Case Story: Shadows

Summary	An assessment of understanding of Y5/6 learners' understanding of light and shadow formation.
Group / workshop	Formative e-Assessment	Status	seed
Project details...

Situation

What was the setting in which this case study occurred?

The context of this case study was the production of formative assessment materials to support primary teachers' science teaching.  TR & LM were producing hard copy with video illustration materials for a QCA publication and were seeking authentic classroom examples of formative assessment in science teaching, so the session was filmed.A teacher was introducing the concept of light and shadow formation to a group of Y5/6 learners.  Learners were invited to cast real shadows on the IWB using objects of their choice – opaque, translucent and transparent - as a warm up or orientation activity.  The teacher then referred the learners to a pre-prepared ‘concept probe’ – a line drawing of a patterned mug in the centre of a landscape A4 page, with a torch shown in the upper left corner.  (We had produced this probe for teachers’ use in just the manner we were filming.) Each learner drew a representation of the shadow they envisaged would be cast by the mug.  The teacher invited volunteers to come to the front of the class and present their idea using the IWB and tools.

Peer comments were invited as a number of learners offered their interpretations of how the shadow would look.  Learners were then invited to revise their concept probe response using their original hard copy of the shadow drawing.  The next step was to ask them to try drawing the shadows of other objects. The IWB screens have the capability to be saved by the teacher as records of expressed understanding, and for uploading to individuals’ e-portfolios as formative records of understanding.  In working with classes having PDAs and wireless networks, TR and LM have been attempting to support the practice of learners beaming their personal representations to the IWB using SynchroEyes software.

Task

What was the problem to be solved, or the intended effect?

The problem to be solved by the teacher was to ascertain – from the perspective of a constructivist science teacher – each learner’s understanding of the role of light in shadow formation.  That knowledge would constitute the baseline that would inform further management of learning at a group or personalised individual level. 
The problem to be solved by the learners was to reflect upon their own understanding of the role of light in shadow formation and to represent that understanding in the form of a drawing.  Additionally, each individual in the group had the responsibility to consider their peers’ drawn representations and then to offer constructive feedback in the light of any perception of discrepancy between their own and others’ understanding. Any changes in understanding of shadow formation was required to be shown by modifying their drawn representation or by annotating in writing on the drawing on the concept probe.

Actions

What was done to fulfil the task?

The actions selected were multimedia representations – making real-world real-time shadows, making drawn representations of shadows, observing and commenting upon others’ representations and offering verbal feedback prior to a metacognitive reflection on their original drawn idea.  It was felt that the fact of formal written descriptions being avoided served to advantage learners for whom more formal written descriptions of their understanding might have been a significant hurdle to expression.

Teachers' interpretation of learners' representations was assisted in the QCA support materials by the provision of a set of drawings exemplifying different performance criteria.  These criteria, it was suggested, might suggest a developmental progression in understanding.

Example 1


•    The shadow is drawn on the side of the mug closer to the torch.
•    Shadows are formed when there is an absence of light.
•    Shadows are 2D rather than the 3D example shown.





















Example 2


•    The shape of the shadow relates to the shape of the object.

Example 3


•    Knowledge that light travels in straight lines is used to support the shadow drawing.
•    No pattern on the shadow.
•    Shadow shape is consistent with the shape of mug.















Example 4



•    Knowledge that light travels in straight lines is used to support the shadow drawing. The ‘light rays’ diverge, rather than following a parallel path.














Example 5


•    Knowledge that light travels in straight lines is used to support the shadow drawing.


















Example 6


•    The shadow is longer than the object, taking account of the angle of the torch light, though light rays have not been indicated.

Results

What happened? Was is a success? What contributed to the outcomes?

The teacher used the formative assessment processes to gain awareness of the range of ideas which pre-existed, prior to intervention. Some examples of the qualities of response that were likely to be encountered were provided as part of the support materials package and served to enhance the teacher’s pedagogical subject knowledge.  For the learners, the experience appeared to be an engaging way of involving them in what might otherwise have been an abstract and potentially dull experience of this particular part of the curriculum.  They could all observe and examine examples of shadows and light sources in the room in which the activity took place.  They could all represent with a pencil on a piece of paper their personal idea as to how a shadow was formed, so every individual could feel a sense of success on the task presented.  By observing their peers’ struggles they had access to some comparative examples which they could compare with their own expressions. They could reflect upon, review and modify their ideas and check them empirically as th result of the formative assessment experience. A further outcome specific to TR & LM was our increased awareness of the strategies adopted by the teacher to enhance children’s understandings of shadow formation. The role the teacher adopted was to highlight particular understandings for consideration, signal consensus and lack of consensus and encourage positive and constructive reflection on different understandings. The techniques employed  included asking open-ended questions but also included more focused interventions aimed at individual ideas - for example, contrasting one idea with another in order that learners might begin to appreciate the advantageous explanatory value of one idea over another.

The question has been raised as to the impact of technology on the feedback cycle in the shadows case history. 

We have argued elsewhere (Russell, T. & Whyley, D. ,2006) that a holistic, systemic view needs to be taken of formative e-assessment, because if the possibility of a complete loop (orientation-elicitation-reflection) isn’t in place, operating frustrations for teachers and learners will prevail.

