Digital Assessment: Chemical Reactions

Chemical Reactions Assessment

Intended Audience:

This lesson is intended for introductory level chemistry students.

Learning Objectives:

1. Students will be able to balance a chemical equation.
2. Students will be able to identify a chemical reaction as either synthesis, decomposition, single replacement, double replacement, or combustion
3. Students will be able to predict the products of simple chemical reactions as they follow the patterns found in synthesis, decomposition, single replacement, double replacement, and combustion reactions.
4. HS-PS1-7 Use mathematical representations to support the claim that atoms, and therefore mass, are conserved during a chemical reaction. (Taken from NGSS)
5. HS-PS1-2 Construct and revise an explanation for the outcome of a simple chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and knowledge of the patterns of chemical properties. (Taken from NGSS)

Assessment Type:

Formative assessment on chemical reactions. This assessment includes balancing chemical equations, identifying types of reactions, and predicting products of a chemical reaction.

Assessment Purpose:

The purpose of this assessment is to allow students the chance to show me what they have learned, as well as to give students feedback on their current understanding. This assessment would be given prior to a unit test to allow time for students to further their understanding on the various skills being assessed. This assessment uses a variety of multiple choice, matching, and short answer type questions.

Journal Article: Classroom Versus Online Assessment

In their article Classroom Versus Online Assessment, Spivey and McMillan point out how much technology has changed education, and the number of resources available to teachers and students online. Among these resources are online classes and online assessments. According to the Spivey and McMillan (2014), there are several benefits to online assessment such as flexibility in testing times, randomization of questions and multiple-choice responses, opportunities for students to rework similar questions multiple times, multiple options for feedback, and the ability to provide hints. (p. 450)  However, the authors found little research attempting to correlate testing format, online or paper-and-pencil, to student effort or student achievement.

To study this question, Spivey and McMillan studied 174 students in an upper level finance course. All students were in various sections of the same course taught by the same instructor. Some sections were tested with traditional paper-and-pencil tests while other sections were assessed online. To gather data on student effort, the researchers observed how often students accessed online study resources. When analyzing their data, the researchers found that “on average, students who did well in other courses, did well in the class and students with higher GPAs put forth more study effort” (Spivey & McMillan, 2014, p. 453). Spivey and McMillan (2014) also found that “neither study efforts nor course performance was influenced by testing procedure” (p. 453). Because of the statistical insignificance of testing formats, the researchers encourage instructors to experiment online testing, as there are still advantages such as increased flexibility, convenience, and ability to provide immediate feedback.

I found this article very fascinating! I had not thought about student motivation as it relates to testing format prior to reading this study. As it turns out, one testing format did not encourage more student effort over another. However, I think Spivey and McMillan point out some other really great advantages to online assessment over traditional assessments. The biggest advantage to online testing that stands out to me is the ability to provide immediate feedback, and the variety of ways feedback can be given. Giving students timely feedback is so important to helping students grow, and better understand material. My ability to provide students with good feedback, quickly, has been an area that I am looking to improve on. Utilizing more online assessments with a built-in feedback feature is definitely something I should incorporate to my teaching. Currently, I use apps like Kahoot as a way to informally assess my students, and review material. However, this is where my use of online assessment stops. I will be looking for more ways to use online assessment in my classroom as a means to improve my ability to give students meaningful feedback.

Spivey, M. F., & McMillan, J. J. (2014). Classroom Versus Online Assessment. Journal Of Education For Business, 89(8), 450-456. doi:10.1080/08832323.2014.937676

Screencast: Balancing Chemical Equations Simulation

Intended Audience:

This lesson is intended for introductory level chemistry students.

Learning Objectives

1. Students will be able to balance a chemical equation.
2. HS-PS1-7 Use mathematical representations to support the claim that atoms, and therefore mass, are conserved during a chemical reaction. (Taken from NGSS)

Lesson Rational:

An integral component of every introductory chemistry course is the study of matter and how it interacts. When teaching about chemical reactions, it is common to start with the law of conservation of mass. This is a chemical principle that states that mass cannot be created nor destroyed. One of the biggest implications of this law is that all chemical equations must be balanced -- the same number of atoms must be represented on both the product and reactant side of the equation.

