YOUR thought-provoking and discussion worthy summaries, questions, riveting points from chapter reading to the Discussion Board AND YOUR RESPONSES TO AT LEAST TWO OF YOUR CLASSMATES’ POSTS no later than SUNDAY BY MIDNIGHT AT THE END OF THE WEEK.
BLOOM’STAXONOMY
In 1956, Benjamin Bloom
headed a group of
educational psychologists
who developed a
classification of levels of
intellectual behavior
important in learning.
Bloom found that over 95
% of the test questions
students encounter require
them to think only at the
lowest possible level…the
recall of information.
Bloom identified six
levels within the cognitive
domain, from the simple
recall or recognition of
facts, as the lowest level,
through increasingly more
complex and abstract
mental levels, to the
highest order which is
classified as evaluation.
Verb examples that
represent intellectual
activity on each level are
listed here.
1. Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall,
repeat, reproduce state.
2. Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize,
report, restate, review, select, translate,
3. Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice,
schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.
4. Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate,
discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.
5. Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate,
manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write.
6. Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate,
core, select, support, value, evaluate.
BLOOM’S TAXONOMY: Sample Questions
As teachers we tend to ask questions in the “knowledge” catagory 80% to 90% of the time. These
questions are not bad, but using them all the time is. Try to utilize higher order level of questions. These
questions require much more “brain power” and a more extensive and elaborate answer. Below are the six
question categories as defined by Bloom.
• KNOWLEDGE
o remembering;
o memorizing;
o recognizing;
o recalling identification and
o recall of information
Who, what, when, where, how …?
Describe
• COMPREHENSION
o interpreting;
o translating from one medium to another;
o describing in one’s own words;
o organization and selection of facts and ideas
Retell…
• APPLICATION
o problem solving;
o applying information to produce some result;
o use of facts, rules and principles
How is…an example of…?
How is…related to…?
Why is…significant?
• ANALYSIS
o subdividing something to show how it is put together;
o finding the underlying structure of a communication;
o identifying motives;
o separation of a whole into component parts
What are the parts or features of…?
Classify…according to…
Outline/diagram…
How does…compare/contrast with…?
What evidence can you list for…?
• SYNTHESIS
o creating a unique, original product that may be in verbal form or a physical object;
o combination of ideas to form a new whole
What would you predict/infer from…?
What ideas can you add to…?
How would you create/design a new…?
What might happen if you combined…?
What solutions would you suggest for…?
• EVALUATION
o making value decisions about issues;
o resolving controversies or differences of opinion;
o development of opinions, judgements or decisions
Do you agree…?
What do you think about…?
What is the most important…?
Place the following in order of priority…
How would you decide about…?
What criteria would you use to assess…?
For further Web-based information on Bloom’s taxonomy:
http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/coursedev/models/id/taxonomy/#table
Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy
Table1. Bloom’s Taxonomy
The Cognitive Process Dimension
The Knowledge Dimension
Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create
Factual Knowledge List Summarize Classify Order Rank Combine
Conceptual Knowledge Describe Interpret Experiment Explain Assess Plan
Procedural Knowledge Tabulate Predict Calculate Differentiate Conclude Compose
Meta-Cognitive Knowledge Appropriate Use Execute Construct Achieve Action Actualize
Lesson Planning:
A Practice of Professional
Responsibility and Development
by Jianping Shen, Sue Poppink,
Yunhuo Cui, and Guorui Fa
n
The Importance of
Lesson Planning
Much has been made of professional development for teachers,
especially in the current era of educational reform, largely because it can
facilitate teacher learning (Ball 1996; Little 1993). Teachers in the United
States, it is often argued, need to learn more to teach effectively. They
need what many refer to as pedagogical content knowledge: not only
knowledge of the content, subject matter, or discipline, but also how stu-
dents learn and make sense of various subject matters as well as peda-
gogical alternatives that enable student learning in particular subjects
(Grossman 1990; Shulman 1987; Wilson, Shulman, and Richart 1987;
Shulman 1986).
Some observers have argued that a collegial professional commu-
nity can enable teachers to develop this knowledge within the context
of their teaching practice. In such a set of conditions, teachers can
reflect upon, explore, and improve their practice (Grossman, Wineburg,
and Woolworth 2001; Little 1987; Putnam and Borko 2000; Wang and
Paine 2003). Researchers have identified multiple tasks that teachers can
undertake in these professional communities: in particular, examining
student work, examining others’ teaching with videos, and studying mul-
tiple subject matters as a group.
One often-overlooked source of professional growth is the develop-
ment of lesson plans, which are used in China as tools both for personal
reflection and development as well as for collegial reflection. Heaton
(2000) has advocated thorough preparation to accommodate students
with various levels of prior knowledge of the subject matter and different
248
questions concerning that knowledge. But few have written about the
lesson-planning process itself. In the United States, planning and prepa-
ration are considered important, but lesson plans themselves seldom
consist of more than a list of activities. Developing lesson plans is not
often considered a professional-development experience for individuals,
nor is it set in the context of a professional-learning community or a
given school.
In China, however, organizational structures for both individual
teachers and a school’s professional community embed lesson prepara-
tion in two activities: preparing a lesson plan and refining the plan
through “open lessons.” In an earlier article (Shen, Zhen, and Poppink
2007), we explained open lessons and how they help teachers to devel-
op their teaching skills. In this article, we explore not only how Chinese
teachers develop lesson plans but also how the organizational structure
of Chinese teaching enables them to use lesson plans as a professional-
development activity.
