Assessment of students' prior knowledge:  

Before creating the students’ pre-assessment, I was able to discuss what material the students had prior knowledge in with my mentor teacher. I also checked the standards according to Oregon Department of Education for elementary school. Although this was helpful, I still felt like I needed to get to know the students a little bit more before beginning the lesson. I was able to get a fairly accurate idea of the students’ prior knowledge using three different methods.

The first method I used was just simply talking to the students before I began teaching my work sample. I was able to spend a week in the class before I started my unit. This allowed me the time to wander around the room, having individual conversations with the students. I asked them prompting questions about the human body systems such as, “Do you remember learning about the human body when you were in elementary school?” If they said yes I would ask a follow up question like, “Which systems did you learn about?” This is just one example of many informal conversations I had with them throughout that week.

The second method I used was a class discussion surrounding the unit’s objectives. I conducted this discussion before beginning the pre-assessment. Although I already had individual conversations with many of the students, the whole group discussion allowed the students one more opportunity to tell me what they remembered from previous years. Using whole group discussion, I found the students often remembered more than they had originally told me. I believe this was due to one of their classmates saying something that triggered their memory regarding the topic.

The third and final method I used to assess the students’ prior knowledge was creating my pre-assessment with tiered questions. Throughout the pre-assessment, questions were placed in a manner to prompt student responses. For example, at station one I asked, “ Name four of the 10 systems that make up the human body.” Later in the assessment, the students were given a multiple choice question that listed four of the systems. It is important to note that the way the pre-assessment was administered was in question stations. Each student began at a different station, so each student had the opportunity to see multiple questions before making their way to station number one.

The pre-assessment was also made to vary the questions according to difficulty. The students received a variety of questions from multiple choice, to matching, to fill in the blank. This allowed students to have an opportunity to demonstrate any knowledge they may of had on the topic, even if that knowledge was limited prior to beginning the unit.


Assessment of whether students achieved the outcomes/objectives addressed in teaching:

After analyzing the students’ pre-assessment and post-assessment data, it was fairly clear to me that most of the students made progress and demonstrated competence in each of the objectives, not including objective six: students will be able to describe the functions of the nervous system. After reviewing each of the objectives, the assessments and the data analysis, I came to the conclusion that the question regarding the functions of the nervous system in the post-assessment included a vocabulary word that many of the students may not have known.

As I was grading each of the assessments, there was an overwhelming amount of students that answered the following question incorrectly:

5) What is one of the functions of the nervous system?

At first I didn’t understand what went wrong. A few examples of the answers I was seeing are, “cells,” “brain,” or “spinal cord.” I did not understand how the students were so far off base. I talked to a couple other teachers about the assessment and we figured out that “function” is not a vocabulary word many of them know. It is currently a literary term the school is focusing on.

In order to assist the students in the future, vocabulary within the pre/post assessments needs to be covered in the lessons as well. One way I would make sure to create a focus around these vocabulary words is to have this be a part of my future lesson plans. In the future I will create a heading titled, “Confusing or Unknown Vocabulary.” Under this heading, I would be able to place words that my students may find difficult.

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Pre- Assessment
Unit: Life Science Body Systems
Standard: 6.2L

Method: Students will rotate strategically around the classroom answering questions at various stations regarding the required curriculum. At each station, approximately two students will be placed, each will read the question silently, then write their answer on their paper.

Station 1:
Name four of the 10 systems that make up the human body.
Example: the reproductive system. No, you may not use this as one of your answers :)

CORRECT ANSWER: Any four of the following; Endocrine, Respiratory, Nervous, Circulatory, Digestive, Immune, Skeletal, Muscular, or Urinary

Station 2:
Which of the following is correct?

A) Tissues form Cells, Cells form Organs and Organs and form Systems
B) Cells form Tissues, Tissues form Systems and Systems form Organs
C) Cells form Tissues, Tissues form Organs and Organs form Systems

CORRECT ANSWER: C) Cells form Tissues, Tissues form Organs and Organs form Systems

Station 3
Which body system does the brain and spinal cord belong to?

A) Endocrine System
B) Respiratory System
C) Nervous System
D) Circulatory System

CORRECT ANSWER: C) Nervous

Station 4
Match the definition of the word with the correct vocabulary word.

1) Cells A) A few examples are; circulatory, digestive and excretory

2) Tissues B) Ensembles of cells that carry out a function

3) Organs C) The smallest structural unit of all living things

4) Systems D) A few examples are; skin, kidneys and liver

CORRECT ANSWER: 1) C 2) B 3) D 4) A

Station 5
What is the main function of the circulatory system? (Hint: this system contains the heart)

CORRECT ANSWER: Moves blood throughout the body providing oxygen to the tissues and organs.

Station 6
What body SYSTEM is directly responsible for supplying the blood with oxygen?

