Inquiry Articles
 
  Choosing A Topic  
  The Individual Student  
  Experienced Teacher  
  What is Inquiry?  
  Why Inquiry and ICT?  



 
Inquiry Resources
 
  Inquiry Rubric  
  Classroom Exemplars  
  Essential Questions  
  Inquiry and Assessment  


 
Links to Further Reading
 
  Foundations of Inquiry  
  Inquiry Learning Forum  
  Institute For Inquiry  
  The Inquiry Page  
  What is Inquiry-Based Learning  




  Assessment  
   

The primary purpose of assessment is to improve student learning. As such it must be tied to meaningful, authentic tasks and activities. The intent of high quality assessment is to improve not just audit student performances of learning and understanding; therefore a range of authentic formative practices as well as the summative assessment are needed to develop a personalized learning picture for each student. Structures need to be in place to draw students into the question of what high standards, engaged learning and quality performance entail. Within high quality assessment:

  • Students need to be taught about how assessment works.
  • Students need to be actively involved in creating rubrics by helping to set the assessment criteria
  • Students are provided with the strategies, skills and opportunities to assess their own learning.
  • Students are provided with the strategies, skills and opportunities to provide meaningful feedback to their peers.
  • The broader school community participates in assessment. There are opportunities for other educators and peers to be involved in the assessment of the work.
  • Communication about assessment is regular and clear.
  • Students set goals, next steps or develop strategies to improve learning and understanding.
  • Procedures are in place to regularly review and improve summative and formative assessment.

We provide a number of online resources to assist teachers in planning a comprehensive assessment plan.

  1. Assessment in a Digitally Rich Classroom. (click on the file folder).
  2. Intelligence Online (IO) our online collaborative teacher instructional design environment.

We have prepared a number of generic rubrics. Generic rubrics can be applied to a number of different tasks within the same modality or mode.

  1. Critical Thinking
  2. Teamwork and Collaboration
  3. Digital Storytelling Rubric
  4. Storytelling Rubric
  5. Math Problem Solving Rubric
  6. Science Field Study Rubric

The following Analytic Trait Rubric can be used in conjunction with a Math Fair:

  1. Math Fair Rubric
 

 

Assessment Resources

 
Alberta Assessment Consortium
AAC (Alberta Assessment Consortium) is a not-for-profit equal partnership of basic education organizations. It is dedicated to enhancing student learning through classroom assessment that increases student confidence as learners and enables them to reveal what they know and demonstrate what they can do.
 
Assessment
The Coalition of Essential Schools provides a wealth of information on multiple assessments based on performance of authentic tasks.
 
Assessment in the Inquiry Classroom
Assessment--the process of evaluating the quality of learning-- is an integral part of classroom teaching. With children taking different paths as they learn, assessment in the inquiry classroom can be a difficult task. But, as this essay points out, the characteristics of inquiry give teachers the opportunity to determine what students are learning, recognize when they need help, and identify appropriate next steps to take.
 
Plugging In
Technology is being used in education as a tool for learning, collaboration, curriculum development, and staff development. But how do we know that we're making the best use of technology? How can we be sure that we're using technology to support what we know about how students learn best? How can we make sure that technology supports engaged learning?

The only real measure of the effectiveness of technologies and technology-enhanced educational programs is the extent to which they promote and support students' engaged learning and collaboration.