Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)

Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)

CATs are spot checks for understanding that are quick, easy, and effective. Students benefit from the opportunity to check their own comprehension and reorganize their ideas if necessary. These activities are appropriate for initiating, clarifying, and summarizing information at any point in a given class session. It is important to conduct CATs periodically in the class to assess your students' understanding and provide necessary feedback to reinforce correct concepts and clarify misconception. Tanner and Allen (2004) describe the iterative nature of classroom assessment as a cycle of

• asking questions about student learning,
• collecting classroom assessment data,
• analyzing student understanding, and
  
• making instructional choices.

Identifying Learner Attitudes, Values, and Self-awareness

• Self-confidence Survey. Ask students to complete a brief survey that measures their confidence in at least three skills or abilities important to success in the course. Make sure your students know their responses are anonymous.
• Punctuated Lecture . Suspend a lecture with a low-preparation activity that allows students to listen, stop, reflect, write, and give feedback to the instructor in the form of short, anonymous notes.
• Classroom Opinion Poll . Conduct a poll related to one or two issues where students can respond yes or no on a short polling form.

Assessing Prior Knowledge, Recall, and Understanding

• Background Knowledge Probe. Draft one or two open-ended questions to emphasize important information and to determine an appropriate starting point for a given lesson.

1. 1. Prepare a brief questionnaire to give students at the beginning of a course or before introducing a new topic.
   2. Use either a few open-ended questions, short answer questions or ten to twenty multiple choice questions on the content to be covered.
   3. Be sure to let students know that these are not tests or quizzes and that they will not be graded.

• Minute Paper . During the first or last few minutes of class, have students write a paragraph about their understanding of a particular topic or an assignment.

1. 1. Stop class two or three minutes early and ask students the following two questions (or some variation of them):“What was the most important thing you learned during this class?” and/or “What important question remains unanswered?”
   2. Students write their responses on index cards or half-sheets of paper and hand them in.
   3. Faculty can quickly find out what students see as the most significant things they are learning and what other questions they have and can then decide whether any changes or adjustment in instruction are needed.

• Muddiest Point. Have students describe the most unclear or confusing part of a lecture, discussion, homework assignment, or field experience in a course that emphasizes integrating, synthesizing, and evaluating information. This technique will help faculty determine which particular aspects of the course content are most difficult for students to learn.

1. 1. Ask student to jot down a quick response to one question: “What was the muddiest point in __________________?”
   2. The question could be asked about a homework assignment, a video, a lecture, or some other component of the course.

• Focused Listing. Have students identify a web of concepts connected to one point. This listing can help students focus attention on the significant aspects of one theory, person, or concept. This technique will help faculty identify what students think are the most important points related to a given topic and can be given before, during, or after addressing the topic.

1. 1. Identify a single concept, term, name, or principle that you expect students to understand.
   2. Have students quickly make a list of related terms that are important for understanding that topic.
   3. Give them a time limit or a limit on the number of items they should write – usually two or three minutes or five to ten items are appropriate.

• One-Sentence Summary . This technique involves having students answer the questions “Who does what to whom, when, where, how and why?” about a given topic. They must do this in one informative and grammatical sentence (usually a long one). This technique will help faculty find out how well students can concisely and appropriately summarize information on a selected topic.

1. 1. Select an important topic that you expect your students to be able to summarize.
   2. Try to answer the WDWWWWHW question yourself, as quickly as you can.
   3. Give students about twice as much time as it took you to come up with the sentence.

• Empty Outline . To assess how well students have learned course content, give students a partially completed outline on a topic and have them fill in the blank spaces. This will help faculty determine how well students have learned the important aspects of a topic and will help students become more aware of the organization of the main points of the material.
• Memory Matrix. This technique is used to assess how well students recall and organize content.
• 1. Give students a table to organize information. Provide row and column headings and leave cells blank for students to complete.
  2. Have students write words or brief phrases in each cell. The table below provides one example.

Assessing Higher Order Thinking Skills (analysis, synthesis, problem solving, and application)

• Pro and Con Grid. Provide a prompt eliciting thoughtful advantages and disadvantages in relation to an issue or dilemma. Then have students to analyze the costs and benefits of an issue.

• Concept Map. Have students create a concept map that analyzes and synthesizes ideas from readings or discussions. Afterwards, ask students to post their maps (electronically or physically) for peer feedback. Students can organize their map around one idea or question. Using this technique will give faculty a visual representation of the associations that students have formed between different concepts.

1. 1. Select a concept that is both important for students to understand and that has a fair number of connections to other concepts.
   2. Have students begin by brainstorming a list of terms, phrases, or concepts related to the target concept.
   3. Then have students draw or diagram the connections between the target concept and other concepts that they have learned.
   4. The concept map might look like a wheel with spokes, a geographical map, a flowchart, or some other form of representation.
   5. Having a simple example of a concept map using a different concept may be helpful for students who are unfamiliar with the idea of concept mapping.

• Application Card. Ask students to write down one possible, real-world application of a principle, theory, or procedure on a note card. Encourage creativity instead of reliance on text-book and lecture examples. This technique will help faculty determine how well students understand specific ideas and will encourage students to connect the concepts with real-life and their own previous knowledge.

1. 1. Choose a principle, generalization, theory, or procedure that students have been exposed to through reading or lecture.
   2. Give students an index card and have them write down a possible real-world application for the concept you chose.

General tips for using CATs

Steadman (1998) suggests faculty consider the following questions prior to using CATs in their classroom:

Purpose of CAT	Questions to consider when choosing CAT
To improve student learning	What is my definition of "improved" student learning? What will my students learn about their learning from this CAT? Does this CAT model any learning strategies?
To monitor student learning	What will I learn about my students' comprehension?
To improve teaching	What skills am I interested in improving? How will I use feedback to make changes in my teaching?
To obtain feedback on teaching and classroom activities	What do I expect to learn about my teaching? What practices or classroom activities do I need feedback on?
To improve communication and collaboration with students	How does this CAT offer students a voice and a stake in controlling the class?

Other tips include:

• Select a specific learning objective or teaching goal you want to assess.
• Choose techniques that will provide useful feedback and involve your students in learning.
• Use more than one technique and use them frequently.
• Plan ahead for data analysis and how you will respond to areas needing improvement.
• Explicitly share this information with your students.
• Don’t ask feedback on things you cannot or will not change.
• Try out on yourself FIRST before having students complete it in class.
  

References

• Angelo, T.A. & Cross, P.K. (1993). Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. (2^nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Steadman, M. (1998). Using classroom assessment to change both teaching and learning. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 1998(75), 23-35.
• Tanner, K., & Allen, D. (2004). Approaches to biology teaching and learning: From assays to assessments—on collecting evidence in science teaching. Cell BiologyEducation,3(2), 69-74.