A) The Lungs
B) The Respiratory System
C) The Heart
D) The Circulatory System

CORRECT ANSWER: B) The Respiratory System

Station 7
When using the terms “contracting and relaxing” or “voluntary and involuntary,” what system of the body is it referring to?


CORRECT ANSWER: D) Muscular System

Station 8
What body system does this set of pictures belong to?

CORRECT ANSWER: Respiratory

Station 9
How can a person check how fast their heart is beating?

CORRECT ANSWER: By checking their pulse and counting how many times it beats per minute.

Station 10
What two body systems allow a person to move freely?

CORRECT ANSWER: Skeletal and Muscular Systems

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Unit: Life Science Body Systems
Standard: 6.2L

Method: Students will be given the following test to complete at their desks and individually.

Objective 1: Students will be able to describe the relationships between cells, tissues, organs and systems.

Pre-test Question that correlates: 1, 2, 4
Post-test Question that correlates: 2

Objective 2:  Students will be able to describe the five major functions of the skeletal system.

Pre-test Question that correlates: 1, 10
Post-test Question that correlates: 3, Extra Credit

Objective 3: Students will be able to describe the functions of the muscular system.

Pre-test Question that correlates: 1, 7, 10
Post-test Question that correlates: 3, 7

Objective 4: Students will be able to explain the difference between voluntary and involuntary muscle

Pre-test Question that correlates: 7
Post-test Question that correlates: 7

Objective 5: Students will be able to describe the functions of the skin.

Pre-test Question that correlates: 1, 4
Post-test Question that correlates: 4

Objective 6: Students will be able to describe the functions of the nervous system.

Pre-test Question that correlates: 1, 3
Post-test Question that correlates: 5, 6

Objective 7: Students will be able to describe the major functions of the respiratory system.

Pre-test Question that correlates: 1, 6, 8
Post-test Question that correlates: 1

Objective 8: Students will be able to describe the major functions of the circulatory system.

Pre-test Question that correlates: 1, 5, 9
Post-test Question that correlates: 8


Human Body Systems Post-Test
Please answer each question as completely as possible. This should be done on a separate piece of paper.

1) Which body system is directly responsible for providing the body with Oxygen as well as getting rid of Carbon Dioxide and Water that is in our body?

A) Nervous System
B) Circulatory System
C) Respiratory System
D) Muscular System

2) Please fill in the following words in the appropriate order:

Tissues, The Human Body, Cells, Systems, Organs

Cells form Tissues that then form Organs which create Systems.
All of these make up The Human Body.

3) Please fill in the appropriate words:

The Muscular and Skeletal systems allow us to move freely.

4) What are two of the three functions of our skin?
CORRECT ANSWER: Protection, Vitamin D, Maintain Temperature.

5) What is one of the functions of the nervous system?
CORRECT ANSWER: Receives Information, Responds to Information, Maintain Homeostasis

6) What two organs make up the central nervous system?
CORRECT ANSWER: The Brain and The Spinal Cord

Short Answer Questions: In 3 - 5 sentences, please answer the following: (2 points each)

7) Describe the difference between voluntary and involuntary movements. What system do these terms belong to?
CORRECT ANSWER: Voluntary is when a person chooses to moves and involuntary is when we move without thinking. These words belong to the muscular system.

8) What is one way a person can check their heart rate? Why would this be important for a person to know?
CORRECT ANSWER: A person can check their heart rate by checking their pulse. They would need to know this if it’s part of their job or just to make sure their heart is pumping correctly.

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Reflection on the data:

After reviewing the analysis of the students’ pre/post assessment data, it was clear that as a whole group, the students made growth in each of the objectives and met the standard for the unit. Each of the graphs demonstrates a large increase in correct answer from pre-assessment to post-assessment. The one objective that students did not show growth in was objective six. Like I stated in the previous section, after reviewing each of the students answers it was clear that students did not understand the word “function” within the question.

Objective one stated was regarding the relationships between cells, tissues, organs and body systems. This objective was covered the first day of class. The students were excited to begin a new unit. We repeated the following multiple times in class, “Cells create tissues, tissues create organs, and organs create systems.” The repetitiveness of this helped the students in meeting this standard. Also, the question on the post assessment was scaffolded in such a way that it helped the students come up with the answer. The overall objective understanding from pre to post-assessment increased from seven students to 16.

Objectives two, three and four discussed the functions of the skeletal and muscular system and the difference between voluntary and involuntary muscle. These were the other topics that were covered early in the unit. I was able to utilize the skeleton to give students a visual and we did many interactive activities involving the muscles in our bodies. I believe this helped the students master these objectives. On the pre-assessment, none of the students demonstrated objective two and only three students showed understanding of objective three, however, on the post assessment 14 of the 23 students got the correct answer pertaining to objectives two and three. Objective four also increased from three students to 11 students. I believe it is important to note that the pre-assessment was comprised of many multiple choice questions and students may have got the correct due to guessing.

