THE EFFECT OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN 11TH GRADE PHYSICS

by

Katherine Katsenes

A professional paper submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree

of

Master of Science

in

Science Education

MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY

Bozeman, Montana

July 2020
 ii

STATEMENT OF PERMISSION TO USE

In presenting this professional paper in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

a master’s degree in Montana State University, I agree that the MSSE Program shall

make it available to borrowers under rules of the program.

 iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND…………………………………………….1

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK……………………………….……………………….4

METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………………………….9

DATA AND ANALYSIS……………………………………….…………...………….13

INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION……………….………………………..….20

REFERENCES CITED……………………………………………………………….....24

APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………......25

APPENDIX A: Student Self-Confidence Survey……………………………….26

APPENDIX B: Student Survey for Using Outside Resources…………....…….27
APPENDIX C: Balanced Forces Pass Two Quiz………………………….……29
APPENDIX D: Post-test for Second Semester Students……………………..…31
APPENDIX E: Teacher Journal Prompts…………………………………….....34
APPENDIX F: Institutional Review Board Exemption………………………....35
APPENDIX G: Student Formative Assessment for Treatment Group 1……..…36
APPENDIX H: Student Formative Assessment for Treatment Group 2………..38
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LIST OF TABLES

1. Triangulation Matrix of Data Collection Instruments for Research Questions…11

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LIST OF FIGURES

1. Analysis of Student Responses: Confidence for Summative Assessment………13

2. Analysis of Student Help Visits Before Quiz One………………………………15

3. Analysis of Student Help Visits Before Quiz Two………………………..…….16

4. Quiz Scores on Standard One Pass Two…….…………..…………..…………..17

5. Quiz Scores on Standard Two Pass Two……………………………..………….18

6. Analysis of Long-Term Retention: Balanced Forces Post-Test Scores…………19

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INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

I teach physics and AP Environmental Science at Naperville North High School, a

large suburban high school in Naperville, IL. This is our school’s third year of

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). I am a part of a physics PLC and we meet

once a week, on Wednesdays, for one hour. My PLC consists of a team of three teachers

and myself. Our students have late arrival every Wednesday so that our PLCs can meet

before school without any other potential obligations or conflicts. A primary focus of our

work in PLCs is to design formative assessments and to use the results to create

interventions, and eventually extensions, for students. For this school year, we were

focused on the intervention piece. The full PLC cycle involves:

1. Identifying what students should learn, which may be content-based or skill-based

2. Instruction

3. Assessing whether or not students have learned the content or skill, usually

through formative assessment

4. Sorting students into two groups: proficient or needs intervention

5. Implementing an intervention with those students who did not show proficiency

One hour each week, a large sum of time is devoted to this process. There is

additional work to be completed on the teachers’ part and, consequently, the process

takes instructional time away from students. Since we are investing so much time in this

process, I saw an opportunity for a research project.

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Students have asked me “what do teachers do in those meetings?” on several

occasions. I began to recognize that there was a disconnect between what we were doing

as teachers and how it was being perceived by students. The average student might view

the whole process as simply teachers creating an extra worksheet for them to complete in

class every few weeks. I wanted to bridge that gap in their perceptions and make

students a part of this process. This is how my research project came into action.

I chose to explore an aspect of my two physics classes for this project for several

reasons. First, I have more experience teaching physics and, therefore, felt more

comfortable with experimenting with something new. Second, the curriculum for the AP

Environmental Science course was going through several changes as we worked to align

our school’s curriculum with the other high school in the district. This would make

planning and experimentation more difficult, especially when trying to stay on pace with

the other teachers teaching the course.

The combination of my experience teaching physics and the opportunity for

collaboration with my PLC led me to explore how formative assessments are used in

physics. My primary research question is “what effect do formative assessments have on

students’ self-confidence, ownership of the material, and retention?” The sub-questions

are:

1. How do formative assessments affect student confidence levels going into the

summative assessment?

2. How do formative assessments affect how often students access help outside of

the classroom?
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3. How do formative assessments affect students’ retention of class content?

4. How does using formative assessments impact me as the teacher?

The first sub-question was related to students’ confidence. Throughout the past four

years, I have seen students struggle with unhealthy stress levels and intense pressure to

earn high grades. That is why my first research question examines improving students’

confidence for summative assessments through the use of formative assessments, as this

is something with which I felt I really needed to help my students.

The second sub-question looks at students accessing physics help outside of class.

There are many places students can go to get academic help at Naperville North in

general, but especially for physics. There is physics morning help every day before

school, peer tutors for physics every day during all lunch hours, and after school tutoring

two days a week. All of these options are in addition to teachers meeting before school,

during lunch, and after school with their students. I noticed that my students were not

taking advantage of the various resources that are available to them on a daily basis.

Through the use of formative assessments, I decided I could be more explicit with

individual students by giving specific recommendations based on each student’s needs

and personality.