Lesson planning allows teachers to explore multiple aspects of ped-
agogical content knowledge. In developing lesson plans, teachers have
opportunities to think deeply about the subject matter, including the
way the subject matter is represented in particular textbooks or in such
aspects of the curriculum as standards and benchmarks. They also have
time to develop pedagogical activities or methods that enable students
to grasp the subject matter. Finally, lesson planners can ponder what stu-
dents know and how they may best understand the content.
American and Chinese Teachers’ Context of
Professional Work
To summarize the differences in the organization of teaching
between Chinese and American teachers, Su, Qin, and Huang (2005)
defined a set of activities each group undertakes during the day. They
found that while the Chinese environment emphasizes improving
teaching practice with time to reflect and improve, American teachers
are required to lead their classes six or seven hours a day, with little
time to reflect or to conduct other activities that could improve their
practice. Chinese culture, they point out, emphasizes collectivism,
while American culture favors individualism, as Cohen and Spillane
(1993) also asserted in discussing American school governance and its
role in instruction.
In a case study, Su, Qin, and Huang (2005) found that American teach-
ers’ classroom schedules leave very little time in school to undertake
activities, including lesson planning, that could improve their teaching
practice. American teachers have about thirty minutes for lesson plan-
ning, with almost no time for correcting student class work in school or
Lesson Planning
249
educational HORIZONS Summer 2007
250
giving homework feedback to the class as a whole or to individual stu-
dents; a short, isolated lunch break; and few social or recreational activi-
ties with other teachers, in-school professional-development activities, or
opportunities to study with colleagues.
Chinese teachers, by contrast, teach only one or two hours a day, in
one core subject area. Conversely, they spend considerable time on les-
son planning: two hours a week of formal collaboration with colleagues
on one core subject, and informally another two hours a day with col-
leagues on that subject. It also means they have one or two hours a day
to correct student homework and class work; thirty minutes for home-
work feedback and work with individual students; forty minutes of
lunchtime with colleagues and forty to sixty minutes of rest time; thirty
minutes of recreational time with other teachers; professional-develop-
ment activities every Friday afternoon; and ninety minutes a week study-
ing with colleagues.
Lesson Planning by Chinese Teachers
Such differences mean that Chinese teachers consider preparing for
each lesson a very important responsibility. An elementary teacher has
at least two periods a day to prepare, and secondary teachers usually
have even more time available. It is widely held that planning is a pri-
mary factor in the quality of the lesson.
Textbooks, students, and teaching methods are the three focuses of
lesson planning. A teacher is expected to study the textbook thoroughly
to understand the lesson content and its place in the larger context of
the subject matter. Understanding students’ knowledge of textbook
contents is also expected. The teacher selects the most appropriate and
engaging teaching methods based on knowledge of the textbook and
students.
The process of lesson planning. Careful lesson planning takes place
at both macro and micro levels. A teacher begins by mapping out the
content for the whole semester. The teacher then moves on to planning
for the unit, and finally to each lesson in the unit. There is a continuum
from semester, to unit, and to each lesson.
An important aspect of lesson planning is emphasizing that the func-
tion of each lesson can differ. Lessons can focus on introducing new con-
tent, reviewing materials, or applying what has been learned through
solving problems. Some traditional steps in planning lessons are empha-
sized both in pedagogical textbooks and in practice. First, the teacher
prepares for writing the plan, a process that includes understanding how
a particular lesson relates to the semester content and the unit; learning
from professional colleagues’ work by studying their lesson plans or
seeking input from colleagues; and finding ways to connect the content
with students’ everyday lives. Second, the teacher writes the plan. As the
actual lesson plan that follows shows, this step includes (a) specifying
cognitive and affective objectives; (b) identifying key points of the con-
tent; (c) anticipating difficult points for students; and (d) designing the
lesson flow—introducing the topic, presenting the new knowledge,
strengthening the understanding of new knowledge by application with
increasing complexity, summarizing the learning, and assigning home-
work. After preparing and writing a lesson plan, the planning continues.
For example, the teacher finds or makes the most appropriate teaching
aids and designs the presentation to display on a projector or black-
board. A teacher is also expected to take notes after the lesson for reflec-
tion and improvement. This shows the care with which the teacher must
attend to lesson planning.
Administrative context for lesson plans. Lesson plans are a critical
criterion in evaluating teachers. The school provides resources for plan-
ning lessons, such as preparing a lesson for a group setting, sharing lesson
plans with different teachers, organizing visits to other schools, and hold-
ing open lessons to promote learning among teachers. In this way, the les-
son plan becomes much more than the simple paper exercise it often is in
the United States—it becomes a larger part of the organization of teaching
as teachers develop lessons and share them both on paper and in practice.
Issues in lesson planning. Generally speaking, teachers in China
successfully carry out lesson planning as a professional activity. However,
lesson planning in China also presents its own difficulties. First, classes
may have forty students in the developed areas of the country but up to
eighty in those still developing. Individualizing instruction may be more
difficult in large classes. Second, lesson planning occupies so much of
the professional day that some teachers feel they could spend that time
productively on other responsibilities. Third, planning too extensively
might neglect student learning issues that arise spontaneously in class.
A
fourth issue is that each geographic area in China uses the same set of
textbooks, so teachers are usually within a few days of teaching the same
lesson. To a certain extent, this rigidity constrains teachers’ creativity in
designing lesson plans.
