Text Box:     G r a d e   4 Information Technology

Instructional

Guide

 

 

 

  aligned to the

 

  Vermont Technology Grade   Expectations

  &

  Technology

  Performance

  Assessment Tasks

 

 

 

 

Published by

The Vermont Department of Education

 

 

Introduction

 

 

This document outlines the Information Technology Integration for Grade 4. It is divided into two sections:

 

Section one- The Instructional Guide - specifies those Technology Grade Expectations which should be introduced in grade 4, the ones that should be practiced at this grade, and those that should be assessed.

 

Section two – Technology Performance Assessment Tasks - identifies specific assessment tasks for this grade.  These tasks are aligned directly to the assessment segment in section one.

 

Combined, these documents cover the minimum level of technology integration expected at grade 4.

 

Grade Four

 

 

Information Technology

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instructional Guide
Preface

 

The Information Technology Guide to Instruction has been created as a support document to accompany the Information Technology Grade Expectations. The Grade Expectations define where students should be assessed.  The premise of this document is that prior to assessment, intentional instruction and opportunities for practice must take place. Consequently, this document outlines at which grade each Expectation should be introduced, practiced and assessed.

 

Format

 

This document defines by specific grade level (not cluster) where particular Technology Expectations might be Introduced, Practiced, and Assessed. Generally, it follows a three grade sequence: an Expectation is introduced at one grade level, practiced at the next grade level and assessed at the following grade level. Throughout the document, there are several exceptions to this rule. For example, there are times when Expectations are introduced at one grade level and assessed at the next.

Flexibility

 

Even though this document specifies the precise grade level where Introduction, Practice and Assessment should occur, it is intended to be very flexible.  Schools/districts should make changes based on their particular needs and circumstances which might include access constraints. What is important is that Introduction, Practice and Assessment will occur and the person responsible for it is identified.

 

Pre-Assessment

 

When something is introduced, the implication is that it is new to students.  This may or may not be the case.  We strongly urge teachers to pre-assess their students prior to instruction. The same is true for practice as it is possible that some students may not have been introduced to a skill. As with other subject matter, it is likely that a teacher will find students of varying skill level in their classes and we encourage them to differentiate their instruction based on their pre-assessment.

 

 

 

What is an Introduction?

 

            When an item appears under Introduction, the presumption may be that this is the first time the students have had an experience with that particular concept or skill.  This may or may not be the case. First, it is important to consider what the students have had for previous experiences.  This can be accomplished by scanning through the previous grade clusters in the Technology Grade Expectations document to see what may have been Introduced, Practiced, and/or Assessed at previous grade levels.  If a database of student performance on past assessment tasks exists, this would be an ideal source of information. Once the teacher has this basic information, they may decide to pre-assess their students. This could be done formally through some type of “test” be it written, oral, or performance. It could also be accomplished more informally through a conversation with the individual students.

            Once it is determined what previous experience students have had with the skill or concept, instruction can be planned.  If it is the first time, the teacher may need to adjust the instruction based on the difficulty of the task. One might approach “navigates between open windows and applications” quite differently than “creating a spreadsheet from scratch.”  In the first example, an obvious need must exist or be created. Once students see the need, a demonstration with several opportunities for practice in “real life situations” would seem appropriate. In the second example, students must make a connection with what they already know.  They must understand what a spreadsheet can and can’t do and how that might apply to their own learning experiences. They might start by looking at examples of existing spreadsheets and discuss how they work and the benefits of using them. This might be followed by students inputting data into an existing spreadsheet to test “if/then” scenarios. Finally, students might construct a very simple spreadsheet of their own while under direct supervision of the teacher. It would be important that students see a direct connection to the spreadsheet they are creating and what they are presently learning in their curriculum.  In other words, it must be integrated in a fashion that makes sense to the students and allows the students to connect it to previous learning.

 

 

What is Practice?

 

            Like the Introduction, when teachers begin the Practice lesson, they must be aware of what experiences students have had in the past, prior to presenting the new lesson. The same process and sources can be used at this point as were used in the Introduction section. And just as above, some type of pre-assessment may be called for.

