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Using formative assessment rubrics in Science

Analysing patterns and relationships in dataLevels 7 and 8

Authorised and published by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment AuthorityLevel 7, 2 Lonsdale StreetMelbourne VIC 3000

© Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2019.

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ContentsWhat is formative assessment?.....................................................................................................4

Using formative assessment rubrics in schools..............................................................................4

The formative assessment rubric...................................................................................................5

Links to the Victorian Curriculum F–10...................................................................................5

The formative assessment task......................................................................................................7

Description of the task (administration guidelines)..................................................................7

Evidence collected from this task............................................................................................8

Interpreting evidence of student learning.....................................................................................9

Setting the scene............................................................................................................................9

Sample 1...................................................................................................................................10

Sample 1: Evidence of student learning................................................................................13

Any feedback given...............................................................................................................13

Sample 2...................................................................................................................................14

Sample 2: Evidence of student learning................................................................................17

Any feedback given...............................................................................................................17

Using evidence to plan for future teaching and learning...........................................................18

Teacher reflections........................................................................................................................18


What is formative assessment?Formative assessment is any assessment that is used to improve teaching and learning. Best-practice formative assessment uses a rigorous approach in which each step of the assessment process is carefully thought through.

Assessment is a three-step process by which evidence is collected, interpreted and used. By definition, the final step of formative assessment requires a use that improves teaching and learning.

For the best results, teachers can work together to interrogate the curriculum and use their professional expertise and knowledge of their students to outline a learning continuum including a rubric of measurable, user-friendly descriptions of skills and knowledge. Teachers can draw on this learning continuum and rubric to decide how to collect evidence of each student’s current learning in order to provide formative feedback and understand what they are ready to learn next.

The VCAA’s Guide to Formative Assessment Rubrics outlines how to develop a formative assessment rubric to collect, interpret and use evidence of student learning to plan teaching and learning. For more information about formative assessment and to access a copy of the guide, please go to the Formative Assessment section of the VCAA website.

Using formative assessment rubrics in schoolsThis document is based on the material developed by one group of teachers in the 2019 Formative Assessment Rubrics project. The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority partnered with the Assessment Research Centre, University of Melbourne, to provide professional learning for teachers interested in strengthening their understanding and use of formative assessment rubrics.

This resource includes a sample formative assessment rubric, a description of a task/activity undertaken to gather evidence of learning, and annotated student work samples.

Schools have flexibility in how they choose to use this resource, including as:

a model that they adapt to suit their own teaching and learning plans a resource to support them as they develop their own formative assessment rubrics and

tasks.

This resource is not an exemplar.

Additional support and advice on high-quality curriculum planning is available from the Curriculum Planning Resource.

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http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/aboutus/policies/policy-copyright.aspx


The formative assessment rubricThe rubric in this document was developed to help inform teaching and learning in Science. This rubric supports the explicit teaching of the science skill of analysing patterns and relationships in data.

This formative assessment rubric is designed to provide teachers with information about what students are currently demonstrating in relation to analysing patterns and relationships in data. It is designed to enable students to show that they can:

identify data interpret data make links between data to identify patterns and relationships

Please note that this rubric does not include the assessment of data representations or drawing conclusions. Whilst teachers are likely to teach collecting data, representing data and drawing conclusions in conjunction with analysing patterns and relationships, the purpose of this rubric is to focus on the ability of students to use data to identify and analyse patterns and relationships.

Links to the Victorian Curriculum F–10

Curriculum area: Science

Strand: Science Inquiry

Sub-strand: Analysing and evaluating

Levels/Bands: Level 7 and 8

Achievement standard/s extract: Levels 7 and 8:

Students summarise data from different sources to analyse patterns and relationships.

Content Description/s: Use scientific knowledge and findings from investigations to identify relationships, evaluate claims and draw conclusions (VCSIS111).

