The Full Story
Skills, Knowledge, Understanding
Students were asked to write an article comparing and contrasting two very similar animals. Prior to this task they had learned about adaptability in environments for animals and plants in biology, whilst in English, they learned about compare and contrast structures as we; as the importance of vivid descriptions and the use of metaphors and similes to make scientific writing come alive for the reader.
Skills
Skills are things that take time to develop. You need to practice them. Different students develop the skills at different paces. In English, often what we practise and learn earlier on in the year are used at a later assessment. We began looking at compare and contrast phrases a few months before this assessment.
This assessment focused on developing the following skills:
note-taking and researching
time management
planning, drafting, and reviewing
using compare and contrast phrases
writing coherent paragraphs
using compare and contrast essay structures - block structure or point by point.
writing vivid descriptions using strong verbs, adjectives, and nouns
using metaphors and similes
Knowledge
Knowledge can change based on new research. Knowledge relates to facts.
In terms of biology and this assessment, students used what they learned about the taxonomy of animals.
Understanding
Understanding of a topic and task is a little harder to measure. Through this assessment, it is hoped students develop a deeper understanding of taxonomy and possibly the evolutionary tree. In terms of writing, it is hoped students will develop an understanding of how important language is in scientific writing and how word choice can make your writing accessible to others as well as understanding the importance of unit and coherency. On a personal level, students are working out what kind of process they need to take in order to write well. ( E.ge using different types of note-taking systems, knowing how much time is needed). Kerensa often tells her students that difficulty in writing is often connected to not having done enough research or planning early on and becoming an expert of the topic.