An Actual Lesson Plan on the Sum of Measures of
Internal Angles of Polygons
The following is an actual lesson plan prepared by Qing Zhang of
Weifang
E
xperimental School, Shandong Province, for a lesson using
Mathematics for the Seventh Grade (for the Second Semester), a text-
book series published by the East China Normal University Press. It illus-
trates the format and content of a lesson plan that introduces new
material. It is common in China to publish compilations of lesson plans
Lesson Planning
251
and even verbatim transcriptions of actual lessons as a resource for
teachers. This allows other teachers to examine student responses to a
particular lesson’s content and methodology.
Instructional Objectives
The cognitive objectives are:
(a) to be able to define a quadrangle, polygon, and regu-
lar polygon, and
(b) to be able to interpret, prove, and calculate the sum
of internal angles of the quadrangle and polygon.
The ability objectives are:
(a) to develop the ability for analogical and divergent
thinking through studying the definition of the poly-
gon and the sum of internal angles of the polygon, and
(b) to develop the ability to diagnose and solve problems
by dividing polygons into triangles and utilizing the
knowledge about triangles.
The affective objective is: to develop students’ interest in
geometry through studying the similarities and differences
between triangles and polygons.
Key Points and Difficult Points
Key points:
(a) the ability to interpret, prove, and calculate the sum of
internal angles of the quadrangle and polygon; and
(b) the ability to investigate a new phenomenon actively.
Difficult point: a student’s understanding that the vertices
of a polygon must be on the same plane, a necessary condi-
tion that is difficult for many students to understand.
Ways to emphasize the key points and teach the difficult
points include:
(a) developing and using teaching aids designed by the
teacher;
(b) facilitating students to think about how to derive geo-
metric theorems;
(c) helping students master both individual sets of
knowledge, as well as helping them realize the rela-
tionship between and among the sets of knowledge;
educational HORIZONS Summer 2007
252
(d) using a table to systematize students’ web of knowl-
edge; and
(e) designing and implementing exercises with increas-
ing levels of difficulty and complexity.
First Stage of the Lesson: Creating a Situation for
Learning
Use multimedia to display a plane view of a weather sta-
tion. Ask students to find triangles, rectangles, squares, paral-
lelograms, and trapezoids. Ask students to use their
knowledge of triangles to define quadrangles and the uses of
quadrangles in agriculture, industry, and everyday life.
Second Stage of the Lesson: Student-centered
Explorations on Definitions of Quadrangles and
Polygons with “n” Sides
(a) Students first recall the definition of a triangle.
Through analogy students try to define a quadrangle.
The teacher uses self-made teaching aids to empha-
size the necessary condition that all four vertices
must be in the same plane. Students then define poly-
gons with “n” sides.
(b) Students then explore the elements in the definitions
of quadrangles and polygons. With teachers’ Socratic
questioning, students complete the following table.
Lesson Planning
253
Definition
How many
sides?
How many
internal angles?
How to notate?
A A A
B
BB C C
C
D
D
E
(c) The teacher emphasizes that when quadrangle is
mentioned, we mean (1) rather than (2).
(d) Students answer questions to reinforce their defini-
tion of quadrangles and polygons.
Third Stage of the Lesson: Collaborative Approach to
Exploring the Calculation of Internal Angles of a
Quadrangle
(a) The teacher raises the questions: The sum of meas-
ures of the internal angles of a triangle is 180°; what
is the sum of measures of the internal angles of a
quadrangle?
(b) Students try various methods of answering the ques-
tions, and the teacher summarizes their approaches
using the following diagrams. By comparing methods
(1) through (5), as illustrated in the following, stu-
dents will realize that (1) is the optimal approach.
educational HORIZONS Summer 2007
254
A
n
B
CD
Convex
(1)
A
D
CB
(1)
A
D
CB
P
(2)
A
O
D
CB
(3)
A
D
CB
P
(4)
A
P
D
CB
(5)
Concave
(2)
(c) The teacher and students summarize the finding on
the sum of the internal angles of a quadrangle.
(d) Students engage in exercises to deepen their under-
standing of the finding.
Fourth Stage of the Lesson: Exercise with Variations
Students work in groups to solve the following problem.
Please refer to the diagram below. OB� AB. OC� AC. What is
the relationship between � A and � BOC? Please explain
your answer. In the diagram, are there any angles that are the
same as � A in measure?
Fifth Stage of the Lesson: Extrapolating the Findings from
Quadrangles to Polygons
(a) Based on the knowledge that the sum of internal
angles of a quadrangle is 360°, students inquire into
the sum of internal angles of polygons with 5 sides, 6
sides, and n sides.
(b) Draw the conclusion that the sum of internal angles of
polygons with 5 sides, 6 sides, and n sides is (n–2) × 180°.
Last Stage of the Lesson: Summary
(a) Discussing the methods for solving problems: observe,
analyze, guess, analogize, explain, and apply.
(b) Discussing the methods for studying geometrical con-
cepts: how to define, and how to specify the elements
Lesson Planning
255
A
B
C
F
E
O
Number of Sides
of a Polygon
3 4 5 6 7 . . . n
Sum of Internal
Angles
180° 360° . . .
in the definition such as sides, angles, and sum of
internal angles (briefly mention that the sum of
external angles is a topic for future study).
(c) Discussing the thinking processes and methods used
in drawing the conclusion that the sum of internal
angles of a quadrangle is 360°.
(d) Discussing the notion that triangles, quadrangles,
and other polygons are related to each other, and that
geometric knowledge comes from and can be used in
everyday life.
