Standards Aligned Portfolios

As we move to skills based standards, many times a traditional test may not be adequate to demonstrate mastery of all standards. Over the past few years, we have been implementing a new state of science standards which incorporate both skills and content. These new state standards were designed with the Next Generation Science Standards as a guide. In our physics course we are targeting 4 different science skills.

1. Planning and carrying out investigations
2. Analyzing and interpreting data
3. Using mathematics and computational thinking
4. Constructing explanations and designing solutions

Students are asked to apply each of these practices to specific pieces of content knowledge, Disciplinary Core Ideas. In physics, these are

1. Force and Interactions
2. Energy
3. Waves and Electromagnetic Radiation

At the end of a unit, we still have summative assessments that include tests. But this semester, I’m attempting to build in a better understanding of these different practices. So, I am altering the unit pages that I have students complete as a part of their Google Sites Portfolio. Traditionally, students have used unit pages as a place to reflect on all of the work done within the unit. They embedded activities and then summarized them for an outside audience.

While each unit page told a story of learning within a unit, I was beginning to feel that this task was removing some of the thinking behind curating a portfolio.

The new format I am implementing asks students to reflect on their unit work in terms of the science skills that they applied in the unit. Students are being asked to present evidence for each of the 4 science skills within the unit of instruction. Students are asked to

1. Embed a piece of evidence from this unit that shows you have mastered the skill
2. Explain what the skill means
3. Explain what the piece of evidence is
4. Explain how the piece of evidence demonstrates mastery of that skill

Click the above image to access the web page

At the end of each unit of content, students will be asked to present evidence of the same 4 science skills. It is my hope that learners will begin to see these skills as not specific to a single context. They can look different and be implemented to different ends. These pieces of student evidence can include work done as a part of a summative assessment, a lab activity, a quiz, or formative assessment.

As a Physics team, we have developed 8 priority standards for our course

1. Students Can Plan and Carry out Investigations of Forces, Motion, and Energy
2. Students Can Plan and Carry out Investigations of Electricity, Waves and Electromagnetic Radiation
3. Students Can Analyze and Interpret Force, Motion, and Energy Data
4. Students Can Analyze and Interpret Electricity, Waves and Electromagnetic Radiation Data
5. Students Can Use Mathematics and Computational Thinking to describe Force, Motion, and Energy
6. Students Can Use Mathematics and Computational Thinking to describe Electricity, Waves and Electromagnetic Radiation
7. Students Can Construct Explanations of Force, Motion, and Energy
8. Students Can Construct Explanations of Electricity, Waves and Electromagnetic Radiation

A final exam given in a class period cannot hope to assess all of these standards. This portfolio developed over the course of the year provides a showcase for the work that students have completed in the course. It provides evidence of student work tied directly to course standards. I look forward to sharing the portfolios students create as we continue to move through units of instruction for the next few months.

If you’d like to read more about the different parts of the student portfolio, please check out this post.