Curriculum 2A

Assessment 2

Part A

Year-12 School Based Assessment Task

Type of Task Research and Investigation

Module Electromagnetism
Weightage 30 % (=20 % working scientifically skills + 10 % Knowledge and understanding
Task due Term 4 –by the end 8th Week
Outcome  conducts investigations to collect valid and reliable primary and
Assessed secondary data and information PH11/12-3
 selects and processes appropriate qualitative and quantitative data
and information using a range of appropriate media PH11/12-4
 analyses and evaluates primary and secondary data and information
PH11/12-5
 communicates scientific understanding using suitable language and
terminology for a specific audience or purpose PH11/12-7
 explains and analyses the electric and magnetic interactions due to
charged particles and currents and evaluates their effect both
qualitatively and quantitatively PH12-13
Assessment  This assessment involves investigation and creating presentation on
Description Electromagnetism
 Students can work in a pair
 Students work in pair and need to choose one inquiry question out of
the following for the assessment
A) How is magnetic force affected by magnetic field?
B) How is magnetic force affected by moving charges?
C) How is magnetic force affected by the angle between the
magnetic field and velocity of the charged particle?

 This assessment comprises three sections

Section A: Research and Planning
Student will be provided Research and planning time in the
classroom. They will choose resources and equipment,
simulation activity after the research. (Refer Marking Rubric
for the sections to be assessed). Students will submit proposal
report by end of week 4 for teacher approval.
Section B: Conduct Investigation
Students design an experiment and outline investigation
report (Refer Marking Rubric for the sections to be assessed)
Section C: Analysis and Presentation
 Student will use the information and data from section A and
B to analyses and present their finding in front of the class.
Presentation should not be more than four to five minutes. In
presentation, students will summaries their experimental
approach, outcomes, discussion of outcomes and conclusions
drawn, in a proper format. (Refer Marking Rubric for the
sections to be assessed)
Preparation  Research about your chosen inquiry question
 Collect all the material
 Plan a proposal
 Design an Experiment
 Collect data and information
 Analyse the data
 Create presentation

Marking Rubric

Outcome Emerging Basic Significant Extra-ordinary

(Knowledge  demonstrate  Basic  applies Lorentz  Good knowledge

and s limited understandi law of magnetic and understanding
understandin knowledge ng of law of force of Lorentz law of
g)
of Lorentz magnetism  good magnetic force
PH12- 13 law of  states Understanding  Sound
Magnetic Lorentz law of law of understanding of
force of magnetic magnetism law of magnetism
force

Max. Marks Marks 1-3 Marks 4-5 Marks 6-8 Marks 9-10
10

(Research  assistance  some  some evidence  evaluates validity

and required to suitable provided for reliability of data
Investigation) select equipment validity and sources
PH11/12-3 equipment is chosen reliability of  employs and
and  safe data and evaluates safe work
investigation practices sources practices and
Outcome Emerging Basic Significant Extra-ordinary

 No risk are  safe practices handle risks

identification employed are employed  uses appropriate
 identify  explain the risks scientific
minimal involved technologies to
risks ensure and
evaluate accuracy
 include data and
source information

Max. Marks Marks 1-3 Marks 4-5 Marks 6-8 Marks 9-10
10

(Data  disorganized  chooses  selects  selects relevant

Collection) data appropriate qualitative and qualitative and
PH11/12-4  only one set data and quantitative quantitative data
of data from information data and and information
one  represents information and and represents
experiment these data represents them using a range
present and them using a of formats, digital
information range of technologies and
using a formats, digital appropriate media
range of technologies  applies quantitative
formats, and appropriate processes where
digital media appropriate
technologie  applies  the reliability,
s and quantitative validity and
appropriate processes accuracy of the
media where data is evaluated
appropriate
 the reliability
and validity of
the data is
discussed

Max Marks 5 Marks 1 Marks 2 Marks 3-4 Marks 4-5

(Analyse of  limited  Limited  describes  explains trends,

data) analysis analysis but trends, patterns patterns and
Outcome Emerging Basic Significant Extra-ordinary

PH11/12-5 observe recognizes and relationships in

trends, relationships in data and
patterns and data and information
relationship information  evaluates error,
s in data  describes error, uncertainty and
and uncertainty and limitations in data
information limitations in  suggests
 show errors data improvements to
and investigations
limitations
in data

Max Marks 8 Marks 1 Marks 2-3 Marks 4-5 Marks 6-7

(Presentatio  Limited  Basic  well-organized  presents a logical

n) knowledge knowledge and structured and cohesive
and and report report with
PH11/12-7
understandin understandi  Use various conclusions
g of the ng of the forms of  use effective forms
scientific scientific communication of communication
concept concept such digital, such as digital,
written and/or written and/or oral
 Nil use of  Few
oral  applies appropriate
Scientific scientific
 use appropriate scientific notations,
terminology terminology
scientific terminology and
terminology , scientific language
and scientific to communicate in
language a different
contexts