Summary and Discussion
Lesson planning, then, is integral to teachers’ professional develop-
ment in China: it includes their individual reflection and study as well as
the collegial activities undertaken to prepare the lesson. In a case study
written to explain the interaction of the organization of curriculum and
teaching in China, Wang and Paine (2003) write of one teacher’s per-
sonal preparation:
In planning this lesson, Ms. Zhen first spent considerable
time reading and analyzing the textbook and teachers’ manual
to understand “what the important and difficult points were,
which area needed to be stressed in teaching, and where stu-
dents would likely make mistakes.” Then she individually devel-
oped a preliminary lesson plan by considering “how to teach it
in an active way and by involving students in it.” (p. 9)
This quotation shows the importance of content knowledge, partic-
ularly as it is portrayed in the textbook; understanding what students
will make of the content; and linking the two. It also shows the careful
study that teachers undertake individually.
Support for this kind of lesson planning is woven into the structure
of teachers’ work in China in at least two ways. First, as mentioned ear-
lier, much of a Chinese teacher’s day is spent preparing for teaching or
reflecting on students’ work and what could have been done better.
Second, the planning can be used as a part of preparation for a “public
lesson” (Wang and Paine 2003), or what we refer to as an “open lesson”
(Shen, Zhen, and Poppink 2007). Wang and Paine continue analyzing Ms.
Zhen’s lesson preparation by explaining its social aspects:
Next, she shared her lesson plan with several senior mathe-
matics teachers in the teaching research group and revised it
based upon their suggestions. Ms. Zhen then taught a trial les-
son in one of the two 6th grade classes she taught which was
observed and critiqued by her colleagues in the teaching
educational HORIZONS Summer 2007
256
research group. She revised the lesson plan again based upon
her experience in teaching the trial lesson and suggestions from
her colleagues. In the end, she formally taught this public les-
son, which was again observed and critiqued by the teachers in
the teaching research group. (Wang and Paine 2003)
Restructuring American teaching to resemble Chinese teaching is
unlikely anytime soon. Still, Chinese practice demonstrates that lesson
planning is an important professional-development activity requiring
increased teacher knowledge together with collegial support for improv-
ing practice. Teachers’ individual and collegial planning and working
time may be a necessary condition to improve the quality of teaching in
American schools, and detailed lesson plans provide a way for American
teachers to better understand content, student learning, and pedagogical
content knowledge.
References
Ball, D. L. 1996. “Teacher Learning and the Mathematics Reforms: What We Think
We Know and What We Need to Learn.” Phi Delta Kappan 77 (7): 500–508.
Cohen, D. K., and J. P. Spillane. 1993. “Policy and Practice: The Relations between
Governance and Instruction.” In Designing Coherent Education Policy:
Improving the System, ed. S. H. Fuhrman, 35–95. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Grossman, P. L. 1990. The Making of a Teacher: Teacher Knowledge and Teacher
Education. New York: Teachers College Press.
Grossman, P., S. Wineburg, and S. Woolworth. 2001. “Toward a Theory of Teacher
Community.” Teachers College Record 103 (6): 942–1012.
Heaton, R. M. 2000. Teaching Mathematics to the New Standards: Relearning the
Dance. New York: Teachers College Press.
Little, J. W. 1987. “Teachers as Colleagues.” In Educators’ Handbook: A Research
Perspective, ed. Virginia Richardson-Koehler. New York: Longman.
————. 1993. “Teacher’s Professional Development in a Climate of Educational
Reform.” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 15 (2): 129–151.
Putnam, R. T., and H. Borko. 2000. “What Do View of Knowledge and Thinking
Have to Say about Research on Teacher Learning?” Educational Researcher
29 (1): 4–15.
Shen, J., J. Zhen, and S. Poppink. 2007. “Open Lessons: A Practice to Develop a
Learning Community for Teachers.” Educational Horizons 85 (3): 181–191.
Shulman, L. S. 1986. “Those Who Understand: Knowledge Growth in Teaching.”
Educational Researcher 15 (2): 4–14.
————. 1987. “Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform.”
Harvard Educational Review 57 (1): 1–23.
Su, Z., H. Qin, and T. Huang. 2005. “The Isolated Teacher: What We Can Learn from
the Chinese.” Wingspread Journal: 7–13.
Wang, J., and L. W. Paine. 2003. “Learning to Teach with Mandated Curriculum and
Public Examination of Teaching as Contexts.” Teaching and Teacher Education
19 (1): 75–94.
Wilson, S. M., L. S. Shulman, and A. E. Richart. 1987. “‘150 Different Ways’ of
Lesson Planning
257
Knowing: Representations of Knowledge in Teaching.” In Exploring Teacher
Thinking, ed. J. Calderhead, 104–124. Sussex: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Jianping Shen, Ph.D., is the John E. Sandberg Professor of Education
at Western Michigan University.
Sue Poppink, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of educational leadership
at Western Michigan University.
Yunhuo Cui, Ph.D., is a full professor of curriculum and instruction
at East China Normal University.
Guorui Fan, Ph.D., is a full professor of educational administration at
East China Normal University.