The screencast embedded below is meant to help students find, and operate a PhET simulation about balancing chemical equations. Students will be provided with a worksheet to go along with the PhET simulation. Therefore, the goal of this screencast is focused more on how to use the simulation, rather than explaining content. Ideally, the simulation and the worksheet will act together to make a guided inquiry lesson. In this lesson, students should see that an equation is not balanced until all elements are equally represented on the product and reactant side of the equation. If students are unable to finish the worksheet in class, the screencast can act as instructions to access the simulation at home as well.

Journal Article: Impact of Screencast Technology: Connecting the Perception of Usefulness and the Reality of Performance

The study, Impact of Screencast Technology: Connecting the Perception of Usefulness and the Reality of Performance, focuses on undergraduate engineering students, and explores how and why students use screencasts. For their study, Green, Pinder-Grover, and Millunchick (2012) have identified several uses of screencasts in education that include: “providing an overview, describing procedures, presenting concepts, elaborating on content, and focusing attention” (p. 718). Data is collected throughout the semester via student survey and course performance. One specific type of screencast used in this study are homework solution screencasts. In general, students found these screencasts to be very useful for a couple of reasons such as additional study resources, or a way to better understand problems that were done wrong, and why the student had done them wrong. At the end of the study, 92% of students surveyed believed they had a deeper understanding of the material after viewing the screencast. (Green et al., 2012, p. 726).

Another type of screencast offered to students in this study were mini-lecture screencasts. These screencasts were created by an instructor based off of a poll of the students and their misconceptions. In addition to using mini-lecture screencasts as a study resource, students used these videos to help fill in gaps to their notes. Again, 90% of students surveyed found these mini-lecture screencasts to be beneficial. In the end of the study, “we found a positive, significant correlation between screencast use and performance overall” (Green et al., 2012, p. 729). This is especially true if a student has a positive attitude towards screencasts, and can see the benefit to viewing these videos.

I found this study to be very interesting. I have always thought of using screencasts in my classroom as a way to show my students procedures. In reading this study, I became more aware of the various ways screencasts could be used in the classroom. Based off of the study, it is clear to see the benefit of screencasts, and I would like to incorporate more of them into my instruction. While incorporating these videos, I would definitely have a discussion with my students about the benefits of viewing them. This study pointed out that when students see the benefit to the screencast, they are more likely to view the screencast, and they will take away more information from viewing the video.

I think both major types of screencast that were discussed in the study, homework solution and mini-lecture, would be excellent to try in my classroom. I always go over homework in class. However, a screencast would allow students who are gone, or students who need to hear the solution again, a chance to meet their individual needs. Mini-lecture screencasts are a neat idea, too. I think giving the chance to have students identify what they are confused about, and then going home and watching a video that further explains that topic is a great way reach my students. This method also gives students some control over what they are learning.

GREEN, K. R., PINDER-GROVER, T., & MILLUNCHICK, J. M. (2012). Impact of Screencast Technology: Connecting the Perception of Usefulness and the Reality of Performance. Journal Of Engineering Education, 101(4), 717-737.

The 5 Types of Reactions: Podcast Series

Intended Audience:
This lesson is intended for introductory level chemistry students.

Learning Objectives

1. Students will be able to identify a chemical reaction as either synthesis, decomposition, single replacement, double replacement, or combustion
2. Students will be able to predict the products of simple chemical reactions as they follow the patterns found in synthesis, decomposition, single replacement, double replacement, and combustion reactions.
3. HS-PS1-2 Construct and revise an explanation for the outcome of a simple chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and knowledge of the patterns of chemical properties. (Taken from NGSS)

Lesson Rational:

An integral component of every introductory chemistry course is the study of matter and how it interacts. Most of the interactions of matter can be classified as one of the 5 types of chemical reactions. In this lesson, students will have the opportunity to listen to, and take notes on, five podcasts that describe the different types of reactions. I would assign these podcasts, along with fill-in notes, the night before I talk about the types of reactions in class. This way students have some background as to what I will be discussing. I have chosen to make one audio recording for each type of reaction. This can help students in a couple of ways. First of all when students are initially listening to podcasts, the fill-in notes will be easy to follow, and students will not have to guess which reaction I am talking about at which point. Secondly, if a student ever feels the need to go back and re-listen to information about a certain type of reaction, they will not need to scan through one long podcast. Instead, they can just listen to the podcast or podcasts that they are confused about.