            Once the teacher ascertains the previous level of experience s/he can create learning opportunities for each student based on that data. It will be important to consider some basic differentiation at this point as it is quite possible that some students need a refresher while others are ready to move to the next level.

            Let’s use the examples from above and see what might happen at the Practice level. Giving practice in “navigates between open windows and applications” might look quite similar to what happened during Introduction.  Since the task is not particularly complex, students need multiple opportunities to practice with at least some of these practice sessions on their own with someone giving feedback. This might be an excellent opportunity for small cooperative learning groups. As students demonstrate their readiness, the teacher could increase the complexity of the task by having students navigate between multiple open windows and/or applications.  For example, they might copy a (un-copyrighted) graphic from the Internet using a Browser, paste it into an open Paint program, modify it in the Paint program and paste it into a Word Processing document that they have open and were working on.

            In the example of “creating a spreadsheet from scratch,” the lesson should provide ample opportunities to create at least two different spreadsheets. The first one could be with the assistance of the teacher or peers but at least one should be done by the student on their own. They should receive formative feedback on their creation by their teacher. Based on the formative assessment results, a plan could be developed for more instruction and practice or the teacher may find that the students’ skills are adequate.

 

What is Assessment?

 

            It is appropriate to give students some practice prior to the assessment, it should not be constructed to practice one minute and assess the next. The goal at this point is summative, not formative assessment. The purpose is not to give the students feedback so that they can increase their ability (this should have already been done) but rather to determine if the student possesses the skill or concept. Typically, we would assess the student individually by observing a product or performance on which they have worked. It is possible to do a summative assessment while students are working in pairs or small groups but it presents certain challenges that must be overcome. The teacher must be certain that the work that is being assessed has been done independently by the specific student s/he is assessing. 

            In both examples above, the clearest way to determine if a student has the skill/concept may be to physically observe the student. At this point it wouldn’t matter if students were working in pairs or small groups as the teacher would be observing each student demonstrate what they know/can do without assistance or prompting. Another way to assess this would be for the teacher to give the students an on-demand task that required them to carry out the skill/concept. The teacher would not have to observe all the students but instead would observe the product.  This would only work if the students were in a controlled situation. For example, the students could not take the task home or work on it outside of class because the teacher couldn’t guarantee that someone else didn’t assist the student or do the work for them.

           

 

 

 

What happens during a task when students don’t have the skill/concept?

 

            Introducing, practicing and assessing both the students’ understanding of content and technology grade expectations can take some careful maneuvering. When technology is embedded deeply into the curriculum, students may come to a point where they can not move forward with the content part of the lesson if they don’t have a particular technology skill or concept. For example, if students were trying to analyze the relationship between certain demographic information and voting patterns and they don’t have the skill to query a database containing the data they may come to a dead end. Conversely, if the student lacks the content knowledge or skill they may not be able to proceed even though they were capable of the technology expectation.  If this occurred during the introduction or practice stages of student work, teachers would monitor a student carefully to determine if they can move forward with the skill or if they need assistance and react accordingly.  When assistance is needed it would be provided in a timely manner. More instruction and/or more practice would be provided so that the student can “move on.”  In the assessment stage, and especially if the teacher has the students doing Performance Assessment Tasks, the teacher must make a critical decision as to when to step in and provide assistance so that the student may continue the remainder of the task. If the student is working in pairs or a small group, the timing is even more critical. When to intervene is clearly a judgment call. But at some point, before the student (or group) hits a stage of high frustration, the teacher must move in and assist the student so that s/he can move forward with the remainder of the task.  In this case, the teacher would simply note that the student did not meet the particular technology standard because they needed assistance.

 

Connecting Classroom to Real-Life Experiences

 

Throughout Introduction, Practice and Assessment it is important for teachers to make certain that students have ample opportunity to make connections between classroom and  real life experiences.  In the examples above that relate to “navigating between open windows and applications” students may not immediately recognize it in the format presented but may have experienced it in other ways. Often when students are “chatting” or Instant Messaging they are doing exactly what the Expectation is requesting.

 

 

Technology Performance Assessment Tasks

 

This document aligns with the Technology Performance Assessment Tasks-Version 3.

