of the rubrics, it was found that the mean score for each dimension were as shown in Table 1 above. Based from the results, most students were able to show correct fraction diagrams in Question 1, 2 and 3. This showed that the students had basic knowledge on fractions but little on understanding the problem. Meanwhile, students only managed to apply a strategy and obtain incomplete solutions to both application problems which indicated that they were unable to reach the standard intended for their level. This further affected their communication skills by which they were unable to illustrate and reason their solutions. From the observations, teachers found out that there was a slight improvement throughout the lesson for knowledge and understanding dimension only. This was because the students spent more time trying out Questions 2 and 3 compared to the rest of the questions, a reason why Question 6 was the least answered. This was also the reason why the teachers involved were unable to rate the students on the other two dimensions during the lesson conducted.. Analysing at each question, all the students had no problem with attempting Question 1. However, students were having difficulty in finding the right number of squares to be shaded in Question 2 and 3. This was mainly due to the misunderstanding of the word remaining in the question. Students were using the original number of squares to find the number of squares to be shaded in Questions 2 and 3. This led to their inability to find the correct response for Question 4. With regards to Questions 5 and 6, students were also having similar problem of understanding the word remaining and remainder as posted in the previous questions. This brought an impact towards the overall performance of the students for these two application questions. Few tried the questions but were unsuccessful in getting the correct answers, others left it unattempted. Reflection and Conclusion From the above discussion, it could be concluded that overall the lesson ran smoothly and only the first objective was achieved as indicated from the mean scores of the rubric. Students were found to be quite engaged in the activity. Students thinking could be observed through their working and when they asked questions clarifying their difficulties. However less communication with their partner could be observed during the lesson. Low students interaction resulted in different scores achieved by few groups. Apart from that, students were seen more focused on finishing the first task rather than the application problems. Perhaps, this is because the first activity targeted on the basic understanding on fractions in real life and students assumed that the questions were easy since diagrams were provided. Feedback from the students was asked towards the end of the lesson where commonly they claimed that the tasks were overly difficult. This kind of response had shown that the students who participated in this task were not exposed to this kind of assessment approach. It was also found from the above analysis that there were few limitations on the task. Firstly, difficulty in rating students scores was encountered. This is because few of them had left their task unanswered and the rubric designed had specified one mark for no attempt in the third dimension, the communication skill. This had shown that the rubric itself was lacking of fairness. This should be modified in the future if one would implement the task in their class. Secondly, a proper classroom observation checklist which assesses other attributes apart from what the rubrics had specified should have been developed. At least, from this checklist, a wider perspective such as students interaction with their peers and also with the teachers involved could be further evaluated. Finally, as discussed before, the tasks only concentrate on a key word remaining which is a confusing concept to the students. This can be modified by adding different concept rather than focusing on just one.

Drug Abuse Essay

1.0 Topic and Chosen aspect Drug abuse among teenagers is the chosen aspect for this report. Drug abuse is defined as the excessive use of drugs without medicine justification. It is reported that 50% of teenagers have abused a drug of some kind (Teendrugrehabs n.d.). 1.1 Critical evaluation of findings One of the main factors of drug abuse among teenagers is due to peer pressure. Based on statistics 80% of teenagers are affected by peer pressure (Wallace 2011). Wanting to be accepted by their peers, they are willing to do anything. Their desire to be socially accepted will cause them to be influence by their peers. Thus, this will lead them to the abuse of drugs to make things more exciting and not left out. Besides that, it is very hard to say â€Å"NO!† to their peers. Furthermore, another reason for teenagers to be easily involved in drug abuse is due to the easy access to drugs. 54% of the students of private high schools reported that drugs are accessible in their schools while 61% of the public high school students state that their schools are â€Å"drug-infested† (Pahuriray 2012). As drugs can be easily obtained everywhere. 2.0 Processes Various steps were undertaken to attain the sources needed for the report. However, a lot of the sources from the internet is too vague and the statistics are already outdated.

