Pre-Assessment and Cognitive Approaches
Pre-assessing students helps guide lesson plans to make sure students are able to fully grasp the concepts being taught and make sure they have the prerequisite knowledge in order to understand what is being taught. This is especially important with all students because they may not have the same understanding of what we consider to be "common" childhood knowledge. They may have been raised in areas that did not have certain items, foods, or activities; therefore they have no knowledge of these particular things.
Students may also have prior knowledge that is inaccurate that pre-assessment can show a teacher also. Not only does pre-assessment have the potential to provide information about students' current levels of achievement, it may also provide valuable information about possible misconceptions and false beliefs held by students that may hinder instruction (Dochy et al., 1999).
Some strategies include:
Students may also have prior knowledge that is inaccurate that pre-assessment can show a teacher also. Not only does pre-assessment have the potential to provide information about students' current levels of achievement, it may also provide valuable information about possible misconceptions and false beliefs held by students that may hinder instruction (Dochy et al., 1999).
Some strategies include:
- Traditional Pre-Test - Perhaps not the most cutting edge, but a pre-test containing lesson data can illustrate where each student should begin the learning process for the course (Chapman & King, 2005; Tomlinson, 2001). Beware, though, that this only indicates what the student has memorized, not the student's understanding (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005).
- Concept Mapping - Ask students to create a web or map of ideas related to the topic, paying attention to how the concepts link not only to the main topic, but to each other.
- Self-Assessment Questionnaire - Create a questionnaire with topical questions (i.e. What do you know about _______?"), with the option of re-question closed or open (circle the appropriate level) answers.
- KWL Chart-There are many ways to pre-assess a classroom full of students, one which is having students create a chart with "What I know, What I want to know, and What I learned" areas to fill in prior to a new concept. The chart (KWL) provides meaningful feedback to the teacher to design a lesson but also allows students to reflect on what they learned and set goals based on what they want to learn. The box below provides a link to a KWL chart.
Cognitive Approach: This approach allows teachers to focus instructional design on processes and challenges specific to the learner to help teachers meet the needs of CLD students, students with disabilities, gifted students, and general education students (Herrera & Murry, 2011).
- Graphic organizers: Teachers can use graphic organizers to tailor support and scaffolding to each student’s particular learning needs (Goodwin & Ross Hubbell, 2013).
- Self-assessments: This strategy helps students monitor their progress and become more aware of their learning processes to help inform learning strategies (Herrera & Murry, 2011).
- Instructional Scaffolding: Scaffolds should be different for each student as they are just temporary structures to assist students. Each student is at a different level of language proficiency and therefore scaffolding will be different for each student (Larkin, n.d.).