What’s missing from
_ d _ c _ t _ _ n?
Patterned after a talk of the same name by
Dr. Karen Jo Matsler
Arlington, TX
The vowels!
education
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a - assessments
e - expectations
i - inquiry
o - ownership
u - understanding
assessments
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Pre-assessment
Formative assessment
Summative assessment
Confirmatory assessment
Not every form of interaction between and
student and a teacher should be based on
assessment.
 Not everything worth teaching is readily
assessed.
 Consider an assessment-as-learning policy.
expectations
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Dr. Elizabeth Hurlock (1925) investigated the impact of
praise and criticism on students’ future performance.
She divided the participating 4 & 6 grade mathematics
children into 3 groups:
1. Those praised by name for their good work.
2. Those criticized by name for their poor work.
3. Those in the control group who were completely
ignored, although they were present to hear others
being praised and criticized.
Students in both the praised and criticized groups did
better after the first day.
By the fifth day of the experiment, the overall
improvement by group was: Praised: 71%; Criticized:
19%; Ignored: 5%.
inquiry
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Understanding science is more than just knowing
facts.
Students build new knowledge and understanding
on what they already know and believe.
Students formulate new knowledge by modifying
and refining their current concepts and by adding
new concepts to what they already know.
Learning is mediated by the social environment in
which students interact.
Effective learning requires that students take control
of their own learning.
The ability to apply knowledge to novel situations,
that is, transfer of learning, is affected by the degree
to which students learn with understanding.
ownership
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Kids must take possession of a subject if
they are to make it their own.
 Interest, relevance, and success are all
important components of motivation.
 Ownership can also stem from students
feeling they have some sort of control over
the curriculum.
 Students must understand the important of
deep versus surface learning.
understanding
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Students must develop a conceptual
understanding if they are to really
comprehend the subject matter. It’s not all
about solving chapter problems.
 Teachers must teach for understanding, but
must also possess it themselves.
 Understanding requires conceptual
approaches.
 Student metacognition and self-regulation
are essential to success.