Children’s Story About Innate Immunity:
An Example of Alternative Assessment
Date: Summer 2008
Reflection written July 7, 2008
Standard: National Science Education Standard C. This standard states that teachers of science will engage in ongoing assessment of student learning.
Describe: In the spring of 2008, I read the book "Teaching Tips" (Druger et al, 2004). This book had a number of valuable suggestions for ways in which to engage students in course material. One suggestion was to have the students write a children’s story on an assigned subject. The ability to explain a complex topic to children requires a complete understanding of the subject matter. This phenomenon was experienced by the senior science majors while creating their hands-on activities for middle-school students. As one senior stated (see reflection papers): when working with school children, “. . . you really have to explain every minor detail. Sometimes in doing that (explaining minor details) you find that the basic ideas are harder to explain then the hard ones.”
In the 2008 summer Microbiology course, the students were given the assignment of writing a children’s story about innate immunity. The students were to write in the style of Scholastic’s "Magic School Bus". This series is written for beginning readers, so it uses very simple language and colorful pictures to describe the adventures of the students in their Magic School Bus. The Microbiology students could use the characters from the "Magic School Bus" stories, or they could create their own. They could also draw their own pictures, or use pictures from the Internet, provided they used appropriate citation techniques. The stories were graded based on content and scientific accuracy (40%), clarity (40%), and creativity (20%). Using this rubric, referencing and mechanics (spelling and grammar) are included in clarity, since a sloppy product will lack clarity.
Analyze: This artifact was chosen for inclusion in my teaching portfolio since it demonstrates an alternative assessment technique. In recognition of the different learning styles used by students, it is important to have a number of assessment methods. Some students may do poorly on traditional exams while scoring well on creative assignments such as this children’s story. Therefore, this is an important methodology for assessing student learning.
Appraise: As an alternative assessment methodology, this assignment was a success. The Microbiology students enjoyed the assignment, although they did state that it was challenging to write on a young child’s intellectual level. Regarding scientific content, approximately two-thirds of the class demonstrated a satisfactory level of understanding of the components of innate immunity. The stories showed great creativity, with minimal spelling and grammar errors, demonstrating that the students had satisfactory written communication skills when allowed to use them in a creative manner. As a teacher, this reinforced the importance of student engagement in an assignment; if the students are not interested, they will not put forth the necessary effort.
As a formative assessment tool, this assignment was very successful. It was also helpful since it demonstrated that students could learn the content when using a story-based format. Although this was not truly a case study, it employed some of the same characteristics; namely, a story format, with the requirement that students acquire some of their own information. This was important for me professionally since I have been uncertain that students could acquire from a story-based format the breadth of scientific knowledge that they need for future success. Based on the success of this assignment, I will renew my efforts to incorporate stories and case studies into my courses.
Transform: Although the students enjoyed the assignment and demonstrated great creativity, there was no increase in corresponding exam scores. However, since the enrollment was low during the summer session, more data should be obtained prior to making a decision regarding this assessment method.
Despite the lack of change in test scores, the students showed a high level of engagement in the assignment as demonstrated in the student sample. One drawback with this assignment was that innate immunity was only briefly discussed in class, requiring students to obtain the majority of the information on their own. Therefore, this assessment was formative, not summative. Furthermore, the lack of in-class discussion may have sent the inaccurate message that the information was of minimal importance. This may explain the lack of change in test scores. To address this problem in the future, students should be assigned to write a children’s story only after the topic has been introduced in lecture. This is particularly important since this is a completely different style of teaching. As the students become familiar with student-centered teaching styles, they will begin to take ownership of their learning, reducing the need for the lecture setting as the primary method of learning factual information.
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Click here to view a sample story written in the style of the "Magic School Bus".