John Milton s Paradise Lost - 979 Words

Some wonder, some believe, others do neither. The question is which are you? For centuries many have asked what or whom made the Universe and many answer God while others say evolution. At one point or another everyone has heard the story of Adam and Eve or how God gave his only begotten son to save our sins. However, not many have heard about why the devil got sent to hell and why believers in Christ are not supposed to like the devil. That is why I choose to write about â€Å"Paradise Lost†, which tells what happened to the devil and how he went from being one of the head angels to the ruler of the underworld. John Milton, author of â€Å"Paradise Lost†, was born into a middle class family in London on December 9, 1608. Growing up Milton was extremely educated and attended St. Paul’s School, Christ College, and Cambridge with the intent on being a clergy. But, for some reason he changed his mind and spent six years preparing to become a poet. â€Å"In 1638, Mi lton began a 13-month tour of France and Italy, during which he met many important intellectual and influential people, including the astronomer Galileo, who appears in Milton’s tract against censorship, â€Å"Areopagitica.†(Academy of American Poets) Then in 1642, Milton married Mary Powell whom blessed him with three daughters and a son and later on he married Katherine Woodcock and Elizabeth Minshull. During the English Civil War, Milton wrote pamphlets advocating radical political topics and also served as security for foreignShow MoreRelatedJohn Milton s Paradise Lost985 Words   |  4 PagesJohn Milton’s Paradise Lost is a paradox of morality and character definitions. After reading multiple articles, the largest concerning topic was the hero status of an inherently evil character. The issue lies within defining what a hero is and is not in terms of epic poetry. John Milton’s refusal to clarify a hero shows this paradox he has created is a somethin g that he meant to achieve. According to Mary Nyquist in The Father s Word/Satan s Wrath, â€Å"The text seems here not just to invite, butRead MoreJohn Milton s Paradise Lost1636 Words   |  7 Pagessense to the readers, but would also influence how the readers understood those topics. John Milton’s, Paradise Lost, is a series of twelve Books that tell the story of creation and the world’s first sin, and he relates that to the political distress that was occurring in the seventeenth century and his political agenda in trying to advocate a Parliamentary system versus a monarchy. Throughout his novel, Milton focuses a great deal of time creating a backstory for Satan, who is the protagonist. AdamRead MoreJohn Milton s Paradise Lost1738 Words   |  7 PagesJohn Milton sought to a very ambitious thing with his greatest work, Paradise Lost. He boldly asserted himself to the epic tradition, the most difficult genre. Further, the goal of his writing was perhaps the hardest topic a human being can engage with, the problem of evil. At the risk of being cliche, the old adage, â€Å"If you lose your faith over anything less than the problem of evil, you are simply not thinking.† seems fitting. Milton seems at least, whatever his faults, to understand the weightRead MoreAnalysis Of John Milton s Paradise Lost1442 Words   |  6 Pages(Name) (Instructor) (Course) (Date) Heroism in John Milton’s Paradise Lost There are many definitions of a hero, and establishing the hero in John Milton’s Paradise Lost has been object to scholarly debate. One definition of a hero is that by Aristotle, who defined a hero as a person who is divine and superhuman. However, other definitions encompass the aspect of virtue in heroism. Despite all the definitions for a hero, it remains factual that a hero would be someone that the readers would delightRead MoreAnalysis Of John Milton s Paradise Lost 1071 Words   |  5 Pages Writing AP Exam Essays Advanced Placement English Literature Composition Name Juan Linares Major Work Data Page Paradise Lost Writer/Nationality John Milton/ UK 1608-1674 Theme/Meanings of the work as a whole Disobedience plays a key role in the unfolding of Milton’s poem. Satan disobeys God because God gave him free will, and causes Eve to disobey Adam, to disobey God. Justification of God. Death must happen to the world but because of the Son, DeathRead MoreAnalysis Of John Milton s Paradise Lost 1852 Words   |  8 Pagesnot merely summarize the plot. (2010 AP Literature and Composition) Disobedience and Exile an Analysis of Satan from Milton’s Paradise Lost John Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost, has been the subject of criticism and interpretation through many years; these interpretations concur in that Adam and Eve are the sufferers of the poem, and it is their blight to lose Paradise because of their disobedience; however, their exile is merely a plight brought by Satan, and it is he who suffers exile beforeRead MoreJohn Milton s Paradise