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Tenzin is building a theremin by coding a microcontroller to work with a motion sensor and speaker. Roger is using the laser cutter to create pieces that he’ll assemble into a weight bearing dome structure. Cody and Justin are in the shop, cutting wood for a trebuchet. Eric is writing a code that can look at a chessboard and determine if the queens are attacking each other.
Every student is learning and you feel like you’re doing everything right. But when the time comes to put in grades, what will you do?
The goal of a Makerspace is for students to express themselves through hands-on projects where they actually make something. At the heart of every Makerspace is an opportunity for students to pursue their passions and turn their creative thoughts into something tangible.
Teachers in Makerspaces, by definition, need to differentiate. However, with some students learning to solder, others learning to implement CAD software, and others learning to use a bandsaw, how do you assess fairly?
The Problem: When students are learning a wide variety of skills and creating different final products, how do we accurately and equitably assess their learning?
A Solution: While their final products may look dramatically different and require different competencies, there are some common threads tying their work together. These include things like:
- working through the engineering design process
- collaborating
- following safety protocols
- exercising craftsmanship
In the solution I’ll outline below, teachers of Makerspaces will identify which of these overarching learning goals they want to prioritize. They’ll work with students to create rubrics for these learning goals, ask students to practise using the rubrics, and finally assess final products with input from the students.
Identify Learning Goals to Assess
As you begin to identify learning goals for your differentiated Makerspace, there are a few things to keep in mind.
- Learning goals should not be too specific. You want them to be applicable to the variety of projects that students will engage in.
- Learning goals should be measurable. If you are going to be writing rubrics and using them to assess, you need to be able to measure progress toward these goals.
- You shouldn’t choose too many. I would aim for no more than 10. For students to truly master these goals, they can’t be spread too thin.
There are several places to look when you are designing the learning goals of your differentiated Makerspace class.
The ISTE Standards
One is the ISTE standards. There are seven standards and they are broken down into more specific and measurable targets that can help in the process of creating rubrics for assessment. The standards include:
- empowered learner
- digital citizen
- knowledge constructor
- innovative designer
- computational thinker
- creative communicator
- global collaborator
The Engineering Design Process
Another source of learning goals is the engineering design process. There are typically seven stages to this process:
- ask
- research
- imagine
- plan
- create
- test
- improve.
Each stage could become its own learning goal with associated rubric.
It’s clear that both of these sets of learning goals will be applicable to almost any project that a student works on in your differentiated Makerspace.
When I coached the Makerspace teacher at my school, we used both ISTE and the engineering design process as our guide but identified the following ten learning goals:
- Goal Setting
- Purpose
- Research
- Design
- Prototype
- Product
- Perseverance
- Data
- Communicate
- Collaborate
Create Rubrics with Students
Regardless of the learning goals that you choose, students need to deeply understand them, own them, and know what it looks like to achieve them.
Take time, right from the beginning of the class, to talk about each learning goal with the students. Ask them what they think it would mean to demonstrate that goal.
At our school, students became part of writing the rubrics. We spent class time discussing and outlining each one. For example, we talked about what it means to “prototype”. ISTE defines this in standard 4c as, “Develop, test and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process.” With students, we broke this down into a few measurable outcomes:
- Create a functional physical or digital model of the final design.
- Evaluate and test prototypes within design constraints.
- Gather and organize data from tests.
- Interpret data from test and modify model to better meet design constraints.
- Refine prototype to address shortcomings.
- Iterate the design process to converge upon best solution.
Notice that each has a verb which gives the students clarity on what they actually need to do.
Practise Using The Rubrics
By practising using the rubrics, students gain a deeper understanding of the criteria for success and what exemplary work looks like.
Some ways to get students to practice self-reflection are through journals, one-on-one conferences, assessing each other, and whole class conversation.
On larger projects, have students self-assess using the rubrics at various checkpoints along the way. This can help them, not only improve their projects, but make progress toward mastering the learning goals that you set from them.
As students worked on smaller assignments, we worked with them to reflect on the rubric to see how they were progressing with respect to each of the learning goals. Especially at the beginning, it is best to encourage reflection on just one learning goal at a time.
Assess
Finally, when it comes time to put in a grade, involve students in the process as much as possible. Help them own their progress.
One way to do this is through one-on-one conferences or presentations. At the end of a major project, have each student identify 3-4 learning goals that they feel they have demonstrated mastery of. As they describe their project and the process of completing it to you they must provide concrete evidence for how they met each of the learning goals.
For example, as Cody and Justin presented their trebuchet, they discussed their collaboration. Cody worked on the design, making precise measurements, and planning while Justin worked with the shop tools to make the cuts and put the design together. They talked about how they needed each other and relied on each of their respective areas of expertise.
When Eric presented his code, he talked about using Data and Perseverance. He ran each iteration of the code on a large number of examples and studied the data on whether or not it worked in order to make necessary changes.
In order to ensure that students meet all learning goals by the end of the year, you might require them to address each learning goal in their final presentations at least three times.
Makerspaces provide an amazing opportunity for students to express themselves and engage in authentic projects. Make the most of your differentiated Makerspace by creating an assessment framework, like the one outlined here, that allows students the flexibility to be creative while still providing meaningful feedback toward key learning goals.