Student Learning Analysis

Bradley Ciaramitaro

March 2024

Introduction

While my students in my biology class explored the various concepts of cancer, I

collected data and evidence throughout to follow the conclusions the students were

coming to. In order to analyze student learning I collected information consistently using

a variety of methods. My student learning analysis will cover my lessons and

assessments pertaining to mitosis and meiosis. This analysis will begin by covering the

learning goals and standards. Next, I will go over what methods I used as well as what

data I was able to collect from these methods. The third section of my analysis will

discuss how the data represented the student’s understanding of the topic, and how

feedback was given to the students. Section four will cover how this data influenced

future lessons and activities. The final section of this analysis will consist of information

on the additional assessments that provided evidence of student growth.

Section 1: Learning Goals and Standards

NGSS Standards:

HS-LS1-2: Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of

interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.

HS-LS1-4: Use a model to illustrate the role of cellular division (mitosis) and

differentiation in producing and maintaining complex organisms.

HS-LS3-2: Make and defend a claim based on evidence that inheritable genetic

variations may result from (1) new genetic combinations through meiosis, (2) viable
errors occurring during replication, and/or (3) mutations caused by environmental

factors.

Section 2: Student Understanding

While I was covering mitosis with my students, I periodically gave assessments

to gauge where their understanding was at. I first wanted to figure out what their prior

knowledge was on the topic. This was important because at the start of the semester

students were moved between classes and so most of my class came from other

teachers. Using an informal assessment I asked my classes if they were familiar with

mitosis, students knew that mitosis was directly related to cell division but they were not

familiar with the process. I asked students to raise their hands if they could name the

phases of mitosis. Across my four biology classes, only one or two students were able

to name the phases accurately. This gave me a rough idea as to what content I needed

to cover and what content could be considered “review”. Following that discussion I

gave students a formal assessment. This was in the form of an activity where the

students were given photos and descriptions of the mitosis phases. Students were to

arrange the images in the order they believed to be correct, as well as, match the

descriptions they thought applied to each image. This allowed the students to create

their own conclusions and submit the results.

Following our lessons and activities relating to mitosis students were given a

group project that acted as a summative assessment. This is the assignment that I used

to determine if students were ready to move on to meiosis. For this activity students

were being assessed on their ability to model the cell cycle, illustrate the process of

mitosis, and defend their claim on how mutations in the cell cycle can lead to cancer.
This allowed me to determine if the students were making the proper connections with

the topics we discussed. The students created poster sized models of the cell cycle,

providing descriptions of each stage and breaking down the phases of mitosis. Upon

completing their models groups were provided with a description of a person. The

description included the person's height, weight, age, and lifestyle choices that may or

may not influence the person’s chances of having cancer. With this information each

group put their person’s weight, height, and age into a cell division simulator, and

developed claims based on the data they received. Finally, groups researched the

cancers their person could potentially develop. This assessment took place over the

course of two class periods.

Section 3: Analysis of Data/Student Feedback

While providing feedback on this activity students were successful in modeling

the cell cycle. Most groups provided detailed models and descriptions of each stage and

identified the checkpoints throughout. A few groups did not identify the checkpoints,

these groups also struggled with later questions. Overall, students did well on the

modeling portion, this informed me that the students could comfortably move on from

learning about the phases.

The second portion of the assessment had a greater range of understanding

amongst the groups. There were the students that could clearly connect mitosis with

mutations and cancer development, they were able to make a claim and provide

evidence and reasoning to support it. They knew that the p53 protein played a key role

in the checkpoint process and acted as a tumor suppressor. Then there were the

students who understood cell division as a process, but did not understand the why or
the connection to cancer development. This is where the majority of my classes sat with

the content. There were two groups across all four hours that did not have a full grasp of

the content and needed extra help. An example of this is a group making the claim that

the p53 protein causes cancer.

Feedback was provided on a rubric and distributed to each group. Credit was

given based on effort, accuracy, and participation. The instructor feedback provided to

each group addressed inaccurate answers by providing the correct answer and context

for the answer. Whole class feedback was given by telling students what information we

needed to revisit before moving on to our next subject. I addressed some of the

common misconceptions the students had as well, before leading into our follow-up

lessons.

Section 4: Subsequent Instruction

Following this assessment, I determined that the classes had a firm grasp on the

phases of mitosis and what is happening during each phase. On the other hand, the

majority of students did not fully understand why mitosis was important or how it was

connected to our theme of cancer development. This leads us to our follow up activity

exploring mutations and the processes taking place.

This lesson had students looking at strands of DNA that contained mutations.

Students then took a p53 protein and used it to make corrections to the DNA strand. We

followed this activity with a group discussion addressing when this takes place, what is

happening, and how this is preventing cancer cells from spreading and becoming

tumors. At the end of this lesson I gave students an exit ticket. The students were to

answer the question “Based on the conclusions we made today, if a mutation occurred
and the p53 protein were unable to do its job during the cell cycle, what would

happen?”. This lesson addressed the confusion surrounding p53’s role, but I still

needed to discuss why mitosis occurred to begin with.

To do this we looked at the axolotl. As a class we discussed various experiments

performed on axolotls, specifically with their cell reproduction. The topic covered cell

division and compared humans to axolotls. Students were tasked with explaining why

axolotls were able to regrow full limbs but humans could not. We followed this by

watching a video on why the axolotl is more resistant to cancer than humans are. To

conclude this lesson I gave my classes a formal assessment, students were given a

worksheet that covered elephants, sea lions, and naked mole rats with questions

covering how and why these animals develop cancer.

Section 5: Additional Assessment Information

Following the lesson on how p53 makes corrections to mutations, students had

an understanding of where p53 fits into the cell cycle and they were able to apply the

concept of mutations to the protein, and defend their claims as to what the outcome

would be. The students were able to defend the claim that mutated cells carry that

information on and continue developing that mutation. This data allowed me to

comfortably move on to connecting mutations to cancer.

This led to the lesson relating to cancer mutations in other animals. Now that the

students knew what was going on behind the scenes we could then address the why

and connect back to cancer. Students worked through a worksheet following our lesson

and were provided feedback correcting any misconceptions. Overall, students were on

track to move on to meiosis. Students were able to explain that somatic cells undergo
mitosis. With this information I felt that students would be able to use their

understanding of mitosis and apply it to learning about meiosis.

Conclusion

Based on the data I received after revisiting mitosis I was able to build future

lessons in a way that introduced new concepts but still built on the concepts students

already knew. This allowed for a more gradual learning process for the students. This

shows the importance of consistently checking in with students and adjusting lessons

accordingly. The students developed not only their understanding of the content but

they became noticeably more confident in their own abilities. Students were more willing

to explore new concepts and develop their own hypotheses on the subjects.