Objectives five, seven and eight demonstrated student understanding as well, however, while all three objectives discussed the functions of each of the body systems (skin, respiratory and circulatory), the circulatory system was covered more adequately to meet the standard. This was due to the fact that the students were also going to complete an inquiry lab around this system and needed to have a more complete knowledge of it as a whole. There was already a large amount of students who demonstrated past knowledge around the circulatory system on the pre-assessment.

Although six of the eight objectives pertained to the functions of these various systems, the students only missed on objective six. My main reasoning is due to the lack of understanding around the word function, however, I also believe it was because we discussed the brain and the spinal cord within this unit. The nervous system lesson correlated with objective six. On no other unit did we discuss organs within these systems, we only covered functions as a whole.

My three focus students demonstrated the following:

Focus Student One- This student demonstrated growth and met the standard for each of the objectives with the exception of five and seven. This student also demonstrated a good amount of prior knowledge in comparison to their classmates according to the pre-assessment data.

This student is bright. She is constantly turning in her work before the rest of her classmates and typically does well on her work within the classroom. This is demonstrated in her Circulatory Lab. With that being said, she often rushes through her work and doesn’t perform to her best ability. Although her lab is well done, it is not complete and is somewhat sloppy. In order for her to increase her understanding of the content, she needs to take her time during the lab activities. In this particular lab she is missing her conclusions as well as the average heart rates at the bottom of her data table. Although she is bright, she typically gives little effort when it comes to work inside or outside the classroom. Her pre-assessment and post-assessment showed growth, but not to the extent that she probably could have achieved. Her post-assessment, which is located in the appendix, is vague and many of the problems she received partial credit on. In order for her to be more successful within her education, she needs to challenge herself when it comes to assignments, give them her best effort, and complete all of her work inside and outside of the classroom setting.

Focus Student Two- This student demonstrated little prior knowledge according to the pre-assessment data, however, proved understanding and met the standard for each of the objectives with the exception of three and six on the post-assessment. Like I’ve stated multiple times, objective six was not accurately represented in this data due to the lack of understanding around the word “function.”

This student is also bright, however, most of his academic success comes from his hard work. If you notice his lab work, it is well written, edited and complete. His conclusion is well thought out and follows the guiding questions that were given within the lab. According to the data, his pre-assessment scores were very low. The only objective he had background knowledge in was objective eight. After the unit, his post-assessment proved that he gained significant gains in content knowledge and only missed the areas around objective three and six. With that being said, many students missed objective six on the post-assessment due to confusion around particular vocabulary used in the question. For this student in particular, he would more than likely struggle with uncommon vocabulary due to the fact that he is an ESL student.  Ultimately this student met the standard, but missed out on certain aspects of the lesson. With his good work ethic, I don’t doubt he would be able to be re-assessed on those objectives after covering them again and would easily pass each of them.

Focus Student Three- Of the three focus students, this student showed the most growth in each of the objective areas with the exception of six. According to the pre-assessment data, this student demonstrated no prior knowledge on the topic and yet after the post-assessment, proved understanding in each of the eight objectives (with the exception of six) and clearly met the learning standard according to the Oregon Department of Education.

This student tested very low of the pre-assessment, but showed the biggest gains on the post-assessment. She got no questions correct initially and then after going over the unit materials, she post-tested and met every objective with the exception to number six. This is due to both a good work ethic and neatness within her work. Although not all of the content is easily understood by her, she asks questions to work her way through the academic work. One of the pieces of her sample work in the appendix is an exit slip. Often students just scribble something down quickly in order to get out of class, this student takes the time to jot down anything and everything she can think of. Her handwriting is nice and neat when she does all work, including her exit slips. This helps her organize her thoughts when doing class assignments. When looking at her pre-assessment and post-assessment it is clear that she had a little bit of background knowledge regarding the unit, however, once we covered the unit again, her thoughts and ideas came together in a more complete form.

When reflecting on the data and student learning, it was clear that multiple students missed the question on the post-assessment pertaining to objective six. This was in large part due to the way the question was phrased. Number five on the post-assessment was the correlating question to objective six. It was stated in the following way:

5) What is one of the functions of the nervous system?

The word “function” seemed to be a source of issue for multiple students. When reviewing the assessment answers the students produced responses that did not pertain to a function, but often a correlating organ to the nervous system such as “brain” or “spinal cord”. In order to compensate for this error in the future and get a true reading on their understanding of this objective, I will focus more on related vocabulary integration throughout the unit. In my lesson planning I will prepare definitions and check for understanding regarding literary vocabulary words they may come into contact with and could find confusing.

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