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Steve Watson is running the scannable test responses from
his eighth-grade class through the school's scanner. The
students completed their unit on the circulatory and respiratory
systems and these new test forms have replaced the older
test Mr. Watson has in his files. He's still able to include
a diagram of the body, but instead of labeling the test
paper itself the students can select items from an answer
bank and fill in corresponding bubbles on the scannable
sheets. Mr. Watson can quickly get the results, which, he
notices, are not much better than the grades on the papers
each student wrote—despite a week's worth of time in
the library. Mr. Watson knows that this is a difficult unit
for his students and really didn't expect the grades to
be much better than in years past. He feels like he bends
over backwards to give all the students the answers, but
they still don't seem to do well on this test. That means
the next unit will be just as difficult and the results
just as disappointing. |
Cindy Dawson's eighth-grade class is completing their unit
on the circulatory and respiratory systems. They began the
unit by watching a video then held a class discussion about
their own daily activity levels in response to the film.
Ms. Dawson taught all of her students how to take a pulse
and the students monitored their pulses at different times
of the day or after different activities over two weeks.
The students kept track of their readings in spreadsheets
and graphed the results. The class's final project included
developing their own fitness and diet program, with groups
developing a single exercise, detailing its effect on the
circulatory and respiratory systems, and considering safety
concerns. Each group also had to create one "heart healthy"
meal that students could easily bring for lunch or find
in the school cafeteria. The students have taped their own
fitness video to share with friends and family. |