See Appendix A.

 

Information Technology Instructional Guide

Based on Vermont Technology Grade Expectations

 

Level – Grade 4

 

Basic Operations

 

Introduction

 

 

Practice

 

 

Assessment

·        Navigating between open windows

·        Using effective keyboarding: 

o       --posture (i.e., back straight, body leaning slightly forward, etc.,

o       --techniques (e.g., eyes on monitor or copy-not the keyboard, etc).

·        Locating files and folders using the Find command.

 

Human, Social & Ethical Issues

 

Introduction

 

·        Documenting sources of information obtained through electronic resources using acceptable formats.

 

Practice

 

 

Assessment

 

 

 

Productivity Tools

Word Processing

 

Introduction

 

 

Practice

 

 

 

Assessment

 

 

 

 

 

Productivity Tools

Databases

 

Introduction

 

 

·        Creating, entering and manipulating a data base using ascending and descending sorting, and searching/finding/ querying, using single criterion.

 

 

Practice

 

·        Identifying components of data base including field/category, record, file.

·        Identifying single and multiple record formats.

·        Entering data into an existing database

 

Assessment

 

 

 

 

Productivity Tools

Spreadsheets

 

Introduction

 

·        Creating a spreadsheet from a blank page, including simple formulas and simple functions (SUM and AVG)

·        Manipulating format (e.g., resizing rows and columns, font, colors, hiding grid)

·        Creating a graphical representation of multiple series of numerical data.

 

Practice

 

 

Assessment

 

·        Entering data into a spreadsheet template.

·        Explaining the relationship between data and visual representation (graph)

·        Creating a graphical representation of numerical data (e.g., bar line, and pie)

 

Productivity Tools

Paint/Draw

 

Introduction

 

 

·        Saving graphic images in multiple formats (e.g., .jpg, tif, gif)

·        Creating original illustrations using paint and draw applications

·        Comparing and contrasting the uses of a paint and a draw application

 

Practice

 

·        Modifying a digital image using flip; rotate, resize, crop

 

Assessment

 

 

Productivity Tools

Visual Organizer

 

Introduction

 

·        None

 

 

Practice

 

 

 

Assessment

 

·        None

 

 

 

Productivity Tools

Calculators

 

Introduction

 

 

 

Practice

 

 

 

 

Assessment

 

 

Communications

Multi-media

 

Introduction

 

None

 

Practice

 

 

 

 

Assessment

 

 

 

 

 

Communications

World Wide Web

 

Introduction

 

 

Practice

 

 

 

Assessment

 

Communications

E-Mail

 

Introduction

 

 

 

Practice

 

 

 

Assessment

 

Research, Problem Solving and Decision Making

Digital Resources

 

Introduction

 

 

·        None

 

Practice

 

 

 

Assessment

 

·        Accessing information from a workstation, LAN or Internet-based electronic encyclopedia.

 

 

Research, Problem Solving and Decision Making

Searching & Search Engines

 

Introduction

 

 

Practice

 

 

 

Assessment

 

Research, Problem Solving and Decision Making

Using a Browser

 

Introduction

 

·        None

 

Practice

 

 

Assessment

 

 

Research, Problem Solving and Decision Making

Problem Solving & Decision making

 

Introduction

 

·        Selecting the appropriate tools and technology resources to address a variety of tasks and problems (e.g., spread sheet vs. data base, word processing vs. presentation program.)

·        Applying technology skills to learning unfamiliar technologies (e.g., digital cameras, scanners, probes)

                        Example:  What are the first steps you would take to figure out how to use                                 a new technology?

 

 

Practice

 

                        Example:  What key words did you make and why?  Are there other words                   that might have worked better? 

