Student Impact
Project
Fall 2015
Option 1
Example #2
YOUR NAME
YOUR STUDENT ID#
Table of Contents
Copy of Pre/Post Assessment.......
Data from Pre-Assessment
2-4
....5
Description of data from Pre-Assessment
Unit summary
7-8
Two week unit daily routine
Data from Post-Assessment
6
9
10
Reflection based on Post-Assessment data 11-
Water Cycle Assessment Name
1. Water changing from a gas to a liquid is called .
A. evaporation
B. condensation
C. precipitation
D. restoration
2. The is the source of energy that drives the water cycle.
A. wind
B. sun
C. rain
D. electricity
3. When water changes from a liquid to a gas, we call it .
A. evaporation
B. condensation
C. precipitation
b. freezing
4. Which of the following is NOT a way to conserve water?
A. take a shorter shower
B. wash your car often
C. turn the water off when brushing your teeth
b. not dumping paint down the sink
5. It is raining today. That's an example of
A. evaporation
B. condensation
C. precipitation
b. restoration
6. In the water cycle, where is most of earth's water located?
A. clouds
B. plants
C. animals
b. oceans
7. Label the picture below with the correct words:
evaporation, condensation, precipitation
8. To conserve means:
A.to waste
B. to enjoy
C. to save
D. to change into a liquid
9.1 forgot my glass of water outside on a hot sunny day. I found it a
few days later, and all the water was gone! I know that nobody drank
it. What happened to the water?
10. Why is it important to take care of our water and not pollute it?
Pre-Assessment Data (x=incorrect)
Student Q1
JA
Q2
Q3 Q4
Q5
Q6
P
Q8
X
X
R
Q9
X
X
X
Q7
Q10
pre%
X
60%
X
70%
80%
X
X
K
90%
X
Z
X
X
X
X
Ty
X
X
X
X
X
X
H
X
X
A
X
X
N
X
X
S
M
X
X
X
Sp
X
X
X
30%
X
X
20%
X
X
60%
60%
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
40%
X
70%
X
X
50%
X
60%
HS
X
90%
B
X
90%
Em
X
X
AP
X
X
C
X
X
Mr Z
SB
%correct
X
42
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
37
68
74
40%
60%
X
X
37 84
60%
X
60
89
X
70%
X
X
40%
63
47
D
Description of Data from Pre-Assessment
Based on the pre-assessment data, I have a diverse range of knowledge about
the water cycle within this group. The data shows me that most students have
been introduced to the concept of evaporation (84% correct). They are also
familiar with the fact that most of our water lies in our oceans (89% correct). They
are most unfamiliar overall with a very important fact: the sun being the source of
energy driving the water cycle. Overall, they also did poorly when asked to label the
parts of the water cycle. Question 1, which describes the process of condensation,
was the next most popular incorrect answer. Less than half of the students were
able to explain in Question 10 why it is important to take care of and not pollute our
water.
It is interesting to note that even the students scoring in the 90th percentile
on this assessment have trouble remembering exactly what condensation is. That
was their only wrong response out of the entire assessment. I also note the varied
levels of students within this group. Three students are very familiar with this
unit's material, while five students answered less than half the questions correctly.
The mode percentile correct is 60%.
After reviewing this data, I see that I need to review the water cycle as a
whole each day for students to be able to synthesize and order their knowledge of
the processes. They will begin labelling their own water cycle on Day 1 and revisit it
throughout the unit. As we zoom in and investigate each part of the cycle in
experiments, I will pay close attention to the days we cover condensation. Many of
the students still have trouble knowing the difference between condensation and
precipitation. I will also need to stay on my toes with extension activities in order
to keep my outliers on the high-scoring end engaged and learning at their levels. I
have extension materials relating to investigating why droughts occur, what a day
without water would be like, hydroelectric power, and conservation efforts that we
can make in our community.
Each day, their experiment log will serve as a check-in for me to see if they
are progressing in their understanding of the water cycle. If not, I will pull aside
small groups to investigate the concepts further. I will also change the way the
information is presented in order to make use of the students' varying learning
styles.
{
Summary of Unit
Title: The Water Cycle and Me
Grade: 3rd
SOL: Science 3.9: The student will investigate and understand the water
cycle and its relationship to life on Earth.
Essential Understandings: Understand the movement of water throughout the
water cycle and the importance of clean water to life.
Essential Knowledge and Skills: Describe and model the water cycle and explain
the importance of clean water to life.
Objective:
1. The students will tell the difference between the different parts of the water
cycle and how each part works.
2. The students will demonstrate knowledge of the importance of clean water
to life.
Process:
This unit will begin with a pre-assessment which will give me an idea of
individual students1 familiarity with and knowledge of the water cycle. I will use the
data from the pre-assessment to inform the design of this unit. 1 will spend more
time on areas where students need more support and provide challenging
extensions where students demonstrate prior knowledge. I will also look at each
student's individual scores and plan for specific differentiation in my lessons with
their unique needs in mind.
The unit will begin with a big "Why?" Why should we care about where our
water comes from? After a group discussion of why water matters, we begin to
look at the water cycle. Each day, we "zoom in" and investigate each process of the
cycle with hands-on experiments. After covering the processes, we explore the
conservation and protection of our water with more experiments. We move from
our big "Why?" in the beginning, through understanding each scientific process, to
finally discovering how we can protect this resource based on our new knowledge.
o
Differentiation:
-Experiments are in group and partnered settings, with mixed-ability groupings
-In addition to the final basic assessment, students also have the opportunity to
demonstrate their knowledge of the water cycle through making conservation
raindrops, water cycle bracelets, and a water cycle comic/storyboard.