Max Marks 7 Marks 1 Marks 2 Marks 3-4 Marks 5-6

 References:
NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA). (2017). PHYSICS STAGE 6 SYLLABUS (2017).
Retrieved from https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-
12/stage-6-learning-areas/stage-6-science/physics-2017

NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA). (2017). Assessment and Reporting in Physics
Stage 6. Retrieved from
https://syllabus.nesa.nsw.edu.au/assets/global/files/assessment-and-reporting-in-
physics-stage-6.pdf

Part B

What is an Assessment? In education, the term assessment refers to the numerous ways
that educators practice to assess, gauge, and document the academic readiness, knowledge
advancement, skill attainment, or educational requirements of learners (Black, 1995).
Different types of classroom assessments such as diagnostic, formative, summative,
authentic can strengthen the efficacy of science instruction and students’ knowledge (Black,
1995). The three main purposes of assessment are: assessment to support learning;
assessment for answerability; assessment for certification, improvement, and transfer
require to adore suitable consideration to support quality teaching (Wilson & Scalise, 2006).
The primary purpose of the assessment is to foster motivation and engagement in learners.
It provides judgement that facilitates educators to modify teaching strategies, differentiates
learning and maximises learning outcomes and accomplishment for all learners. The other
aim of the assessment is to report the students’ progress to students, parents and other
educators or schools to provide relevant information about the students’ achievement and
learning (NSW government, 2020).

An assessment also gives opportunities to an educator for providing feedback to improve

and inform student learning to students, parents and other educators. Teacher feedback
about students’ knowledge is critical for learners and vital to teaching, learning and
assessment (Black, 1995). Teachers will recognize individual learner strength and zones of
concern about the curriculum outcomes to inform their future teaching instructions
whereas feedback help students to develop skills and strategies and make them responsible
for their learning. Assessment Feedback would be beneficial for the students if it is timely,
precise and linked to the learning and assessment objective. Feedback in assessment should
combat the students’ misunderstanding, provide constructive and meaningful information
to improve further, recognise students’ strengths and provide prospects for self-assessment
and reflection (NSW government, 2020). Feedback is effective if students are advised about
how they can improve their learning. They benefit further if the teacher discusses their
progress and strategies to enhance and improve their learning and will be given an
opportunity to reflect on and plan for improvement. According to Hattie, J. (2009),
“feedback is a compelling influence on learner achievement. When teachers seek, or at least
open to what learners know, what they understand, where they make errors, when they
have misconceptions, when they are not engaged- then teaching and learning can be
synchronised and powerful. Feedback to teachers makes learning visible”(p173).

When considering how to assess student learning in my subject -science, I as a beginning

science teacher would agree that the ideal assessment would be one that not only evaluates
learners’ knowledge and understanding of the course content but also teaches students
about the practical aspect of the life and how this knowledge can be used in practical life.
One important feature of such assessments is that they should be authentic.

In my key learning area- Science, I believe the authentic assessment is beneficial in engaging
students. Authentic assessment is a practical, realistic and challenging task than a paper-
based traditional task. It delivers an opportunity to science students to engage in inquiry-
based learning and employ their scientific knowledge in the task (Taruh, Enos, & Mursalin,
2018). The development of a marking rubrics in authentic assessment helps the educator to
clearly categories the level of performance to be used in assessing learners’ performance on
the authentic assessment task. Eventually, students would try to find ways to improve their
performance and task simply in order to meet the benchmarks of the rubrics (Wiggines,
1998). Hence, authentic assessment not only helps students to improve their levels of
understanding, but make them responsible to recognise ownership for their performance,
product, and score. Overall, authentic assessment in science help students to develop
critical thinking, scientific attitude and self-efficacy (Wayan Suastra & Ristiati, 2019).
Assessment practices presently used in high school emphasis mostly on evaluating academic
knowledge, rather than on improving leadership proficiencies. Wiewiora, & Kowalkiewicz
(2018) study found out that authentic assessment can assist students to develop authentic
leadership capabilities. They also stated that authentic assessment with self-reflection
improved students’ understanding of scientific theories and developed their leadership skills
but also facilitate students to develop “elements of self-concept”, which is a significant
characteristic of authentic leadership. Their findings validate that authentic assessment
combined with a reflective section can assist learners in the improvement of their
knowledge and authenticity as leaders. Emery (2001) stated, “Authentic assessment
requires students to engage in disciplined-based inquiry, to produce or apply knowledge, to
value the experience beyond the classroom, and to produce a product or engage in a means
of communicating their understandings” ( p.228).

Authentic assessments have numerous benefits over traditional tests. They are likely to be
more effective than traditional tests, predominantly for learning outcomes that need higher-
order thinking skills. Since they comprise real-world tasks, they are also likely to be more
stimulating and fascinating for students, and therefore more encouraging. And finally, an
educator can deliver more specific and practical feedback about what learners have
succeeded in learning as well as what area they need more practice (Wiggins, 1998).