 

Assessment

 

                        Example:  What key words did you use in your internet search?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technology Performance Assessment Tasks

 

 

 

 

 

Grade - 4

 

History

 

The Information Technology Performance Tasks contained in this document were originally created in 2002 by a group of teachers in northwestern Vermont with the support from the Vermont Information Technology Association for the Advancement of Learning (VITA-Learn). Through leadership provided by the Vermont Department of Education, these tasks became the basis of the Information Technology Grade Expectations (GEs). After several meetings were held throughout the state where over a hundred Vermont educators gave their feedback, the final document was redrafted and published. Although the original Performance Tasks provided the basis, significant and substantial changes were made based on the input of Vermont educators who attended those meetings. Finally, led by the Department of Education, the revised Performance Tasks in this document were aligned to the new Technology Grade Expectations.

 

Why Assess Information Technology?

 

Many educators have long held that assessing students’ information technology knowledge and skills should be a part of what every educator does on a regular basis. They believe in the new digital world it is simply the right thing to do. We owe it to our students to be certain they have the digital skills to succeed in the 21st century.  With the advent of No Child Left Behind Act, the need to assess our students became even more clear.

 

‘‘(A) To assist every student in crossing the digital divide by ensuring that every student is technologically literate by the time the student finishes the eighth grade, regardless of the student’s race, ethnicity, gender, family income, geographic location, or disability.

Part D—Enhancing Education Through Technology - SEC. 2402. Purpose and Goals.. Page 404

 

‘‘(1) … to improve the capacity of all teachers teaching in schools served by the local educational agency to integrate technology effectively into curricula and instruction.

            Part D—Enhancing Education Through Technology - SEC. 2414. Local Applications. Page 414

 

In Vermont we are also driven by Act 60 and later Act 68 which states that all standards identified in the Vermont Framework must be assessed annually in each of the framework grade clusters. There are several information technology skills identified in the Vermont Framework.

 

 

 

 

 


Assessing Technology Grade Expectations

 

There are multiple ways of assessing the Information Technology Grade Expectations.  These include traditional methods of testing such as paper and pencil tests (which we don’t recommend), portfolios, purposeful and structured observation, surveys, and Performance Tasks.  This document is about Performance Assessment Tasks.

 

About Performance Tasks

 

Performance Tasks are ones which require students to demonstrate that they have mastered specific skills and competencies by performing or producing something.   This type of assessment provides teachers with information on how a child understands and applies knowledge. In a performance, students construct rather than select responses. Teachers should share scoring criteria for the assessment task with students prior to working on the task

 

There are several different ways to record results of performance-based assessment (Airasian, 1991; Stiggins, 1994)

 

·        Checklist Approach – When using this you only have to indicate whether or not certain elements are present in the performances.

·        Narrative/Anecdotal Approach – When teachers use this, they write narrative reports of what was done during the performance. From these reports, teachers can determine how well their students met the standards.

·        Rating Scale Approach – When teachers use this, they indicate to what degree the standards were met. Usually teachers will use a numeric scale. For instance, one teacher may rate each criterion on a scale of one to five with one meaning “skill barely present” and five meaning “skill extremely well executed.”

·        Memory Approach – When teachers use this, they observe students performing the task without taking any notes. They use the information from their memory to determine whether or not the students were successful. (Please note that this approach is not recommended.)

 

Flexibility of Tasks

 

The Tasks contained in this document are intended to be flexible.  That is, teachers, schools and districts are encouraged to use them in ways that best meet their needs.  They may be used as they are, broken apart and revised or simply used as examples. Some expectations are covered in more than one task.  If all tasks are implemented, all Grade Expectations will be assessed.

 

 

Content Neutral Tasks

 

The Tasks are content neutral.  They may be integrated into multiple content areas.  We strongly encourage teachers to embed them into content in an integrated fashion. The intention is that they will make the curriculum stronger, easier to teach and learn, expand learning opportunities in the present curriculum, and create entirely new opportunities for learning within the content areas that were previously not possible. As we move forward, it is our hope that content-rich examples and benchmarks will be published and made available to all Vermont educators.

 

Task Integration into Content Areas

 

We strongly recommend that these tasks be purposefully tied to curriculum. Schools and districts must embed these tasks throughout the curriculum development cycle, departments, grade level or team meetings

 

Formative or Summative Assessment

 

There is often a fine line between instruction and assessment. Teachers must provide students multiple opportunities to develop the skills noted in the Grade Expectations prior to formal assessment. We suggest that these assessment tasks become the basis for the development of instructional tasks that teachers develop in order to prepare their students for evaluation.