Lost 1328 Words   |  6 PagesRobert Mezian Professor Mylander English 589 14 November 2016 Paradise Lost Essay In his epic poem titled Paradise Lost, John Milton describes his work as a process to justify â€Å"the ways of God to men†. In terms of the personal and individual, Milton’s main concern was between a man’s relationship and God. With this, comes the very idea of free will itself. One can define free will as the ability and freedom to choose between different possible courses of action. Not only is free will portrayed inRead MoreJohn Milton s Paradise Lost1528 Words   |  7 Pagesfree world. God judges no one and forgives all for his or her sins. God is an honest being. The last statement might not be the case in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. The fall of Adam and Eve is truly a tragic tale. Some suggest that their fall could have been prevented. However, after close examination, one can believe that it might not be that simple in Paradise Lost. God displays some questionable actions in the process that eventually leads to the fall. While not the popular opinion to some, God isRead MoreJohn Milton s Paradise Lost921 Words   |  4 PagesJohn Milton’s Paradise Lost continues the epic tradition developed by the ancient Greek and Roman poets. Composed in exact imitation of its predecessors, the work depicts all characteristics of a traditional epic poem—including the epic hero, a powerful embodiment of societal values. Milton presents his hero in a most unpredictable form: Satan. Despite the unorthodox oddity, the former archangel exhibits the conventions of an epic hero. Milton’s forced perception of Satan as the hero of the poemRead MoreJohn Milton s Paradise Lost1686 Words   |  7 Pagesand bled into the writing it produced. John Milton’s Paradise Lost is no exception to this, as it explores human sexuality and gender roles. It has been argued that when Adam and Eve are described as â€Å"Two of far nobler shape erect and tall,/ Godlike erect† (4.288-289) there is no distinction between the two , and that they are being portrayed, even by Satan, as equal. This is the reader’s first introduction to Eve who, based on these two lines from Paradise Lost, is Adam’s equivalent in power and in

Role of Windows and Doors in Wuthering Heights - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1231 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/05/16 Category Literature Essay Level High school Topics: Wuthering Heights Essay Did you like this example? The 1847 Victorian novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bront at first did not receive proper appraise for its literary achievements and was considered by critics to be only, ?mere glimpses of hidden morals or secondary meanings. Though the critics displayed dismay, the reading population proved the novel to be one of the greatest pieces of Victorian literature. The characters in the novel are entangled in passionate and familial relationships that inhibit violence. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Role of Windows and Doors in Wuthering Heights" essay for you Create order Throughout Wuthering Heights, Bronte uses the symbolism of windows, doors, and gates to mark the threshold between the polarity of life and death and place both literal and figurative barriers between characters. These literary devices both contribute to the gothic theme by illuminating violence and the idea of the supernatural. Windows, doors, and other barriers in Wuthering Heights serve to separate the characters from supernatural forces. Bront uses the supernatural and the idea of death to heighten the gothic aspects and create a sense of fear in the reader. When Lockwood first arrives at Wuthering Heights, he dreams about the ghost of the late Catherine Linton through the window in his room. Lockwood breaks the window and severs the divide between life and death. He sees the ghost and upon hearing its voice, he, discerned, obscurely, a childs face looking through the window and says, Terror made me cruel: and, finding it useless to attempt shaking the creature off, I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bed-clothes (Bront 21). The imagery with the ?blood soaked sheets suggests that there is a disruption in the natural order of things. The bed is not just a bit bloody, it is ?soaked with blood. The mention of a ?creature also suggests tha t there is a supernatural force beyond the window which embodies the gothic theme. Heathcliff, desperate to see his love again whether real or supernatural, begs for Catherine to haunt him, Cathy, do come. Oh do- Once more! Oh! My hearts darling, hear me this time- Catherine at last! (23). The assonance of the ?o in this line heightens the idea of the supernatural force that pushes Heathcliff into a passionate rampage. It leads the reader to determine whether Heathcliffs powerful love for Catherine is an emotion of sanity or insanity. He begs for Cathy