This is the second of a two-part series on current practices in Chinese
education.
educational HORIZONS Summer 2007
258
Index
educational HORIZONS®, Vol. 85, Fall 2006–Summer 2007 259
Fall 2006, No. 1, 1–72
Winter 2007, No. 2, 73–132
Spring 2007, No. 3, 133–192
Summer 2007, No. 4, 193–
260
Baratz-Snowden, Joan, ed., 111
Beilke, Jayne R., 210
Bullough, Robert V., Jr., 168
Burt, Walter L., 65
Carpenter, Wade A., 7, 83, 146, 200
Challenges in Data-based Decision-
making: Voices from Principals, 65
Characteristics of an Effective Student
Testing System, 19
Clabaugh, Gary K., 2, 141, 205
Cooley, Van E., 57
Cui, Yunhuo, 248
Darling-Hammond, Linda, ed., 111
Data-based Decision-making: Three
State-level Educational Leadership
Initiatives, 57
Dissolution of Education Knowledge,
The, 232
Education for Free People: Do Public
School-Religious School Differences
Matter?, 194
Fan, Guorui, 248
For Those We Won’t Reach: An
Alternative, 146
Gann, Cory, 12
Good Teacher in Every Classroom, A:
Preparing the Highly Qualified
Teachers Our Children Deserve, 111
Haladyna, Thomas M., 30
Hirsch, E. D., Jr., 97
Is Banning Holidays the Only Way?, 12
Kozol’s Complaint, 210
Late to Class: Social Class and Schooling
in the New Economy, 156
Lesson Planning: A Practice of
Professional Responsibility and
Development, 248
McCarthy, Martha, 92
Miller, Deborah S., 57
Morrison, Kristan A., 212
Most Essential Question, A: Who Is Truly
Educable?, 2
National Academy of Education
Committee on Education, The, 111
Open Lessons: A Practice to Develop a
Learning Community for Teachers,
181
Other Side of Bureaucracy, The, 200
Other Side of No Child Left Behind,
The, 7
Perils of Standardized Achievement
Testing, 30
Phelps, Richard P., 19, 232
Poppink, Sue, 181, 248
Power Failure: Must U.S. School Reform
Miss the Mark?, 205
Professional Learning Communities and
the Eight-Year Study, 168
Rainey, John Mark, 57
Reese, William J., 217
Reeves, Patricia L., 65
educational HORIZONS Summer 2007
260
Rozycki, Edward G., 44, 78, 136, 194
Ryan, Lisa, 57
Schooling as a Fundamental Right:
Should an Equal Education
Amendment Be Enacted?, 141
Shen, Jianping, 57, 181, 248
Should an Equal Education Amendment
Be Enacted? A Discussion, 210
Stoecklin, Carol, 74
Teaching with Fire: Poetry That
Sustains the Courage to Teach
[book review], 74
Testing for Justice, 44
Top Ten Reasons to Eliminate
Foundations Courses from Teacher
Education, 83
Trading Off “Sacred” Values: Why Public
Schools Should Not Try to “Educate,”
136
Using Tests Productively, 97
Van Galen, Jane, 156
Weapon against Cronyism, A? The False
Claims Act Applied to Educational
Institutions, 78
Whistle Blowers Beware!, 92
Why Americans Love to Reform the
Public Schools, 217
Will Corporations Have to Hold a Bake
Sale?, 212
Winograd, Peter N., 57
Yuan, Wenhui, 57
Zhen, Jinzhou, 181
Publishing in
educational HORIZONS®
educational HORIZONS seeks to publish in-depth articles, usually
2,500–5,000 words long, that will interest the reflective, inquiring
educator. Ordinarily, guest editors assemble each issue of educa-
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sions depends on unpredictable openings in the schedule. Querying
us first by first-class letter or e-mail, including your proposed topic
and length, is recommended before submitting a manuscript.
Book reviewing: Book reviews provide a more likely route to pub-
lication than the invited, themed contributions outlined above.
Contributors interested in submitting book reviews (including
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scholarship on the topic) are encouraged to query by first-class letter
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educational HORIZONS®
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Journalof Education and Practice www.iiste.org
ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online)
Vol.7, No.21, 201
6
1
Assessment, Student Learning and Classroom Practice: A Review
Dr. Ekua Tekyiwa Amua-Sekyi
Department of Arts & Social Sciences Education University of Cape Coast
Abstract
Assessment in its various forms has always been a central part of educational practice. Evidence gleaned from
the empirical literature suggests that assessment, especially high stakes external assessment has effect on how
teachers teach and consequently, how students learn. Through focus group discussions, this paper draws upon
the experiences of 12 tutors and 18 student-teachers in 3 colleges of education in Ghana. The findings show that
although teachers are expected to nurture evaluative thinking skills in their pupils/students this is not reflected in
the assessment and teaching and learning practices of student-teachers. This paper argues that for teachers to be
effective in promoting the desired goals of the basic school curriculum, greater recognition must be accorded to
the influence of assessment on teaching and learning, the understanding of which could arguably play an
important role in introducing changes that will promote the cognitive processes and thinking skills desired in our
schools and classrooms.
Keywords: Assessment, teaching and learning, teacher training, classroom practice
1. Introduction
Assessment is about learning. Traditionally assessment is intended to find out and report on what has been learnt
thus its relation with classroom activities. Assessment is integral to teaching and learning activities in school and
mediates the interaction between teachers and students in the classroom. Assessment can be defined as all
activities that teachers and students undertake to get information that can be used to alter teaching and learning.
This includes teacher observation and analysis of student work (homework, tests, essays, reports, practical
procedures and classroom discussion of issues). All these are concerned with sampling what a student may or
may not know. Assessment is also used in ‘selecting, controlling or motivating students, and to satisfy public
expectations as to standards and accountability’ (Biggs, 2003; p.141). Consequently, assessment has been
categorised as formative or summative depending on how the results are used (Dunn & Mulvenon, 2009).
Formative assessment is embedded in the teaching and learning process and provides feedback to the teacher in
the course of teaching to enable him or her judge how well students are learning. It also provides information on
the effectiveness of teaching which will help to determine an appropriate remedial action where necessary. For
this reason, it is appropriately referred to as assessment for learning. Summative assessment takes place at the
end of a course or programme to determine the level of students’ achievement or how well a programme has
performed. It often takes the form of external examinations or tests and is referred to as assessment of learning.
