Dale Krider

Student Learning Analysis

16 April 2020

1. State Standards
(HSCE, USHG ERA 6, 6.2.1)
Growth of U.S. Global Power – describe how America redefined its foreign policy
between 1890 and 1914 and analyze the causes and consequences of the U.S.
emergence as an imperial power in this time period, using relevant examples of
territorial expansion and involvement in foreign conflicts.

2. Learning Goals

● Students will be able to decode images and describe the artist's message.

● Students will be able to determine how an artist persuades people by explaining

sections of a painting/image.

3. Plan to Collect Student Produced Data

● Students had been learning about American Imperialism in the late 1890’s/ early

1900’s.

● In class, students had been practicing visual analysis. I scaffolded this work

because visual analysis was a skill that most of the students were unfamiliar with

doing, at least in an academic setting. I started with guiding the students through
 a few images, drawing their attention to various parts of an image. Then I had

students work in small groups to look at different images. Once they had group

discussions, I gathered all the students and had them share their thoughts.

Finally, the students were tasked with doing a visual analysis on their own. Each

step was conducted over a different day, which in total took about three days.

Each day, the students looked at different images.

● In order to formatively assess students, I used the below image for them to

analyze.

○
● I used the following questions to assess the students
○ What people do you see?

○ Are there any places mentioned? If so what are they?

○ What is happening in this cartoon?

○ What historical event do you think the cartoon about? How do you know?
 ○ What message is the artist trying to say with this cartoon?

○ What ways does the artist use to persuade the audience into thinking a certain
way?
● As the students descend through these questions, what I am looking at from them

becomes more complex.

● There were two main things I was trying to get from the students with these questions

○ First, to see how well students can perform visual analyzes. Can they take

elements across the image and use what they see in their answers.

○ Second, I wanted to see if students could use ideas discussed in class, outside of

visual analyzes, and apply their knowledge to inform their ideas about the image

they are analyzing. For example, in the image above, I wanted to see if the

students could tell that this image was a political cartoon about Imperialism.

4. Student Produced Data and Analyzes

● Below I will provide examples of student responses I received from this assessment. I

was able to group the assessments into three distinct groups. Each image will be an

example from a corresponding group.

 A)

The students that fall into this group were able to dissect the image and pull

some meaning from what they see. This student in particular analyzed all major areas of the

image. However, they were not able to use any of the information from class to inform their

answers for questions 4-6.

 B)

Students in this group understood the message the artist was trying to say, but

not necessarily was able to tie it to the class content. In the image above the student accuratly

states that the message the author was trying to present was that America was controlling land.

This student was able to explain their answer by saying, in the image, “the american is going to

eat them.” However, just like in student group A, the student was unable to connect this image

to content that was covered in class.

 C)

Students in this group could make clear connections to content discussed in

class, while also being able to support their ideas with information from their analyzes. Unlike

the students in the previous groups, this student was able to understand that the image was

representing Imperialism. They were able to connect the idea that America wasn't treating these

places like areas with other people, but just resources to “eat up”

5. Using This Data to Guide Future Instruction

● While many of the students were able to show their visual analysis skills, there was one
 final group that did not have a picture. This group contained students that did not have a

clue what to write or what was going on in the image.

● Most students were able to look at an image and describe what they see. Some students

were more detailed than others. At a base level, the skill of describing what they are

seeing is being met. Students, broadly speaking, were able to look at all areas of the

image and pull information out.

● However, most students were not able to put this image into context with the rest of the

content. Context is important because by being able to put this image into a relative area

of time, the students would then be able to comment on the validity of the artist’s

message.

● Going forward, using this data I would change my instruction. I will put more emphasis

on context. Students need to have a good foundation of knowledge on a particular area

before being able to comment on themes of an era. I need to focus more on showing the

students how to tie what they see with the context of the time. Before, I spent a lot of

time focusing on the base skills of looking at an image and pulling information out. While

there are still students not able to do that, those students will still be able to work on

those fundamental skills while I have other students look at messaging. One way I could

improve is by having visual analysis be a “warm up” activity at the beginning of class

while I take attendance.