Why Education Sometimes Fails  
Students

 

Problem: Finding New Ways to Evaluate and Increase Students’ Understanding of Materials Being Taught

The problem of trying to find new ways to evaluate and increase students’ understanding of classroom materials that are being taught has become a major issue facing the United States and the world since the beginning of education really. This problem applies to students in all levels of the education setting (i.e. elementary school, middle school, high school, university, etc.) The goal of this web page is to make sure that students are actually learning the materials being taught and to also make sure that students aren’t feeling too stressed out or overwhelmed during the process. As many of us know, examinations and written essay tests may not be the best methods to use when trying to understand whether or not students actually learned the materials being taught in a specific class as these forms of evaluation cause a lot of unnecessary stress on students. We will address that problem by listing out new ways to evaluate students’ understanding (our solutions) outside of the current examination and written essay tests that are widely used. These changes and the data that will be accumulated as a result will hopefully result in increased student understanding of the materials being taught to them since students won’t feel the need to stress out studying the night before an examination or written essay test.

 

 

Top 5 Solutions

 

Idea Description Resource Link 1. Asking students to reflect on what they learned during the class During the following school year after students have learned the materials, ask students to reflect on the lessons they have learned by writing down what they’ve learned. Evaluate students’ responses to make sure that they have in fact retained the information. New Zealand's Take: Reflection Method 2. One question quiz Teachers ask a single focused question with a specific goal that can be answered within a minute or two. Teachers can quickly scan the written responses to assess student understanding and figure out which students need help with the topic(s) in the coming days. Quizzes: Special Focus On #1 and #2 3. Think-pair-share Students take a few minutes to think about a question or prompt. Next, they pair with a designated partner to compare thoughts before sharing it with the whole class. Method Overview: Think-Pair-Share 4. Misconception check Presents students with common or predictable misconceptions about a concept being covered. Ask them whether they agree or disagree and to explain why. If the question truly has one right answer, teachers can focus on those students who don’t really understand the material fully within 1 weeks’ time. Method Overview: Misconception Check 5. Peer instruction Perhaps the most accurate way to check for understanding is to have one student try to teach another student what they learned. If the student can do that successfully, it’s clear that they understood the lesson. If not, proper methods can be taken to make sure that the student fully understands the lesson being taught. Peer Instruction - Rochester Institute of Technology

 

S.M.A.R.T. Business Objectives

 

1. Increase students’ overall understanding of course materials by 15% within 1 school year (i.e. evaluate if the material is still understood by the student 1 school year after it was taught) by asking students to either reflect on the materials they learned.
2. Increase students’ understanding of chapter or unit materials by 5% within 2 weeks by using the one question quiz method.
3. Increase students’ understanding of each individual objective by at least 25% within 3 days through using the think-pair-share method.
4. Increase students’ understanding of daily class materials by at least 20% within 1 week through using the misconception check solution method.
5. Increase students’ understanding of daily class materials by at least 10% within 2 days through using the peer instruction solution method.

Nikolaus Sutton takes full responsibility for the information posted. The information on this page represents that of Nikolaus Sutton and not that of California State University, Sacramento.