Students spend a relatively large part of their time in school practising the kind of knowledge and skills
demanded in assessment and this is what they acquire.
1.1 Formative and Summative Assessment
Formative assessment takes place when teachers and students respond to students’ work, making judgements
about what is good learning with feedback [information about how the student’s present state of learning and
performance (actual outcome) relates to goals and standards (desired outcome)] from this dialogue being used to
improve the learning experience of the student (Nicol, 2009; Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006). Formative
feedback is therefore exploratory, provisional and aims at prompting further engagement from the students as
part of an on-going dialogue between and amongst students and teachers (Pryor & Croussand, 2008; Attwood,
2009). This implies that the feedback process in the learning cycle commences with the production and
submission of student work, followed by teacher assessment of the work and feedback provision on it.
Consequently, formative assessment and feedback involves a much more dialogic form of language, often
moved away from the traditional classroom interaction where the teacher initiates, students respond and teacher
gives feedback (IRF) to one which more approximates conversation (Pryor & Croussand, 2008).
The teacher and the student are often in a hierarchical relationship that inhibits collaboration in their
learning. The opportunity for dialogue that formative feedback promotes breaks that linear transfer of knowledge
associated with the hierarchical relationship between the teacher and student and engenders deep learning.
Feedback as dialogue means that the student not only receives initial feedback information, but also has the
opportunity to engage the teacher in discussion about that feedback (Laurillard, 2002). As Nicol & Macfarlane-
Dick (2006) point out, good feedback practice is not only about providing accessible and usable information that
helps students to improve their learning. It is also about providing good information to teachers:
The act of assessing has an effect on the assessor as well as the student.
Assessors learn about the extent to which they [students] have developed
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expertise and can tailor their teaching accordingly (Yorke, 2003, p. 482).
The idea that dialogue is fundamental to successful learning and teaching is well documented in the
educational literature and many researchers have acknowledged that formative assessment can play a central role
in shaping and improving the effectiveness of the teaching learning experience (Covic & Jones, 2008; Bloxham
& Boyd, 2007).
Summative assessment on the other hand, creates tests, marks, academic reports and qualifications
which are socially highly valued (Biggs, 2003). Summative assessment events are usually designed to help
make a (final) judgement about a learner’s achievement on a programme and potential subsequent achievement;
certify achievement and award a qualification; help make decisions about entry to other learning programmes;
provide information that will help others make selection decisions and provide formal evidence of a learner’s
competence (Awoniyi & Fletcher, 2014). Education is therefore largely controlled by assessment, especially
summative assessment as a result of the ways in which the results are used. Where the stakes attached to the
assessment are high, they influence “what is taught, how it is taught, what is learned and how it is learned”
(Stobart, 2008; Luxia, 2007; Paige, 2006), as teachers and students will align teaching and learning to their form
and content to meet its demands. DeCesare (2002) describes high stakes assessments as tests designed to
measure not only the achievement of students, but also of teachers and schools. The literature on the discourse
on assessment shows consensus among both critics and proponents about the controlling influence of high-stakes
external assessment on teaching and learning and its potential to change the way teachers teach in spite of any
official policy to the contrary. Concerns about the quality of education have to do with teaching and learning,
but a lot more to do with the nature of assessment, especially high-stakes external assessment. This supports the
argument that if teaching to the test can have effects on learning, it is important to ensure that the intended
knowledge and skills are what the tests direct students to practise as they prepare to take the tests. In that case,
teaching to the test will produce the desired effect on students’ learning (Ghana National Association of
Teachers (GNAT, 2006, p. iv).
2. Context
Educational reforms in Ghana aimed at addressing the perceived falling standard or quality of education
considered assessment as a major factor affecting quality. The end of cycle external examinations was believed
to inhibit quality educational delivery. Consequently, reforms in 1987, involved the restructuring of the content
and the assessment regime. Three external assessments namely, the Common Entrance Examination (CEE)
written after the sixth year of schooling, the General Certificate of Education Ordinary level examination (GCE
O’ level) written after the eleventh year of schooling and the General Certificate of Education Advanced level
examination (GCE A’ Level) written after the thirteenth year of schooling were replaced with the end-of-cycle
Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) after the ninth year of schooling and West African Secondary
School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) after the twelfth year of schooling for junior and senior high schools
respectively. This restructuring reduced summative assessment levels in pre tertiary education and created room
for more formative assessment in the curriculum in the form of continuous assessment to improve students’
learning experience. However, the abysmal performance of students in the first BECE in 1990 generated an on-
going public debate about the quality of basic education in the public school system which resulted in another
educational reform in 2007. This reform sensed the need for a shift enabling a move from a notion of learning as
primarily a process of storing and reproducing knowledge, which stakeholders blamed on the nature of external
assessment (GNAT, 2006), to the nurturing of higher order thinking and problem solving skills that will enable
students to apply knowledge. Consequently, the concept ‘profile dimensions’ was introduced in the curriculum
of pre tertiary education (Ministry of Education, 2004).
