Year 2
Humanities and Social Sciences Support Materials
Assessment Principle 4
Assessments should be designed to meet their specific purposes
Geography snapshot: The places I go
Humanities and Social Sciences/Knowledge and understanding/Geography/People are connected to many places and Skills/Questioning and researching/Communicating and reflecting
| Content Description |
|---|
The influence of purpose (e.g. shopping, recreation), distance (e.g. location) and accessibility Sort and record selected information and/or data (e.g. use graphic organisers, take key words) Present findings in a range of communication forms, using relevant terms (e.g. written, oral, digital, role-play, graphic) |
Nature of the assessment
Graphic organiser and oral presentation
Purposes of the assessment
To determine students’ ability to organise collected information and to assess their understanding of the influence of purpose, distance and accessibility on the frequency with which people visit places
Stage in the Teaching sequence
During the teaching cycle as formative feedback of students’ understanding of the relationship between purpose, distance and accessibility on the frequency of visits
End of the teaching cycle – summative assessment
Background learning
Students have:
- discussed concepts of frequently, sometimes and rarely
- looked at maps to identify the places they visit
- brainstormed reasons why they visit different places
- as a class, colour-coded places they visit according to frequency, and discussed how and why this may differ according to each child/family
- discussed distance, purpose and accessibility.
Assessment task
Places I visit | Purpose | Distance | Accessibility |
- Using a table as a graphic organiser (shown above), the students listed the places they visit in the first column. Students colour-coded the places according to frequency (i.e. red = frequently, orange = sometimes, yellow = rarely).
- In the subsequent columns, the students discussed their visits to these places, in terms of purpose (why they go there), distance (frequency may depend on the location) and accessibility (how technology or transport may have impacted upon their visits to this place).
- Students then chose one place to discuss in greater depth. The teacher provided a scaffolded worksheet to assist them with organising their ideas. The students prepared an informal oral presentation on ‘A place I go’.
- Students were provided with the expected language and content to guide their presentation (description of the frequency in which they visited the place; inclusion and correct use of the words ‘purpose’, ‘distance, ‘accessibility’; explanation of how these factors impacted upon the frequency of their visits).
Assessment process
During the construction of the table, the teacher looked for evidence that students understood the concepts. Where possible, he asked them questions to help develop their understanding.
Based on his observations of the students during this activity, the teacher reworked his lesson plans to include further teaching of the concepts. The teacher listened to each group and provided specific feedback to prompt students’ thinking. Summative judgement was made and based upon the criteria given to the students in the planning of the oral presentation. He assessed their understanding of how purpose, distance and accessibility influenced the frequency they visit places.
Using the information
The teacher used this information to evaluate teaching and learning, and plan subsequent lessons. The information from this assessment was used in conjunction with other assessments in the Humanities and Social Sciences learning area, for end-of-semester reporting.