Show What You Know-Test (Science 8)

This post is courtesy of Middle School Teacher Lindsay Guza: Today I decided to give my class a very non-traditional test. I gave the student the hand-out below and a large piece of blank, white paper.

Energy Flows and matter cycles in ecosystems

Chapter 2- QUEST

INSTRUCTIONS

On blank paper, please show me that you understand the concepts and ideas covered in this Chapter. You may write notes, a paragraph, drawings and/or diagrams.

BE sure to include labels and vocabulary from Chapter 2.

Concepts:

1. How energy gets into the living parts of an ecosystem.

a. Photosynthesis

2. How Energy gets transferred in an ecosystem.

a. Food Chains

b. Food Webs

c. Ecological Pyramids

3. How Water cycles through the non-living parts of an ecosystem.

a. The water cycle

THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK!

I was not in the class, as I was doing my planning, but it worked out even better than I had imagined. Here are some examples.

Student #1 often gets assistance from an adult to write tests and do work.  Today he did this test independently! 
Food Chain:


Water Cycle with ALL of the vocabulary:


Photosynthesis with ALL of the vocabulary:


Student #2:  During the last Science test, this student did not answer half the questions even though she knew many of the answers.  Today, she completed this test with no extra help or encouragement. 


Food Chain:





Student #3 always excels at tests and written work. She was able to demonstrate her learning in a new way. She was also given the opportunity to show more than she would have been able to on a traditional test.