Podcast Series:

5 Types of Reactions: Introduction

5 Types of Reactions: Synthesis

5 Types of Reactions: Decomposition

5 Types of Reactions: Single Replacement

5 Types of Reactions: Double Replacement

5 Types of Reactions: Combustion

Journal Article: Podcasts in the Chemistry Teaching

In the article Podcasts in the Chemistry Teaching, Leite observed how podcasts can be used in chemistry education. Leite observed both teachers and students to write the article, and collected qualitative data through methods of case studies and surveys. The podcasts that were observed included some major chemical topics such as: density, solubility, acid-base, and energy. The study found that “ the Podcast is a powerful tool as a complement to traditional teaching resources, but we cannot consider as a substitute for them” (Leite, 2016, p. 344). In preparing podcasts, teachers and students are required to go through a process of selecting a topic, writing a script, production, and editing. In this process, the podcast producer needs to really think though the content, and the goals of the podcast. This process encourages interaction, motivation, and visualization of chemical situations. The end result is something that can be easily accessible via the internet and used by other teachers and students in the future. Leite also mentions that podcasts could be used as a research tool to introduce a new topic, or to revise current understandings.

As a high school chemistry teacher, I found this article to be very interesting. At first glance, I was not sure how I could use a podcast in my classroom. However, I know see several applications. The first way I could see using podcasts for my instruction is as an introductory resource. I can either create, or find, a podcast that my students could listen to and take notes on as a way to introduce a concept. This is something I could assign to my students as homework, and therefore opening up more time during the school day to focus on practice or experiments. I could also use a podcast to revise my student’s understanding. In chemistry, we often start with a big idea, and as we learn more, we start to revise and adapt our understanding to fit new information. I see podcasts fitting into this process in two ways. I could use a podcast to provide more information to my students to further their understanding. I could also provide my students with a podcast, and pose to them the question of what is inaccurate about this podcast? How can we change this podcast to fit our better understanding?.

Finally, I see that I could have my students creating podcasts. Making a podcast requires a lot of thought. Students would have to have an in depth understanding of the content they would be presenting in their podcast. This could be an excellent project at the end of a semester. Students could be assigned a topic to create a podcast for. In doing this, each student would become an expert on their topic. Once all of the podcasts have been made, they could be shared with all students, and a study guide has been born.

Leite, B. S. (2016). Podcasts in the Chemistry Teaching. Orbital: The Electronic Journal Of Chemistry, 8(6), 341-351. doi:10.17807/orbital.v0i0.898

Journal Article: Extending social networking into the secondary education sector

In summary, this article examines the use of social networking sites as a tool in secondary education classrooms in Macau, China. Su Iong examines the use of social networking sites as a learning management system, a platform for teachers’ professional development, and a means to encourage student engagement. (2016, p. 721) The article continues to describe the social nature of learning, and how discourse and collaboration with peers is a key element to learning new content. Social networking sites lend themselves to this type of interaction, but on a virtual platform. With the use of social networking sites, the teacher’s role has been changed from provider of information to facilitator of discussion. Studies have shown that student attitude, engagement, motivation, and trust can all be improved with the incorporation of social networking sites. However, this study does point to a few issues in the implementation of social networking sites in education. The author is unsure if students are mature enough to use social networking site for academic purposes. A benefit to social networking sites is accessibility. In a study of 851 secondary students, 830 of them currently had a Facebook account.  In this study, the utilization of social networking sites for academic purposes by students was also examined. The researchers found that students see the potential in social networking sites for academics, but may need further support to reap all of the benefits.

I found this article to be very interesting! In my own experience, I have seen teachers struggle with the use of social networking sites, like Facebook, in their classrooms. I think this happens for a couple of reasons. Teachers are worried about the legality of interacting with their students on social media, and also do not trust their students to use social networking sites for the appropriate reasons. Sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are often seen as distractions to learning rather than tools to facilitate it. In my own classroom, I have set up a Twitter account that students can use to see the weekly agenda, read chemistry jokes, or ask me questions outside of class. I have enjoyed using twitter as a way to engage my students outside of the classroom. I have also really enjoyed the professional development opportunities available on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Su Iong, K. (2016). Extending social networking into the secondary education sector. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 47(4), 721-733. doi:10.1111/bjet.12259