-Students needing an extra challenge (and all students) have the opportunity to
enter a local citywide school contest asking for posters describing "A Day Without
Water."
-Each student is asked on Day 1 to write down questions they have about water.
These questions ranged from "Why can't we see water in the air?" to "How does
water make power?" The students jotted these questions down on notecards and
the questions were explored according to the appropriate correlation with the
day's lessons
Assessment:
-Students will receive a standard pre and post assessment
-Students will fill out experiment logs as we experiment with the different
processes of the water cycle
-Students will move kinesthetically throughout the water cycle, logging their
journeys along the way
-Students will make conservation raindrops to put up in the school, reminding our
schoolmates as to how we can help save water
-Students will make a bead bracelet model of the parts of the water cycle
-Students will create a comic strip story of a drop of water's journey through the
water cycle
Daily Outline
Day 1: Pre-test
Day 2: Why should we learn about water? Students sip water in morning-meeting
style circle while we explore what water does for our bodies. Introduce water
cycle.
Day 3: Close-Up on Evaporation w/ boiling water experiment; touch on
condensation with cold plate held above steam, causing "rain"
Day 4: Close-Up on Condensation & Precipitation w/ shaving cream clouds
experiment
Day 5: Water Cycle Game: Students move through water cycle as a single raindrop
and log their journey. Touch on Pollution with a couple of polluted raindrops.
Touch on scarcity of Groundwater, as they notice how few times they visit that
station.
Day 6: Groundwater & Conservation: Beach-ball globe experiment: Most of our
water lies in oceans, so we must conserve our freshwater supply. Water use
experiment. Construct conservation raindrops.
Day 7: Waterworks & Pollution: Water pollutants experiment. Where does our
water come from? How do we get clean water? We must protect our clean water
from pollution.
Day 8: Making Models & Post-Assessment: Students take post-test but also
demonstrate knowledge through choice of making bracelet models, comic strip
journey of water droplet, or both.
Post-Assessment Data (x=incorrect)
Q6
Q7
Q8
Q9
post%
%n
100
40
90
20
R
100
20
K
100
10
50
20
80
60
Student
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q10
JA
P
X
Z
X
Ty
X
H
X
90
30
A
X
90
30
N
X
80
40
S
X
X
80
10
M
X
X
80
30
100
40
X
X
X
X
X
X
5p
HS
X
90
same
B
X
90
same
Em
X
90
30
AP
X
70
30
C
100
40
Mr Z
100
30
80
40
SB
X
%correct
30
X
X
X
95 79 100
95
89
84
100
100
100
Reflection on Post-Assessment Data
Overall, this class made tremendous growth in their understanding of the water
cycle and its value to life on Earth. There was a 25% overall growth in
understanding between the start and end of the unit. Question 1 seemed to be the
most difficult question, with less than 50% of students answering correctly.
Question 3, with 79% answered correctly, is a distant 2nd. Question 4 comes in 3rd
at 84%. Our mode percentile correct is a three-way tie between 100%, 90%, and
80%. Our previous mode was 60%.
When we look at those questions in particular, we see that they involve the
students' ability to correctly identify the names of the processes in the water cycle.
These are traditionally difficult names to remember for 3rd graders. Additionally,
most students who answered Question 1 incorrectly did so because they identified
"precipitation" instead of "condensation" when prompted to select the process by
which water changes from a gas to a liquid. This is a tricky question, and almost a
smart mistake, because the students see "liquid" and think "rain."
In the future, I will address this confusion directly. A Venn diagram or other
graphic organizer helping us to compare and contrast precipitation and
condensation would be helpful. And although not explicit in the SOL, an in-depth
lesson on the types of precipitation and exciting weather may "hook" the students
and help them remember the lesson.
Also, not reflected in this standard summative assessment are our various models
created at the end of the unit. Students made bracelets representing the different
stages of the water cycle, storyboards portraying the journey of a raindrop through
the water cycle, conservation raindrops with tips on how to save water, and posters
elaborating what a day without water would look like. They also moved
kinesthetically through the stages of the water cycle mid-unit.
I am most heartened by our students' outstanding performance on the last three
questions. Students have learned the word "conserve," and I do believe that our
connection to real-life ways in which we can protect and save water was especially
strong in this unit. Question 9 is a constructed response asking students to
transfer their knowledge of the water cycle to other situations involving water.
Question 10 is another constructed response, and the students had thoughtful and
detailed answers as to why our water must be saved and protected.
IZ.
In conclusion, I am very happy that the students made progress overall, and that
they show a keen sense of stewardship and connection to their environment. I will
address the confusing terms upfront the next time I teach this unit, and tell them
honestly that those terms can be easy to mix up. I did teach them mnemonics such
as: "Condensation makes Clouds, which also begin with a C! Water vapor Comes
together and Cuddles because it's Cold: Condensation." Too much of this, though,
feels like "teaching to the test." These large words are difficult for some of these
kids, and I am confident that they have a firm understanding of how water moves
on our planet and its importance to us, based on their modelling and responses
during experiments and lessons.