The concept ‘profile dimensions’ presented as a taxonomy of learning (Bloom et al., 1971), has been
made central to the teaching syllabus of all subjects and is the prime focus of teaching and assessment from basic
school (primary and junior secondary school) to secondary school. The dimension weighting for knowledge and
understanding is 40%, as against 60% weighting for the higher levels of application, analysis, synthesis and
evaluation, summarily referred to as Use of knowledge or Application of knowledge. It requires teachers to
promote evaluative thinking in their classrooms. However, the revised teaching syllabi for basic and senior
secondary schools published in 2012 admonished teachers for not promoting evaluative thinking in their
classrooms as expected:
It has been realized unfortunately that schools still teach the low ability
thinking skills of knowledge and understanding and ignore the higher
ability thinking skills. Instruction in most cases has tended to stress
knowledge acquisition to the detriment of the higher quality behaviours
such as application, analysis etc. The persistence of this situation in the
school system means that students will only do well on recall items and
questions and perform poorly on questions that require higher ability
Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org
ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online)
Vol.7, No.21, 2016
3
thinking skills. For there to be a change in the quality of people who go
through the school system students should be encouraged to apply their
knowledge, develop analytical skills, develop plans, generate new and
creative ideas and solutions, and use their knowledge in a variety of ways
…. (subject focus is addressed from here). For example, solve
mathematical problems (Ministry of Education, 2012, p. xvi), or deal with
learning problems and issues in their lives (Ministry of Education, 2012a, p.vii).
Subsequent revised syllabi emphasise the importance of developing evaluative thinking and remind
teachers to promote evaluative thinking in their classrooms. For teachers to foster evaluative thinking in their
pupils/students, they must have developed and practiced the knowledge and skills involved while in training.
This begs the question whether teachers in training are being prepared to meet this curriculum demand in their
classrooms. Teachers can only give what they have. Since assessment mediates the interaction between teachers
and students in the classroom, and the kind of knowledge and skills demanded in assessments are what students
spend a large part of their time in school practising and therefore learn and acquire, the purpose of this study is to
examine the assessment practices in colleges of education to find out whether student- teachers are being
adequately prepared to meet the demands of profile dimensions in the basic school curriculum. Research
questions that direct this study are:
What is the nature of assessment practices in colleges of education?
How is formative feedback used to direct evaluative thinking?
To what extent do summative assessment instruments foster evaluative thinking in student teachers?
3. Method
A case study of colleges of education was undertaken. This involved focus group interviews with tutors and
students and a qualitative analysis of the end of semester examination questions. The objective of the interviews
with tutors was to get them to talk freely about their assessment practices. Focus group interviews with students
were to give them a voice and an opportunity to share their ideas and experiences on assessment (Cousin, 2009).
The population of the study was the 38 public colleges of education in Ghana. The 38 public colleges are made
up of 8 female colleges, one male college and 29 mixed colleges. The male college was purposively sampled and
one female college and a mixed college were randomly selected for the study using the lottery method. Four
tutors, including the assessment officer of each college sampled participated in the study. In all cases contact
with participants was facilitated by the Assessment Officer of the college. Six second year students made up of
three men and three women (mostly course representatives and prefects) were purposively selected from each
college to participate in focus group interviews. The second year cohort was selected because they have had one
year of college experience. Moreover, the first year students were new to the college experience and the third
year students were out practising teaching in basic schools. A total of 12 tutors and 18 students participated in
interviews. The interviews lasted between 30 and 45 minutes. The interviews were guided by semi-structured
interview schedules. They were structured to the extent that each focus group of tutors and students was asked
the same questions, and interviewed under the same conditions. They were semi-structured to the extent that the
researcher was free to probe and explore in depth participants’ responses to each of the questions.
3.1. Analysis of Data and Interpretation
Data analysis included repeated review of all interview transcripts. The constant comparative method was
employed (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Bloom’s et al.’s (1971) taxonomy of educational objectives was used to
classify the cognitive demands of the items in the end of semester examination questions into knowledge and
comprehension on one hand, and analysis, application, synthesis and evaluation on the other hand. The findings
are discussed in line with the research questions.
4. Findings and Discussion
4.1. What is the nature of assessment practices in colleges of education?
Tutors and students in different colleges described similar assessment routines which showed that individual
tutors organised various formative assessment tests, and the college organised a mid-semester test or mock
examination:
“We have two quizzes per semester … class exercises … assignments … presentations … mid-semester
or mock examinations.” (tutor and student focus groups).
From these descriptions it is clear that students are taken through a potpourri of assessments during the semester.
The notion that apart from the institution-wide mid-semester examinations, tutors have the prerogative to
determine what, how and when to assess students within the semester resonated in interviews:
“we may give different assessments at different times but by the end of
the semester all students experience the same assessments”. (Focus groups, tutors).
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Vol.7, No.21, 2016
4
Tutors agreed they put the different types of assessment together as formative/continuous assessment which
accounts for 40% of students’ marks. This implies that tutors have the opportunity to use feedback from
formative assessment to improve their students’ learning experiences (Nicol, 2009; Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick,
2006). The critical issue here therefore is the extent to which tutors engage student- teachers in feedback
dialogue that will enable them to practise the evaluative thinking they are required to foster in their classrooms
upon graduation. The shift in focus on nurturing evaluative thinking in pupils/students has profound implications
for the way in which teachers support learning and organise assessments. I recognise therefore with Black &
Wiliam’s (2006) description of the demanding nature of such renegotiation of teacher and student relations in the
context of formative assessment and note how teachers’ own previous learning experiences count a great deal
more than policy directives.
4.2. How is formative feedback on assessment used to direct evaluative thinking?
The use of “formative feedback to draw students’ attention to their strengths and weaknesses” resonated strongly
in interviews with both tutors and students. This suggests that tutors remain very much in control with feedback
focusing on correcting mistakes rather than prompting further engagement on work done:
“After they (tutors) mark our work and return our books, they discuss our
work with us and point out our strengths and weaknesses” (students, all
focus groups).