Journal Article: Utilizing Technology in Physical Education: Addressing the Obstacles of Integration

In the article Utilizing Technology in Physical Education: Addressing the Obstacles of Integration, Pyle and Esslinger pinpoint two barriers to technology integration, and how to overcome them. The two barriers the authors point to are administrator views and self-imposed barriers. Administrators often tend to disconnect physical education and technology, and therefore when developing a technology integration plan, administrators leave out PE from the discussion. Physical education teachers may view technology as important, but again, may fail to see how to incorporate technology into their curriculum. One of the ways to overcome these obstacles that Pyle and Esslinger give is teacher preparation. Teachers need to be trained on technology, its importance, and its uses. The authors then continue on to list ideas for how technology may be used by physical education teachers. Some of their ideas include class preparation, classroom management, communication, instruction and feedback, and assessment. Teachers can use technology to prepare for class by finding ideas, lessons, and units online and via collaborating with other teachers. Using technology to set workouts to music is a way to keep your class motivated. Keeping parents, students, colleagues, and administrators in the loop is much easier with technology. Heart rate monitors, ipads, video recorders can all be used to give students instruction or feedback. Online assessments can be used to allow more time for activities while in PE class. Even though PE and technology may seem disconnected, they really do not have to be!

Although this article does not directly relate to me, as I am not a physical education teacher, I found the content to be very useful. I think teacher and administrator attitudes towards technology can be a barrier for any subject. Technology integration begins with a want to use a tool. The solution that this article offers is training. Teachers need to have ideas on how to use various forms of technology in their classrooms. Teachers and administrators also need to know the requirements of their state, and what technology standards they are expected to cover in their classrooms. A quote from the article that really rang true for me is that “technology should be used to enhance student learning, to save time, and to motivate the student and the teacher" (Pyle & Esslinger, 2013, p. 36). This is true for all subjects. We should not be incorporating technology into our curriculum because we need to meet state standards, because it's cool, or because we want to bypass teaching a skill. I really do agree with this quote in that we should use technology to enhance student learning.

Pyle, B., & Esslinger, K. (2013). Utilizing Technology in Physical Education: Addressing the Obstacles of Integration. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 80(2), 35-39.

Journal Article: Current Trends in Higher Education Technology: Simulation

In the article Current Trends in Higher Education Technology: Simulation, Andrea Damewood focuses on simulation technology as an educational tool. For the purposes of the article, Damewood uses the dictionary.com definition of simulation: a system representing or standing in for another system. Damewood focuses on simulations as they pertain to higher education nursing programs, but much of what she has to say can be used to discuss simulations for education in general. For example, simulations should have a high fidelity, or be highly realistic. With highly realistic simulations, the more real the learning experience while using the simulation, and the better the outcome for the student. This is because simulations are active learning experiences where students can apply what has been learned in class or lecture.  Simulations also produce a low-risk environment for students to explore and do their best to apply their content knowledge. The author also discusses how good simulations allow time for students to reflect on the learning experience and make additional meaning from what they have gone through. The learning theories that simulations touch on are experiential learning and social learning. In a simulation, students get to experience, first hand, a system that they may be using in their career. The social aspect of simulations is built in as students often collaborate with one another as they work through a simulation. According to Damewood, “we simulate to learn what we do not already know; to see situations from new angles; to learn from both our successes and our mistakes; and to experiment without risk to real people, environments, or property” (2016, p. 269).

I can definitely see where Damewood is coming from in her article. I have seen simulations as a technology trend in my own classroom, and have noticed the benefits of using simulations. Being a high school science teacher, we use simulated experiments all of the time. Programs like PhET are full of useful simulations that can make microscopic systems macroscopic. This idea of taking something so small that we cannot see it, like atoms, and blowing it up so students can interact with it is huge! Now students have an experience that they can draw to in order to make connections to what I have discussed in the notes. Going along with the article, I also like simulations in my chemistry classroom because of the low-risk factor associated with them. Not all chemistry experiments are appropriate to run in a high school classroom. With simulations, I can still give my students the experience of that experiment, while also taking out the associated danger.

