Assessment

[debra0587]

I am an undergraduate student at East Carolina University. I was wondering how most elementary teachers assess their students. Do you focus mainly on psychomotor and affective more so than cognitive? it seems that most teachers are concerned with how the students like the lesson and how well they perform it more so than if they really understand it.

[weissice]

Every lesson should have a Psychomotor, Cognitive and Affective Objective.

They are all important. Sometimes one or more of these objectives are ignored, but good lessons incorporate all three. As a mentor, I always instructed my teachers to "teach the why." You can find these thoughts on my web site under PE Views.

Proper Assessment should start with national and/or state standards. Standards are very general, but they identify in very broad terms what students should know and be able to do. The next step is to figure out the best way of addressing these standards. Therefore, your program should have outcomes or goals. Once you know your outcomes, you need indicators or benchmarks to see if your students are achieving your goals which are based on the standards.

For example: 2nd grade national standard 2: Demonstrates understanding of movement concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics as they apply to the learning and performance of physical activities.

One of the goals or outcomes: (from Moving Into the Future National Standards for Physical Education - available from Naspe) Identify the critical elements of basic movement patterns.

And a sample benchmark or indicator would be: Identifies four characteristics of a mature throw.

You could develop games and activities that would place the students in situations where throwing with a mature pattern is necessary.


You could then develop a rubric to assess this knowledge. They could self-assess, peer assess, or you could assess their performance by observation and their knowledge by giving a quiz, asking them to demonstrate, or asking them questions.

Howie Weiss
http://www.weissice.com