Helping Students Build Their Understanding in Physics 20 and 30 – From the Program of Studies to Skills Assessment on the Physics Diploma Examination

Who should attend

Physics Teachers and Administrators

About this learning opportunity

The presentation will contain three sections: What are the expectations of students as mandated by the Physics 20-30 Program of Studies? How can we encourage students to meet those expectations?; and How are the mandated skills going be assessed on the Physics 30 Diploma Examination?

You will use the Alberta Education documents, Physics 20-30 Classroom Based Performance Standards and Physics 20-30 Program of Studies, to reflect on the level of achievement your classroom activities and assessments are designed to provide evidence for. Although the documents will be provided, you are welcome to bring your own copies.

You will also evaluate various assessment tools and methods. We will start with machine-scored items (multiple-choice and numerical-response style) and, depending on the group, explore other methods such as group work, peer feedback, formative assessment, or backward design. Emphasis will be on Physics 20.

In the last section, you will have an opportunity to see how the Physics 30 Diploma Examination will be assessing mandated skills. We will be tying the skills back to student experiences in the classroom and explore strategies for increasing student success without teaching to the examination.

About the facilitator(s)

Laura Pankratz has been Physics 30 Examination Manager for 9 years and with Learner Assessment 6 more years as examiner for Physics, examiner for Mathematics, and acting examination manager for Science 30. Before that she taught all the Grade 9 to Grade 12 mathematics and science courses (except biology!)

Brenda Elder is on secondment from Black Gold School Division. In her 14 years of teaching she has worked with students in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics. Brenda enjoys camping and spending time with her family.