Feedback that supports student learning engages both students and teachers in a dialogue on students’
work (Attwood, 2009; Pryor & Crossouard, 2008). However, what both tutors and students describe does not
suggest the presence of feedback dialogue. It appears that feedback is still generally conceptualised as a
transmission process, controlled by and seen as the responsibility of teachers who tell students about what is
right and what is wrong in their academic work, about its strengths and weaknesses. Feedback as a transmission
process involving ‘telling’ ignores the active role the student must play in constructing meaning from feedback
messages, and developing critical thinking and evaluative skills in the process (Covic & Jones, 2008). If
feedback from formative assessment is exclusively in the hands of tutors, then it is difficult to see how student-
teachers can develop the critical thinking skills that will empower them to foster evaluative thinking of their
pupils/students in the classroom. An agricultural science student described how his tutors get them to relate
issues with what goes on in the environment and encourage them to think critically. From his description, the
point of departure is what one might describe as a kind of scaffolding whereby the teacher plays a crucial role in
enabling learners to do with help that which they would not have been able to do alone (Pryor & Crossouard,
2008).
Some tutors noted how: “students’ fail to engage in discussions about their work when we try to get
them to talk”. They however corroborated students’ views that:
“we don’t get our assignments on time … sometimes after other topics
have been covered …”
What tutors identified as a weakness in their students is indeed a failure on their part to create and make
the most of opportunities for formative feedback. When feedback on students’ work is delayed, it loses its
relevance. Feedback provided has to be useful to the recipient and feedback is only useful when provided
quickly enough and acted upon to improve students’ work and learning (Covic & Jones, 2008; Nicol &
Macfarlane-Dick, 2006). This implies that the ability of the student to take on board the advice offered by
formative feedback from assessment is crucial to feedback having an impact on the ability of the student to
improve.
Tutors described dialogic feedback on formative assessment as challenging due to student staff ratios
and workload: “so we grade students and discuss their performance in general”. This practice undermines the
process of learning that is dependent upon feedback which serves to inform and guide students during their
studies. Feedback in the form of grades is noted to encourage students to focus on performance goals (passing
the test) rather than learning goals (understanding the subject). This leads students to compare themselves
against others rather than focus on the difficulties in the task and on making efforts to improve (Attwood, 2009).
Generally, tutors lamented about the structure of the programme:
“Everything is exams, exams, exams … we have content to cover and
students are learning to pass their exams”.
Tutors seem to feel pressed for time to address all that they want to in a course. The compulsion to
cover content is noted as one of the greatest barriers to effective teaching. Considering the wide ranging
influence of high stakes summative external assessment on classroom practise and the entire education system
(see Stobart, 2008; Luxia, 2007; Paige, 2006), it is important to take a look at the nature of the instruments in the
end of semester examination that are at the centre of this influence.
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Vol.7, No.21, 2016
5
4.3. To what extent do summative assessment instruments foster evaluative thinking in student-teachers?
An analysis of questions presented in the 2014 end of semester examination showed that multiple type test and
questions that demand true or false answers dominate objective questions (80%). Questions that required short
answers accounted for only19% as shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Types of examination questions – Section ‘A’ (objectives test)
Number of items Average Percentage
Multiple type test 702 17.1 65.3
True/False 157 3.8 14.5
Matching type test 14 0.3 1.1
Short Answer 206 5 19.1
Total 1079 26.2 100
The essay component of the examination questions was not different. Based on Bloom et al.’s (1971)
taxonomy of learning, the findings showed that test questions on essays mostly demanded knowledge and
comprehension (80%) at the expense of the desired learning objectives of analysis, application and synthesis
(20%) in basic schools. Questions that demand evaluative thinking were absent as shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Types of Examination Questions – Section ‘B’ (Essay Test)
Levels of test items Number of items Average Percentage
Knowledge 182 4.3 38.4
Comprehension 195 4.6 41.1
Application 51 1.2 10.7
Analysis 41 1 8.9
Synthesis 5 0.1 0.9
Evaluation – – –
Total 474 11.2 100
Essays are the main way to assess knowledge of a subject area. With the appropriate use of such terms
as ‘discuss’, ‘evaluate’ and ‘critically analyse’, an essay can be used to encourage the development of language
skills and more critical understanding of issues (Covic & Jones, 2008). If teachers are being urged to foster
evaluative thinking in their classrooms, they will have to learn to evaluate issues in their training. The point of
intervention that would possibly enhance the quality of teachers’ classroom practice may involve taking a critical
look at the teacher training curriculum, the teaching methods used, and above all, how assessment can be used to
help develop the kind of learning and the higher order thinking skills and processes required in the basic school
curriculum.
5. Conclusion and Recommendations
The conclusion drawn from the findings of this study suggest that the transition in the goal of the basic school
curriculum from a mainly lower level recall cognitive domain to a much higher thinking and reasoning level is
not reflected in the teaching, learning and assessment of student- teachers. If formative assessment practices fail
to elicit the ‘multi-party’ dialogue that would encourage evaluative feedback on student-teachers’ work and
summative assessment does not demand evaluation of issues, student- teachers will not be equipped with the
knowledge and skills they require to foster evaluative thinking in their schools and classrooms. The gap between
teacher education and curriculum expectation in basic schools is a barrier to understanding and facilitating the
sort of engagement that will nurture the evaluative thinking required. Consequently, the practice of teaching will
not change and the cognitive processes that develop thinking and problem solving are unlikely to be practised, or
are little understood. The gap can however be controlled if assessment, teaching and learning are brought into
better alignment with the requirement of the basic school curriculum.
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