I was part of a meeting the other day in which we all looked at an Elementary School unit still in the planning process. What was amazing to me was a chart that had been set up to look at how assessments should look using the six facets of understanding (Explain, Interpret, Apply, Perspective, Empathy, Self-Knowledge). It was a quick view of assessments for units throughout the Elementary school.
What I have attempted to do here is to do the same thing but through the lens of how to add technology to an assessment to add technological value to the assessment. I other words, given a subject in the High School, what kind of assessment could be used with technology where the technology would be assessed along with the subject matter.
Since assessment is the second phase of UbD planning, it makes sense to have something like this for teachers to help them in their decision making process. Here is what I came up with;
Biology:
Explain: (1) Develop a website that guides students through the dissection of a frog.
(2) Create a stop frame animation that explains cell division.
Interpret: (1) Use a wiki to analyze and compare the ways in which animals protect themselves in harsh environments.
Apply: (1) Create a wordless PowerPoint that shows the importance of the Sun for the growth of plants.
(2) Make a Flash animation about the circulatory system in the Human body.
(3) Using the information from Health class, create a website that looks at what changes can be expected on the Human Body as it ages.
Perspective: (1) Create a blog that argues the importance of the ozone layer.
(2) Propose the existence of new life form from the Amazon jungle on a Wiki.
Empathy: (1) Make a short movie about the day in the life of a professional Biologist.
(2) Create an animation about the life cycle of a butterfly from the perspective of the butterfly.
Self-Knowledge: (1) Make an ePub document that outlines what part of environmental conservation you are willing to advocate for.
Math:
Explain: (1) Create an animation that explains how arcs and curves are formed from sections of cones.
(2) Explain in a movie how to prove by mathematical induction that 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + ... + 2n-1 = 2n - 1
Interpret: (1) Interpret the curve of a graph and relate it to a real world situation through a Keynote presentation.
(2) Create a movie that looks at an analysis of the Vitruvian Man by Da Vinci.
Apply: (1) Using the app TRACKER, determine the best arc to guarantee a three point free throw in basketball standing at the closest line possible for a three point throw.
Perspective: (1) Use a blog to debate the mathematics of the Rubik's Cube. Include other geometrical shapes.
(2) Create an animation that looks at the
Empathy: (1) Look at the population growth and economic growth of the country of Tchad and discuss the future implications (mathematically).
Self-Knowledge: (1) Using PowerPoint, point out some current careers that use the concepts of Algebra, Geometry and Calculus and how they are used within the career.
Social Studies:
Explain: (1) Using Facebook, create a page for a famous American like Benjamin Franklin. Have your friends add to his wall with items that would be of interest regarding his life and comings and goings.
(2) Explain how to draw and label a basic economic graph. Use Keynote to present this and make sure it is animated with the
Interpret: (1) What was life like for the pioneers of the American Revolution? Use a blog to keep track of a month of life for someone in this position. Gather information from books, articles and journals of these people.
(2) Using life during the great plague, write a journal about the fears and tribulations of a young person during this time. Convert your dovument into a ePub file so it is available to readers of the class on their iPads.
(3) Create a Prezi movie the looks at the expansion and colonization of Africa.
Apply: (1) Create a wordless PowerPoint, with an original score, about life as a Jewish family during the time of Nazi Germany.
(2) Create a movie that can be looped showing artifacts that relate to the life of a British Soldier in America circa: 1750-1776.
Perspective: (1) Create a podcast the might reenact a discussion in Independence Hall Philadelphia as the US Declaration of Independence was being drafted.
(2) Film a debate between Israeli and Irani Prime Ministers on the state of peace in the Middle East.
(3) Open an online discussion between Napoleon and King George III regarding the expansionist ideas of the French through Europe.
Empathy: (1) Create a Wiki of a series of letters to the Editor of a German Newspaper during World War 1 regarding the upcoming Christmas season holiday from fighting.
(2) Make a podcast of a eulogy for George Washington's death in 1799 as a member of his cabinet.
Self-Knowledge: (1) Create a blog on what you think about your experiences during SARS or some other major epidemic of the last decade. If you have none, then put yourself into one of these.
(2) How have you adapted to Chinese customs and norms. Create a Flash animation that explains the Chinese custom and how you have adapted to it.
English:
Explain: (1) Crete a Prezi that explains how verbs and nouns are used in a sentence.
(2) Explain in a Keynote Presentation how William Shakespeare used comedy in his plays.
(3) Create a Podcast that explains how modern advertising is used to sell products to specific groups of people ie. Teens or Young Adults.
Intepret: (1) Video a short presentation on what life was like during the time of Victor Hugo.
(2) Use PowerPoint to point out how life for Pip (Great Expectations) was no better than anyone else during this time.
(3) Create a mind map that takes a stroll through Africa at the time of Casablanca. Include the geopolitacl forces of the time as well as the political.
Apply: (1) Create a PowerPoint that compares the home of a Nazi soldier and a German Doctor during the time of Ann Frank.
(2) Have Sandy and Holden apply for a university. Include a University Essay from both, high school records and letters of recommendation. Put all of these into an artifact display using Keynote.
Perspective: (1) Recreate a speech as a podcast when Nelson Mandela was running for office.
(2) Interview Laura from the Glass Menagerie about her life and fascination with people that have freckles. Record as a guest on a talk show.
Empathy: (1) Create a moving and emotional soliloquy for Julius Ceasar and perform it in front of the Roman Colesum. Use Green Screen movie creation for this.
Self-Knowledge: (1) Interview a contemporary writer (poet, essayist or book writer) and write an essay that compares what their life is like compared to a similar writer of the past.