Nevertheless, authentic assessments may involve more teachers’ time and effort to develop
and may be more challenging to mark. To address the challenge of grading authentic
assessments, it is often advantageous to construct a marking rubric that states the aspects
that will be assessed and the standards by which their assessments will be marked (Wiggins,
1998).

Authentic assessment involves a high expectation of all learners. High expectation of

students in the classroom is the key in the assessment and learning. It helps to construct
student self-esteem, increase confidence and progress academic performance. Learners’
confidence is vital as it is related to learner’s readiness to face challenging learning
assessment or task (AMLE, n.d). High expectation means a high level of support and more
scaffolding to motivate, build more confidence and encourage learners to do the
assessment. To simply demanding expectations without assisting learners attain success
practically always leads to disappointment, frustration and failure (Williamson & Blackburn,
2010).

The current NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) endorses a standards-referenced

approach in stage 6 to assess and report student achievement (NSW Government, 2020). To
make, assessment practices fair and equitable to all learners, NESA requires teachers to
follow assessment policy (NSW Education policy, 2020) while designing teaching and
learning activities. NESA requires high school teachers to gather evidence of learning using
Assessment for, Assessment as and Assessment of learning. In Stage 6, assessments
comprise a range of formative and summative assessments to inform curriculum outcomes.
This further help educator to make judgements about student progress. Different types of
task and activities provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning and
understanding, Assessment is intended to motivate and challenge learners to achieve at
their highest possible level and reduce excessive stress. Evaluating accomplishment at
numerous points during the curriculum progress can deliver a better indication of learner
outcome accomplishment than a single test. Different assessments provide more accurate
information about student's achievement.

However, one of the common disadvantages of the standard-referenced approach is that it

cannot gauge the improvement of all students as a whole, only when students belong within
the whole. Hence, assessing against a set goal can only be used to gauge the attainment of
educational improvement program which aims to raise the improvement of all learners
against new standards which targets to evaluate skills beyond selecting multiple choices.
Nevertheless, this theory looks attractive but in practice, the bar has repeatedly been
moved in the face of excessive failure rates, and sometimes improvement happen due to
familiarity with the same test (Cohen-Schotanus, & van der Vleuten, 2010).

In conclusion, assessment is an important aspect of quality education to inform students’

learning through reporting and feedback and reflecting teaching to improve or amend
pedagogy for a better outcome. In a Science discipline, the authentic assessment helps
students to engage, make responsible for their learning, be self-assessor, and develop
leadership abilities.
 References
Black, P. (1995). Assessment and feedback in science education. Studies in Educational
Evaluation, 21(3), 257-279.
Cohen-Schotanus, J., & van der Vleuten, C. P. M. (2010). A standard setting method with the
best performing students as point of reference: Practical and affordable. Medical
Teacher, 32(2), 154-160. Doi: 10.3109/01421590903196979
Emery D.E. (2001) Authentic Assessment in High School Science: A Classroom Perspective.
In: Shepardson D.P. (eds) Assessment in Science. Springer, Dordrecht.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0802-0_14
High Expectations: A Key to Success for All – A College Readiness Brief from the Pathways to
College Network. Retrieved from
http://www.pathwaystocollege.net/pdf/highexp.pdf
NSW Government. (2020). LEARNING ASSESSMENT-A REPORT ON TEACHING ASSESSMENT
IN INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION IN NSW. Retrieved from
https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/c204171e-a570-4947-
8107-dc934ab2f70b/learning-assessment-report.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=
NSW Government. (2020). NSW Education Policy. Retrieved from
https://policies.education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/curriculum-planning-
and-programming-assessing-and-reporting-to-parents-k-12
NSW Government. (2020). Assessment in Practice. Retrieved from
https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/Understanding-the-
curriculum/assessment/assessment-in-practice/feedback
Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE). (n.d). Setting Higher Expectations:
Motivating Students to Succeed – A Research Summary
http://www.amle.org/Research/ResearchSummaries/Motivating/tabid/2635/Default
.aspx
Taruh, Enos, & Mursalin. (2018). Development of Authentic Assessment Tools in Physics
Science Learning. Journal of Physics. Conference Series, 1028, 12200.
Wayan Suastra, I, & Ristiati, Ni Putu. (2019). Developing Critical Thinking, Scientific Attitude,
and Self-efficacy in Students through Project Based Learning and Authentic
Assessment in Science Teaching at Junior High School. Journal of Physics. Conference
Series, 1233, 012087.
Wilson, Mark, & Scalise, Kathleen. (2006). Assessment to improve learning in higher
education. Higher Education, 52(4), 635-663.
Wiewiora, Anna, & Kowalkiewicz, Anetta. (2018). the role of authentic assessment in
developing authentic leadership identity and competencies. Assessment and
Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(3), 415-430.
Wiggins, Grant. (1998). Ensuring authentic performance. Chapter 2 in Educative Assessment:
Designing Assessments to Inform and Improve Student Performance. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, pp. 21 – 42.
Williamson, R. & Blackburn, B. (2010). Rigorous Schools and Classrooms: leading the Way.
Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.