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Monitoring and Evaluation
All the Estuaries 101 activities are scaffolded and supported by:
- background information for both the teachers and students, since there is a role for reading and direct delivery of content in learning, as part of the overall process;
- by student sheets, which provide guidance through the experiences and ask both specific response and reflection questions to ensure that students are on track and are thinking about what they are doing and why;
- by assessment pieces for individual activities and for entire Modules, providing a means for both grading, as appropriate, and checking in with student advances in understanding; and
- finally by optional extension inquiries, which provide suggestions on how the concepts, skills, data, and questions addressed in the activities can be pursued in more depth by classes or individuals interested in taking their explorations to the next level.
Each Module concludes with an assessment piece, designed for use after completion of all the activities within that Module. These assessments, which overarch all the activities within a Module, provide a means for both grading, as appropriate, and checking in with student advances in understanding.
Complementary to the assessment tools that have been included in the Modules, NERRS, will initially, evaluate the use and effectiveness of the Curriculum by:
- Inviting educators to complete a feedback form which asks about what works well and what can be improved about the materials. This form will remain available for a full year to give educators the opportunity to use the materials in the classroom and then complete this form.
- Evaluating the use of the curriculum by educators participating in NERRS led professional teacher training workshop. This evaluation will include not only an analysis of whether teachers find the products useful and effective, but whether they were able to guide their own students in inquiry. In other words, the evaluation will consist of two phases: one at the time of delivery of the training and one after the teachers have been able to use the training in their classrooms. Data will be collected during these two phases. Educators will be invited to be researchers, providing information and experience about bringing estuarine concepts and monitoring data into the classroom.
The information gathered will inform improvements that need to be made and/or other support structures that need to be set to ensure effective implementation. Regular updates will be published throughout this timeframe.
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Last Updated on: 04-23-2010
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