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https://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Search?q=VCSIS111


Learning continuumScienceLevels 7 and 8Strand: Science InquirySub-strand: Analysing and evaluatingFocus: Analysing patterns and relationships in data

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4

Identifying data. Interpreting data. Identifying relationships in a single data source.

Identifying relationships in data from multiple sources.

Organising element

Action Insufficient evidence Quality criteria

Analysing and evaluating

1. Identifies data 1.0 Insufficient evidence 1.1 Interpret individual data points.For example: ‘During winter, there is an average of 220 mm of rain’.

2. Identifies patterns

2.0 Insufficient evidence 2.1 Recognise the patterns present in the data (multiple data points).For example: ‘There are different amounts of rainfall in different seasons’.

2.2 Recognise one difference and one similarity between different sources of data.For example: ‘Queensland experiences similar amounts of rainfall in winter as what Victoria does in spring’.

3. Identifies relationships

3.0 Insufficient evidence 3.1 Determine the relationship/s that are present in the data.For example: ‘The average amount of rainfall is highest during winter and lowest during summer’.

3.2 Analyse the relationship between different sources of data.For example: ‘Generally, the highest average rainfall occurs in winter, however the amount of rainfall is decreasing over time’.

4. Links with concepts from Science Understanding

4.0 Insufficient evidence 4.1 State what data is being presented.For example: ‘This graph shown rainfall during different seasons’.

4.2 Identifies the Scientific Understanding concepts present in the data.For example: ‘This data relates to the water cycle and the factors that affect rainfall’.

4.3 Explains the link between relationships in the data and the Scientific Understanding concepts.For example: ‘The increased rainfall is due to increased evaporation in warmer seasons’.

5. Evaluates data 5.0 Insufficient evidence 5.1 Identify unusual or unexpected data.For example: ‘Something different may have happened during Autumn 2010 as there was an unusually high level of rainfall’.

5.2 Evaluate how well the data conclusively represents the relationshipFor example: ‘There is a relationship between average rainfall and the time of the year’.

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The formative assessment taskThe following formative assessment task was developed to elicit evidence of each student’s current learning and what they are ready to learn next.

Description of the task (administration guidelines)

Students were explicitly taught the following concepts:

What is data? What different types of data are there? What is good data? What is a pattern and what is a relationship? Different types of data representations such as graphs, histograms and tables that relate

to the concepts being studied. The scientific concepts relevant to the Science Understanding strand of the Victorian

Curriculum F–10: Science in the topic being studied.

Instructions

Students complete a task in which they analyse patterns and relationships within data sets. Single data sets will be provided.

Teachers should source their own relevant data (such as a graph, table or histogram) related to the topic being studied as follows:

1. Figure 1: Single set of data

2. Figure 2: Single set of data (different but related to Figure 1 such as data from a different source).

These figures should give students the opportunity to look at two separate data representations. Do not include the first set of data (Figure 1) in the second set of data (Figure 2). The data should be presented separately.

Familiarise yourself with the rubric and the teacher guidelines. Provide students with a representation of a single data set. Provide students with the following questions that they will answer:

1. What is being presented in ‘Figure 1’? (4.1)

2. What scientific concepts does this data relate to? (4.2)

3. Teachers insert a question about a specific data point relevant to the data provided e.g. How much rainfall occurred in February? (1.1)

4. Can you see any unusual or unexpected data? (5.1)

5. Can you see patterns in the data? If so, what? (2.1)

6. Describe any relationship present in your data. (3.1)

7. If you have recognised a relationship, how does this link with the scientific concept identified in question two? (4.3)

Provide students with the second data set. Provide students with the following questions that they will answer:

8. What information is presented in Figure 2? (4.1)

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9. Looking at both sets of data shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2, describe one difference and one similarity between the different sources of data. (2.2)

10. Describe any relationships present between these sets of data. (3.2)

11. Do you think this data accurately supports scientific theory? Explain. (5.2)

Collect student responses. Use the rubric to identify the students’ level of competency.