The third sub-question focuses on retention of class content. I wanted to promote a

deeper understanding for my students, and I thought it would be interesting to see how

the PLC process and the use of formative assessments plays a role in that knowledge.
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Finally, in the context of my research, a formative assessment was a check for

understanding prior to the summative assessment. Students worked quietly and

independently in class to complete these and I collected them and gave extensive

feedback before returning them to students. There was nothing entered in the gradebook

for these formatives, so they were not tied to students’ grades in any way. I wanted to

explore how this process could affect the classroom environment from the teacher’s point

of view

My support team for this project included several individuals. My content advisor

was Walt Woolbaugh and my science reader was Megan Hopkins. My proofreader was

Karen Quinn.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

In searching through literature, I was able to use ideas I acquired from multiple

sources to guide my work. My plan relied heavily on the feedback I would be giving

students through formative assessments, as I imagined this was the core of my research

project from which everything else stemmed. Therefore, I researched previous studies

that provided information about formative assessment throughout history as well as the

characteristics of effective formative assessments.

Formative assessments are not a new trend in education. Formative assessments

have been used for multiple purposes throughout time, the term itself tracing back to the

1960’s. Bell and Cowie (2001) point out that an early use of the term formative

assessment was to differentiate between the assessments given by teachers in the

classroom and assessments given by external examiners, such as with standardized

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testing. This type of formative assessment has also been coined “weak formative

assessment” (Brown, 1996). In the 1990’s, formative assessments gained international

popularity as multiple purposes for assessment became important. These multiple

purposes included the auditing of schools, national monitoring, school leaver

documentation, awarding of national qualifications, appraisal of teachers, curriculum

evaluation, and the improvement of teaching and learning. Multiple purposes for

assessment were further clarified by the National Research Council in 1999. Their

abbreviated list included: to monitor educational progress or improvement, to provide

teachers and students with feedback, and to drive changes in practice and policy by

holding people accountable for achieving the desired reforms (National Research

Council, 1999, pp.1−2).

Black and William (1998) begin their discussion of formative assessments by

stressing the importance of teachers being flexible in their teaching by responding to

student needs. As demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness is one of the criteria by

which I am evaluated as a teacher, I see great value in using formative assessments as a

way to be responsive to my students. Black and William’s article states that the main

difference between assessment and formative assessment is that formative assessment

involves a teacher adapting to what his or her students need. The authors of this article

establish their credibility by pointing out their extensive research related to formative

assessment. Their findings ultimately show that 1. There is evidence that improving

formative assessment raises standards, 2. There is room for improvement and 3. There is

evidence about how to improve formative assessment. Black and William also show that

formative assessments are able to narrow achievement gaps between low and high
 6
performing students. Overall, this article outlined the importance of formative

assessment and its ability to increase student achievement.

It is clear that practice and feedback are key components in students’ acquisition

of skills. Formative assessments allow for this and also promote self-reflection for

students. According to Pellegrino, Chudowsky, and Glaser (2001), “one of the most

important roles for assessment is the provision of timely and informative feedback to

students during instruction and learning so that their practice of a skill and its subsequent

acquisition will be effective and efficient” (p. 87). They also discuss that the lack of

formative assessment is an ongoing dilemma in education. My project aimed to provide

students with formative assessments and timely and informative feedback.

Sadler (1989) provided specific conditions for feedback to be useful for students.

His first point was that students must know what good performance is. In terms of my

project, that would mean my students understanding the learning standard. The second

condition is that students must know how current performance relates to stronger

performance on future assessments. The third and final condition is that students must

know how to close the gap between current performance and future assessment

performance. My students were given several options for where to get extra help and

given individual suggestions on how to close that gap, if applicable.

A study of a formative assessment professional development program by

Sondergeld et al. (2010) involved 65 teachers and their students. All teachers taught in

K-8 buildings and engaged in a two year interactive professional development program

on formative assessment. The program’s organizing principle was “students and teachers
 7
using evidence of learning to adapt teaching and learning to meet immediate learning

needs minute-to-minute and day-by-day” (Thompson & Wiliam, 2007, p. 6). Formative

assessment strategies were presented in introductory workshops. Teachers met long term

over the course of the two years in teacher learning communities to work collaboratively

to adopt and implement the formative assessment strategies. The results show that 82%

of participating teachers reported various positive impacts on their students. More

specifically, 69% of teachers saw increases in student participation and 40% saw their

students take more ownership for their learning. This study showed the benefits of

schools supporting teams of teachers in implementing formative assessments. For my

project, I had other physics teachers in my PLC review and provide feedback on the

formative assessments that were used. This gave my project a similar aspect of team

collaboration.

Kingston and Nash (2011) issued a journal publication that reviewed over 300

studies that appeared to address the efficacy of formative assessment in grades K-12. In a

meta-analysis, the impact of formative assessments on student achievement was assessed.