 In an earlier TDA-funded project (‘Using ICT to develop and support formative assessment practices in science amongst Initial Teacher Trainees’) we developed a virtual repository of ‘concept probes’ for teacher assessment support, aimed at particular areas of the science curriculum.  The teacher’s access to and use of the shadow drawing template would need to be convenient for the teacher to use as and when required – preferably from a virtual store linked to the IWB – stored on a local drive or available for download.  The use of the digitised concept probe as an elicitation activity would constitute using ICT towards the beginning of the e-assessment cycle.

The shadows case study describes learners adding their drawn representations of shadows on the IWB, with the advantage of sharing ideas across the whole group.  (When they lack an IWB, teachers have used visualiser technology, as a compromise.)  It would be more convenient for teacher and learner if these representations were drawn with the support of software on handheld or UMPC devices and beamed to the IWB, the teacher selecting exemplars for discussion using software such as e.g. SynchronEyes.  In whichever case, there is a digital product – a digital representation of the learners’ ideas as to how a shadow is formed – which can be used as a temporary record and which is capable of being stored with changes backed up.

Each learner’s shadow representation is capable of being saved as a digital file by the teacher from the IWB or (when using PDA/EDA/UMPC devices) by the learners.  These files serve as e-formative interim outcomes (within zones of proximal development of learners’ understanding in Vygotski’s terminology) and can be used for self or peer-assessment.  That self- and peer-assessment might result in revision of ideas in the form of stable current understandings capable of being stored as digital records. (We acknowledge that e-portfolios are beyond the remit of the pattern recognition project – but some form of storage is essential if the exercise of expressing ideas is to be exploited as more than ephemeral phenomena.  Currently we are developing for Welsh Assembly Government online ‘Skills Profiles’ to store learners’ multimedia outputs for formative and summative teacher assessment purposes.)

Russell, T, J. McGuigan, L.J. Varga-Atkins, T. and Griffiths, T (2004) ?  Downloaded on November 17 2008 at  

Lessons Learned

What did you learn from the experience?

We have described formative assessment cycles as involving cycles of Orientation (to the topic under consideration) – Elicitation (of current ideas) – Intervention (in the form of experiences that result in conceptual shifts) – Reflection (by teachers on pedagogy and by learners, metacognitively on how and what learning has taken place).  This cycle appears to apply well to the case study.The case study has an existing ‘e-assessment’ aspect but our current work seeks to enhance such possibilities – they could certainly play a more significant role.  The ICT element in formative e-assessment seems to comprise contributions to two major processes: i) representation and ii) communication. Using PDAs and animation software, even very young learners have shown the capability to represent complex scientific ideas.  This could have been the case with the shadow drawings described in this case study.  It was not because in the classroom described, PDAs or laptops were not available to each learner.  Wireless connection through the IWB is a fact in some classrooms and with the appropriate management software, individuals’ screens can be selected for group consideration.  This facilitation of communications allows the teacher to access the ideas of every learner in the group.  With both the representational and communications facilities, constructivist practice moves from an idealisation to a practical possibility.

The question has been raised as to the impact of technology on the feedback cycle in the shadows case history. 

We have argued elsewhere (Russell, T. & Whyley, D. ,2006) that a holistic, systemic view needs to be taken of formative e-assessment, because if the possibility of a complete loop (orientation-elicitation-reflection) isn’t in place, operating frustrations for teachers and learners will prevail.

 In an earlier TDA-funded project (‘Using ICT to develop and support formative assessment practices in science amongst Initial Teacher Trainees’) we developed a virtual repository of ‘concept probes’ for teacher assessment support, aimed at particular areas of the science curriculum.  The teacher’s access to and use of the shadow drawing template would need to be convenient for the teacher to use as and when required – preferably from a virtual store linked to the IWB – stored on a local drive or available for download.  The use of the digitised concept probe as an elicitation activity would constitute using ICT towards the beginning of the e-assessment cycle.

The shadows case study describes learners adding their drawn representations of shadows on the IWB, with the advantage of sharing ideas across the whole group.  (When they lack an IWB, teachers have used visualiser technology, as a compromise.)  It would be more convenient for teacher and learner if these representations were drawn with the support of software on handheld or UMPC devices and beamed to the IWB, the teacher selecting exemplars for discussion using software such as e.g. SynchronEyes.  In whichever case, there is a digital product – a digital representation of the learners’ ideas as to how a shadow is formed – which can be used as a temporary record and which is capable of being stored with changes backed up.

Each learner’s shadow representation is capable of being saved as a digital file by the teacher from the IWB or (when using PDA/EDA/UMPC devices) by the learners.  These files serve as e-formative interim outcomes (within zones of proximal development of learners’ understanding in Vygotski’s terminology) and can be used for self or peer-assessment.  That self- and peer-assessment might result in revision of ideas in the form of stable current understandings capable of being stored as digital records. (We acknowledge that e-portfolios are beyond the remit of the pattern recognition project – but some form of storage is essential if the exercise of expressing ideas is to be exploited as more than ephemeral phenomena.  Currently we are developing for Welsh Assembly Government online ‘Skills Profiles’ to store learners’ multimedia outputs for formative and summative teacher assessment purposes.)

Russell, T, J. McGuigan, L.J. Varga-Atkins, T. and Griffiths, T (2004)   Downloaded on November 17 2008 at
>http://www.ttrb.ac.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?anchorId=17824&selectedId=11837&ContentId=11386http://www.ttrb.ac.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?anchorId=17824&selectedId=11837&ContentId=11386" title="http://www.ttrb.ac.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?anchorId=17824&selectedId=11837&ContentId=11386

Licensing

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