As we near the end of the school year, it’s fun to change up the way you assess students. Students’ brains are fried from state exams- lets give them some other ways to demonstrate their learning other than a multiple choice assessment! Here are some ideas to get your juices flowing:
1. Have students create a stop-motion video! Check out the apps “stop motion studio” or “stop motion animator.” Have students use their phones or tablets and take pictures to create a stop motion video. While you could provide some fun supplies like play doh or legos, even scraps of construction paper will do! Another tip: the more pictures, the better- upwards of 100 is not too many!
2. Have students make an infographic to show what they learned this year. Here is a lesson that walks them through how to create one using piktochart.com.
3. Have students record a podcast episode based on your current unit. Anchor.fm is a super user friendly (and free!) software program that students can use to record.
4. Get students outside and have them create a photo journal that uses pictures to document a science concept. For example, if you recently taught kinetic and potential energy, students could take pictures of a swing-set, rubber band, or a skateboard. They will describe how their picture relates to the topic. You can find an editable lesson with rubric here.
5. Looking for a longer project? Try out some project based learning and have students create a product that answers a driving question related to your curriculum. If you want to learn more about PBL, check out this series of blog posts.
What other fun ways have you assessed students aside from a typical written test? I’d love to hear ideas in the comments!