Damewood, A. (2016). Current Trends in Higher Education Technology: Simulation. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 60(3), 268-271. doi:10.1007/s11528-016-0048-1

Journal Article: Representations and Equations in an Interactive Simulation that Support Student Development in Balancing Chemical Equations

Carpenter, Y., Moore, E. B., & Perkins, K. K., Spring 2015 ConfChem: Interactive Visualizations for Chemistry Teaching and Learning, 2015

In this article, Carpenter, Moore, and Perkins are focusing on one specific PhET Simulation produced by Colorado University. The simulation is about balancing chemical equations. In the simulation, students see both symbolic and pictorial representations of atoms and molecules, and are then asked to manipulate the simulation to solve the problem. The authors discuss how the simulation can be used, along side class discussion and guided handouts, to teach novice chemistry students how to balance a chemical equation. Throughout the activity, students were able to explore the simulation, and were given feedback from the simulation when a problem was solved successfully or unsuccessfully.

From their discussion of the simulation and a classes’ interaction with the simulation, Carpenter, Moore, and Perkins draw a few conclusions/recommendations. The first conclusion is that online simulations can be a great way for students to draw connections between simple pictures and manipulatives to the content being learned. With the feedback given by the program, and some guidance from the instructors through class discussion/handouts, students can be successful at teaching themselves some material. The recommendation is to have these discussions, and well written worksheets to go with the simulation. The second conclusion that the authors come to is that these simulations can help address student misconceptions, and correct the use of certain vocabulary terms.

I do not currently use this particular PhET in my chemistry course, but definitely will in the future. I have used PhET simulations in the past, and think that they are very effective when introducing students to new content. Particularly content that can be difficult for students to visualize or make sense of on their own. I agree with the authors, too. With any of the PhET simulations, the guidance that is given to students is important. I think it would be tough to just tell a student to go play with the simulation and figure it out. Making these activities guided-inquiry activities is crucial to their effectiveness.

Read Article Here

Journal Article: Resolving the Formative Assessment Catch-22

Waters, J. K. (2012). RESOLVING THE FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT CATCH-22. (Cover story). T H E Journal, 39(7), 8-14.

The article Resolving the Formative Assessment Catch-22 is written by John K. Waters. In the article, Waters describes a Catch-22 that teachers are experiencing when it comes to incorporating formative assessment. For the sake of the article, formative assessment is described as the “process through which teachers evaluate how well their students are learning while they are teaching them”. This process is widely accepted by teachers to be a best practice in education. However, the problem lies in the logistics. Teachers are asked to formatively assess students’ learning during instruction to drive instruction, but then need to use instructional time to formatively assess. One might hope that as technology advances, the tools that are used for formative assessment will advance as well, and help resolve this issue. Unfortunately, it appears that most technology tools used for assessment are aimed more for summative assessment rather than formative assessment.

Waters continues to describe how tools for formative assessment are advancing, just slowly. The strategy that is focused on for this article is the use of various student response systems (SRS). The most well known examples given in the article are the use of i>clickers and Smart Technologies. Both of these, as well as the other examples mentioned in the article, can be incorporated into lessons by teachers as a way to get a quick set of data that can then drive instruction. Waters does not make a recommendation for any specific system over a different one. Rather, the recommendation made is more of a best practice with these technologies, and how formative assessment should work in any classroom.

From the article, it seems that many teachers agree that formative assessment is a vital component to any lesson. However, some teachers fall into the root of giving a formative assessment and moving on regardless of the results. Waters talks about how the main purpose of formative assessment is to correct a misunderstanding or gap in knowledge immediately. This is the biggest take-away from the article for me. It is a great start to have different formative assessment tools in your classroom. Some examples of SRSs that I have used include Kahoot and Quizalize. To take these assessments further, I need to be using the results, question by question, to explain correct and wrong answers.

Time Saving Tech-nique

I am happy to report that I knew most of the techniques that David Progue mentioned in his video.

The one that I was not aware of, and definitely will be using in the future, is pressing "b" or "w" during a presentation to either blackout or whiteout a slide. This is an awesome feature, and will definitely come in handy when I want my students to pay attention to what I am saying rather than focusing on what I have on the slide.

One time saving tool that I use all of the time is my trackpad. There are several multi-touch gestures on mac trackpads that are super useful. My favorite, and probably most utilized, is swiping up with 4 fingers. This separates all of your windows, and you can then easily click between them. I use this gesture to multi-task quite frequently! Unfortunately, I do not know if there is a similar gesture on PCs.

