building a unit for a subject was extremely difficult to start. our group had to figure out where our starting point was. The starting point only emerged after we decided what it was that the students had to have previous knowledge of. Since we are talking about education this is a very important starting point but can be difficult to know.
I believe surveys or pretest are the best way to know of prior knowledge and build upon what is known by a student. We can usually assume that a student knows prior concepts to build upon, but assuming can be dangerous and there could be no further learning done.
I think this is why backwards design is an important tool so that the "big picture" is known prior to constructing a unit. However formative assessment is important to incorporate and could be explained to a colleague that real time feedback can be given in order to adjust teaching strategy and deeper learning can take place.
Surveys and pretests are one good way of assessing prior knowledge before a unit on a particular topic. Many of these instruments stress content knowledge, however, and don't do a good job of measuring students' skills (like critical thinking) so it's important to think broadly about what you might want to know about your students in order to adapt your teaching.
ReplyDeleteYour last paragraph makes a good point, that backward design let's the instructor keep the "big picture" in sight. I wonder, you mention that feedback is good to adjust teaching, what purpose does it play for the students?