Considerations

A glossary and examples may be provided for students. The data selected should match the scientific concepts currently being taught. Students may view the data electronically or the teacher may provide this in printed

form. Answers may be handwritten or typed. No time limit is required for the completion of the task. If students are unable to answer questions 1 – 7 on single data sets, teachers may

consider not requiring students to complete questions 8 – 11. Students may require help with terminology and concepts that are not related to

answering the questions specifically.

Evidence collected from this task

Responses to questions

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Interpreting evidence of student learning Evidence collected from each student was mapped against the rubric:

The quality criteria that were achieved was shaded in blue. The phase that the student is ready to learn next was shaded in green.

Please note, the following annotated student work samples are representative examples only.

Setting the scene These student work samples were collected from a co-educational, independent K–12

school. Students were asked to answer a series of questions on a worksheet based on two

graphs of data. This task focussed on the area of analysing and evaluating data.

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Sample 1

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Sample 1: Evidence of student learning

Annotations 1.1 Question 3: The student was able to use the graph to identify an individual data

point by identifying that 60 g of sugar had dissolved in 250 mL at 40 ºC. 2.2 Question 9: The student was able to identify that a difference between the two

graphs was with the outlier in graph 1. However, the student didn’t identify a relevant similarity between the data sets.

4.1 Question 1 and 8: The student was able to state what data was represented in the graph. The student identifies that the graphs show how the temperature of the water affects how much sugar and how much copper sulphate can be dissolved in it.

5.1 Question 4: The student was able to identify that there was an outlier at 80 ºC.

Insufficient evidence

3.0 Question 10: The student was not able to analyse the relationship between the two data sets. This may have been because the student did not realise that she needed to compare the two graphs.

What is the student ready to learn next?This student is competent in some areas in Phase 3 and is consolidating some actions in Phase 3. The student is almost ready to proceed to Phase 4. However, the student still needs to work on recognising the scientific theory inherent in a data set.

Any feedback given

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Learning continuum Science Levels 7 and 8 Strand: Science Inquiry Sub-strand: Analysing and evaluating Focus: Analysing patterns and relationships in data




Organising element



1. Identifies data 1.0 Insufficient evidence 1.1 Interpret individual data points. For example: ‘During winter, there is an average of 220 mm of rain’.


2.0 Insufficient evidence

2.1 Recognise the patterns present in the data (multiple data points). For example: ‘There are different amounts of rainfall in different seasons’.

2.2 Recognise one difference and one similarity between different sources of data. For example: ‘Queensland experiences similar amounts of rainfall in winter as what Victoria does in spring’.


3.0 Insufficient evidence 3.1 Determine the relationship/s that are present in the data. For example: ‘The average amount of rainfall is highest during winter and lowest during summer’.

3.2 Analyse the relationship between different sources of data. For example: ‘Generally, the highest average rainfall occurs in winter, however the amount of rainfall is decreasing over time’.


4.0 Insufficient evidence 4.1 State what data is being presented. For example: ‘This graph shown rainfall during different seasons’.

4.2 Identifies the Scientific Understanding concepts present in the data. For example: ‘This data relates to the water cycle and the factors that affect rainfall’.

4.3 Explains the link between relationships in the data and the Scientific Understanding concepts. For example: ‘The increased rainfall is due to increased evaporation in warmer seasons’.

5. Evaluates data 5.0 Insufficient evidence 5.1 Identify unusual or unexpected data. For example: ‘Something different may have happened during Autumn 2010 as there was an unusually high level of rainfall’.

5.2 Evaluate how well the data conclusively represents the relationship For example: ‘There is a relationship between average rainfall and the time of the year’.



You have shown that you are able to analyse and evaluate data represented in graphs with single sets of data and multiple data sets. Revise the theory of solubility and look at the graphs again to make the link between the theory and the data represented.