Future Ready Framework - Community Partnerships

Being a firm believer in the "it takes a village..." mentality, the Community Partnerships gear stood out to me as being the most important. This portion of the framework, focuses on how districts and students interact with the world outside of the school, both locally and globally.

At the local level, the framework discusses how through local partnerships, teachers can bring relevance to their curricula. This is something that I have witnessed and participated in at Oswego High School. In the Science Department alone, we have several courses where students get to interact with local experts via field trips, apprenticeships, and guest speakers. A few examples include our Forensics classes, which go to go to the local police station and learn more about crime investigation at the crime lab. The Medical Topics and Anatomy and Physiology classes were able to go to a local university to visit their cadaver lab. The Medical Topics students also spend a semester at the local hospital doing rotations in the different medical fields. In my own Chemistry courses, I have had guest speakers come in and talk about how my students could use Chemistry as a viable career option.

Community Partnerships also emphasizes global partnerships. I believe it is important for us, as teaches, to teach our students to be global citizens. Through technology we can connect with the world in a way that we were unable to several years ago. It is with these connections that we can make students global citizens, expand their horizons, and deepen their understandings of diversity. In some cases, we may even be able to take students abroad, and give them first hand experiences in different cultures.

Read the entire frame work here: The Future Ready Framework.

Journal Article: Promoting Formative Assessment in Online Teaching and Learning

Vonderwell, S., & Boboc, M. (2013). Promoting Formative Assessment in Online Teaching and Learning. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 57(4), 22-27. doi:10.1007/s11528-013-0673-x

The article Promoting Formative Assessment in Online Teaching and Learning was written by two professors, Vonderwell and Boboc, at Cleveland State University. This article focuses on formative assessment techniques that can be used in online courses. The introduction of the article emphasizes the importance of assessment as a tool to monitor student learning and teaching effectiveness, as well as a means to foster student engagement and improve student motivation and achievement. The authors also highlight the difference between “assessments of learning” and “assessments for learning”. Assessments of learning are typically used when assigning grades as an indication of student achievement. Assessments for learning serve the purpose of monitoring student progress as well as giving students feedback to help them close the gap in their knowledge. These assessments are used to inform the teaching and learning to help students improve. The remainder of the article offers various methods of formative assessment in an online course.

The authors provide eight different techniques that could be used in an online course to formatively assess students. These techniques include: online journaling, reflection papers, the minute paper, role play, hook questions, things to keep in mind, questions wall, and checking in with students. Online journaling can be used as an assessment tool to get students interacting and reflecting. The benefit to a reflection paper is that students have the opportunity to internalize what they have learned throughout the discussions. The minute paper is meant to be a fast formative assessment in which students answer questions like “what is the most important thing you learned today?” or “what question(s) do you still have in mind?”. Role Play can be used in an online discussion format where students are assigned roles such as facilitator or critical reflector and may be used to encourage students to interact with one another and monitor their peer’s progress. Hook questions and things to keep in mind could go hand in hand as a enter/exit slip in an online forum, especially after a reading to see what students thought was the main points or what they are interested in. A question wall may be a great way to get students to ask students to each other, or to the instructor, and can encourage collaboration amongst the entire class. Finally, checking in with students via email or in a small group chat is a way to individualize the student-teacher interactions and gage how a student is doing on a more individual basis.

As a high school science teacher, I do not teach my curriculum completely online. I also feel as though a lot of these formative assessment techniques are useful in a curriculum where students are doing a lot of readings and discussions. Although my current curriculum does emphasize in-class discussions, I do not have my students do many readings. However, if some of these strategies are tweaked, I think I could find them very useful in my classroom. The first idea that I found useful is the minute paper, which could be used at any point in a lesson. If I could find a web based platform such as a google forum or polleverywhere, I could have my students take one minute of class time to reflect on a topic that we have just covered. Their responses could be used to then fill any gaps in knowledge, or pinpoint the key targets that have been covered. This could be a very quick and beneficial formative assessment. Another technique I found useful in this article was the question wall. Again, I need to find a web-based platform where I could have students submit a question at any point (e.g. while working on homework, in class, etc…). I would then plan on working this question wall into my weekly plans. Perhaps, as a group, we start Friday’s class by looking at what questions came up during the week and answering them.