 

There are two types of assessment: Formative and Summative.  Formative assessment often occurs almost simultaneously with instruction.  Its purpose is to provide students with immediate and useful feedback about what they are supposed to know and be able to do. They are often informal and may be embedded directly in the learning experience.

Summative assessments provide a summary of what the student has learned. They usually occur at the end of a lesson or unit of study.  Generally, they are not used to give feedback to students but rather to determine how the individual or group stands up against predefined criteria. The Information Technology Performance Assessment Tasks in this document are intended to be Summative.

 

 

Performance Tasks in the Early Grades

 

There are very few expectations to be assessed in PreK-K.  Consequently, we have not developed Tasks for this level. Primary teachers must look at subsequent grade expectations to have a greater understanding of the learning opportunities they must provide for their students in order to prepare them for assessments in the subsequent grades.

 

Referencing the Grade Expectations

 

In the previous edition of the Technology Performance Assessment Tasks, the tasks were followed by a rubric.  It is these rubrics that became the basis for the current Grade Expectations.  The revised Performance Tasks in this document are followed by the actual Grade Expectations that will be assessed in that particular task.  As you will see, they are not in rubric format.  If a school/district wishes to put them in a rubric format, they may want to use the format that was used in the original Performance Task document.  There were three levels to the rubric in that document. Level 1- if a student did not meet the expectation it was noted that they needed assistance to complete that part of the task, Level 2 – if a student met the expectation independently, and Level 3 if a student exceeded the expectation to a degree at or better then the next grade (cluster) level. There are a few places in the Grade Expectations document where the authors of this document have attempted to clarify the expectation. When that is the case it will be italicized and start with… Note.

 

 

Time for Full Implementation

 

Implementation of a successful assessment program does not happen overnight.  Schools/districts should develop an implementation strategy and timeline.  Normally, we should not expect students who have never had instruction using a complicated piece of software to master it and be assessed in the period of one instructional unit… or even in one academic year. Nor can we expect that teachers will extend their units of instruction over long periods of time so that their students are at the mastery level.

 

 

Instructional Guide

 

Students must be given multiple opportunities to develop their “expertise” using technology equipment and applications. Consequently, if students are going to be assessed in a specific grade using certain functions of a software application, the concepts must be introduced and reinforced in previous years. How do we determine what needs to be introduced and reinforced and when this should occur?  Clearly, districts can do this for themselves. 

 


Tools and Procedures for Collecting, Recording, Managing and Reporting

 


Teachers, schools, and districts must develop tools and procedures for assessing the Technology Grade Expectations. How assessment occurs, using what tools, how the results will be recorded and finally reported are all questions that will need careful consideration. The more standardized the assessments and tools, the greater the chances that your results will be valid and reliable.

 

 

Final Note

 

Not all knowledge and skills in the Grade Expectations are easily assessed in a performance task.  Some are best assessed over time. Consequently, some of the Grade Expectations are not specifically referenced in the performance tasks.  For your convenience, these are listed after the last task in each grade cluster in a table called On-going. Please note that even though these tasks must be assessed over time, it is important to be purposeful about the assessment and document results as you normally would for a performance task.

 

 


Grade Cluster  3-4     Task # 2

The Grade Cluster & Task #:                        Grade Cluster 3-4, Task # 2

The Product/Performance:                               A Flowchart

The Components:                                                Visual Organizer, Paint,

The Task:                                                            

Students will create a concept map that contains their own illustrations.

Given a teacher or student defined problem, students will create a flowchart that outlines probable steps to solve the problem. They will use a painting program to illustrate some of the concepts and import them into the map. 

 

Rationale:            

The ability to manipulate steps and consequences visually assists students with difficult conceptual material. The computer acts as a mediator between abstract and concrete concepts.

Many times, an idea or concept can be best presented through a picture/painting.  Students will use a Paint program, which allows easy editing, to illustrate an important idea of concept

IT1 - Basic Operations & Concepts

·         Launching a program from the desktop

IT2 - Social, Ethical & Human Issues

Not assessed in this task