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Sample 2: Evidence of student learning

Annotations 1.1 Question 3: The student was able to use the graph to identify an individual data

point by identifying that 60 g of sugar had dissolved in 250 mL at 40 ºC. 2.2 Question 9: The student was able to identify one correct similarity and one correct

difference between the two graphs. 3.2 Question 10: The student correctly explained that the second graph showed more of

the substance dissolving at the same temperature than was shown for the substance represented in the first graph.

4.3. Question 7: The student explained the link between the data and the scientific concept by explaining that, except for the outlier, the data represented that the mass able to be dissolved in a given mass of water increased with increasing temperature.

5.2. Question 11: The student was able to relate the relationship shown in this data to a real world example which upholds the theory that an increase in temperature results in more solute being dissolved. The reference to boiling water was ignored.

What is the student ready to learn next?This student is proficient in all the phases assessed in this rubric and is ready to move to the next phase which is beyond what they were given the ability to demonstrate in this task.

Any feedback given

You have shown that you are able to analyse and evaluate data represented in graphs with single sets of data and multiple data sets, including being able to recognise data that does not fit with an expected pattern. Continue to practice writing your explanations using the appropriate scientific terminology related to solutes, solutions and dissolving.

© VCAA

Learning continuum Science Levels 7 and 8 Strand: Science Inquiry Sub-strand: Analysing and evaluating Focus: Analysing patterns and relationships in data




Organising element



1. Identifies data 1.0 Insufficient evidence 1.1 Interpret individual data points. For example: ‘During winter, there is an average of 220 mm of rain’.


2.0 Insufficient evidence

2.1 Recognise the patterns present in the data (multiple data points). For example: ‘There are different amounts of rainfall in different seasons’.

2.2 Recognise one difference and one similarity between different sources of data. For example: ‘Queensland experiences similar amounts of rainfall in winter as what Victoria does in spring’.


3.0 Insufficient evidence 3.1 Determine the relationship/s that are present in the data. For example: ‘The average amount of rainfall is highest during winter and lowest during summer’.

3.2 Analyse the relationship between different sources of data. For example: ‘Generally, the highest average rainfall occurs in winter, however the amount of rainfall is decreasing over time’.


4.0 Insufficient evidence 4.1 State what data is being presented. For example: ‘This graph shown rainfall during different seasons’.

4.2 Identifies the Scientific Understanding concepts present in the data. For example: ‘This data relates to the water cycle and the factors that affect rainfall’.

4.3 Explains the link between relationships in the data and the Scientific Understanding concepts. For example: ‘The increased rainfall is due to increased evaporation in warmer seasons’.

5. Evaluates data 5.0 Insufficient evidence 5.1 Identify unusual or unexpected data. For example: ‘Something different may have happened during Autumn 2010 as there was an unusually high level of rainfall’.

5.2 Evaluate how well the data conclusively represents the relationship For example: ‘There is a relationship between average rainfall and the time of the year’.



Using evidence to plan for future teaching and learning The student data has revealed that there are a small number of students are proficient

in this skill, but there are a significant number of students who are still at Phase 1 or 2 and who need extra support in this area.

Some students are ready to work at the next phase. They should be given some scaffolded tasks. Some students need some non-scaffolded tasks to practice the skills at Phase 3. A number of students need some scaffolded tasks to consolidate their understanding of Phase 2.

Teacher reflectionsThis formative assessment rubric could be adapted to use in other year levels to assess the skill of analysing and evaluating data.

I would provide the students with a clearer link between the scientific concepts covered in class and the task so that they don’t view the task in isolation. The original rubric has been adapted and some of the wording of the questions has been changed from the original task. The order of questions in the task could also be reordered to correspond with the phases/actions in the updated rubric.

I would also make it clearer to students that they were expected to compare the data in Figure 1 with the data in Figure 2.

It should be noted that the current correct spelling is ‘sulfate’ rather than ‘sulphate’, based on IUPAC nomenclature, despite ‘sulphate’ appearing in many texts.

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