to, Be with me always take any form drive me mad! (130). He begs her to ?drive him mad and also says to ?take any form suggesting that he is willing to give up his sanity if it means that Heathcliff will be able to feel her presence. This contributes to the gothic theme through the symbolism of the window in which Catherines ghost appears, the bloody imagery, and the idea of insanity and desire for love. Windows and doors keep the characters in the novel entrapped within the two houses which hinders them from being able to reach the people or places they desire. When Catherine Earnshaw is taken in by the Lintons, she becomes trapped within the doors of Thrushcross Grange where Heathcliff cannot reach her. Heathcliff reveals his protective nature over Catherine when he pronounces that he, intended shattering their great glass panes to a million fragments unless they let her out (40). The imagery when he shatters the glass into a ?million fragments heightens his despondency over the fact that Catherine is not with him anymore. Instead of only shattering the glass, he intends to shatter it into a million pieces if it meant he could be with her again. The windows of Thrushcross Grange keep the two separated for five weeks and also contribute to Heathcliffs downfall as a character. The windows of Wuthering Heights also separate Heathcliff and Catherine when she becomes ill. Catherine asks Nelly to open the window in her room. When Nelly denied her request, Catherine, increased her feverish bewilderment to madness, and tore the pillow with her teeth (95). Catherines violent manner even as she lays on her death bed symbolizes the gothic aspect of the novel. The ideas of ?madness and ?bewilderment used to describe Cathys actions reflect the instabilities of Heathcliff, suggesting that the two have a connection that goes beyond what is seen by the reader and the window in her room separates her from the moors, which reminds her of Heathcliff because they ran away together to the moors. She wants the window open so that she feels a connection to him and the moors so when Nelly refuses, Catherine throws a passionate tantrum revealing her love for Heathcliff. Lastly, windows also serve as a form of entrapment when young Catherine Linton attempts to escape Wuthering Heights to see her dying father, Edgar. Catherine tries to find any route of escaping, but the windows were t oo narrow for even Cathys little figure (207). The window separates Catherine from seeing her father one last time before he dies and presents a barrier between Wuthering Heights and the outside world. Catherine desires to see her father and the windows are literary barriers that prevent her from doing so. The death of characters in the novel coincides with the symbolism of windows and doors. These barriers are the threshold between life and death and are present when Heathcliff digs up Catherines grave and when Heathcliff dies. Heathcliff, got the sexton, who was digging Lintons grave, to remove the earth off her coffin lid (220) and continued to open her casket and get into it with her. The imagery in this scene is very gothic because Heathcliff disturbs the dead by opening the door of her casket. He tries to break the barrier between life and death through the opening of the casket. Heathcliff argues that he, disturbed nobody and I gave some ease to myself. I shall be a great deal more comfortable now; and youll have a better chance of keeping me underground, when I get there. Disturbed her? No! She has disturbed me, night and day through 18 years (220). He thinks that now that he has seen her dead body, he will no longer allow himself to be haunted by her. He feels the presence of the ghost of Catherine in his life for eighteen years after she is gone. After he opens the casket, he severs the literal and figurative divide between life and death. Lastly, after Heathcliff dies, Nelly, tried to close his eyes- to extinguish, if possible, that frightful, life-like gaze of exultation, before anyone else beheld it (256), but his eyes would not shut. Though he is dead, the ?life-like gaze within his eyes reveals that Heathcliffs soul may be living while his body is resting with Catherines. The polarity of life and death in Wuthering Heights proves to have an obscure quality to it that blurs the two together with symbolism of the ghosts, death, and doors and windows. The gothic aspects of Bronts novel inspired readers to look deeper into the originality of the literature and the settings effects on the characters intemperate passion. Though the disparity between life and death is blurred among the openings of windows and doors, the thresholds of love are never broken through life nor death. Catherine and Heathcliff share their infinite love for one another through their time living and beyond their deaths. Though at first critics disapproved, the novel proved to be one of the most preeminent novels of the Victorian era.