Table 4 (p. 34) shows that formative assessment in science was less effective than

mathematics or English, with English being the most effective of the three. These results

are further interpreted as, “Perhaps ELA tasks, especially reading tasks, are more familiar

to students and less cognitively complex than math or science tasks, which may help

explain why this content area produced the largest mean effect size” (p. 33). I can

connect this to my own teaching because I have given formative and summative

assessments in different formats and I have seen how students can struggle with the way

information is presented even if they have a strong grasp of the material. This research is
 8
helpful for my action research because I want to ensure that the way I am assessing

students is not foreign or too cognitively complex.

Overall, the research indicates that formative assessments are effective and have

great potential in the classroom. There is a need for students to practice their skills and

get timely feedback and for teachers to use data to guide their instruction. Through my

project, my primary goal was to increase my students' understanding of physics concepts

through the use of these positive learning experiences throughout a unit.

METHODOLOGY

Research Treatment

My research took place during the first semester of the 2019-2020 school year. I

used my seventh and eighth period physics classes to determine the effect of formative

assessments on students’ self-confidence, ownership of the material, and retention. I

used seventh period as the treatment group and eighth period as the non-treatment group

first, and then switched and had seventh period as the non-treatment group and eighth

period as the treatment group.

For the treatment group, I used teacher-designed formative assessments to provide

timely feedback to students. These formative assessments were given as a supplement to

the regular practice and feedback that students get during class. My feedback to students

in the treatment group focused on general concepts and relationships that could be

applied to other scenarios. For example, when giving feedback to a student on a question

where they were asked to circle Newton’s third law force-pairs, I reiterated how to find

Newton’s third law force-pairs in general. Based on my knowledge of my students, I also

 9
gave suggestions for their next steps. For some students, this meant coming in for help

outside of class, whereas some students received a reminder of specific additional

resources on Canvas, our learning management system. Students’ scores for this

formative assessment were not entered in the gradebook.

Our physics class uses standards based grading. There are no traditional tests, but

rather there are two “standards quizzes” on each learning standard. The first quiz on a

standard, called pass one, is usually more elementary. Students will get feedback on pass

one before they take the second quiz on the same standard, which is called pass two.

Both quizzes for a standard are weighted the same so a student’s overall grade for each

standard is the average score of the two quizzes. These quizzes are graded on a four

point scale, and students are able to retake these quizzes if they score below a certain

percentage. I administered the formative assessment to the treatment group only before

the quiz on pass one for a standard.

The timeline for the treatment group needed to incorporate two important

features. First, I had to give the formative assessment after all of the content on pass one

was covered in class. Secondly, students needed to have ample time to internalize and

act on their feedback before the quiz. Therefore, this cycle took approximately six days.

I used the Balanced Forces unit for my treatment. The first standard in this unit is

“I can identify force as an interaction between a pair of objects” and my seventh period

class was the treatment group for this standard, meaning they received the teacher-

designed formative assessment. The second standard in this unit is “I can distinguish

between balanced and unbalanced forces and how they relate to the motion of a system”

and my eighth period class was the treatment group for this standard.
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Student Sample

My research was conducted with my general physics classes at Naperville North

High School in Naperville, Illinois. In 2019, the school’s total enrollment was 2,674

students. In the same year, there were 15.3% low income students at the school which is

immensely lower than the number of low income students in the state, which was 48.8%

(Illinois State Board of Education, 2019). With this being said, most of my students were

from middle to upper middle class families. My seventh period class consisted of 28

students, 17 of which were males and 11 of which were females. Twenty six of these

students were juniors and two were seniors. One student in the class had a 504 plan for

ADHD and anxiety disorder. My eighth period class consisted of 20 students, three of

which were males and 17 of which were females. Nineteen of these students were juniors

and there was one senior. Two students had 504 plans, one for ADHD and one for

ADHD, anxiety disorder, and headaches. Two students had IEPs, both related to reading

comprehension and written expression.

Both physics classes had already finished the first full unit of learning, Constant

Velocity, before this project started. Each unit in physics follows a similar pattern. We

start with a paradigm lab, which is an informal learning lab. Students work in groups

with teacher guidance and support. This is graded for completion only. The conclusions

from the paradigm lab are typically presented through lab group whiteboards and

summarized afterwards as a class. We revisit and build upon the key concepts from the

paradigm lab throughout the rest of the unit.

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In terms of class materials, each student has a physics workbook, which covers

the entire first semester. Throughout the unit, students take notes and complete

homework pages in their workbooks. There is no textbook for the class, so the workbook

is where students keep most of their class materials. There are lab investigations that take

a day or two throughout the units, and each student has a lab notebook where they keep

lab materials. Standards quizzes are administered throughout the unit. At the conclusion

of each unit, students work in groups to complete a lab practical. This is a summative

assessment and each student turns in their own copy. A majority of the lab is completed

collaboratively, but there is typically an independent portion as well.

Instrumentation

I used a variety of data collection instruments to investigate the effect of

formative assessment with my physics classes, which produced both quantitative and

qualitative data. Some of these instruments include surveys, teacher field notes, school

tutoring logs, post-test data, quiz scores, and a teacher journal. These instruments are

presented in Table 1.

Table 1
Triangulation Matrix of Data Collection Instruments for Research Questions

Research Question Data Source(s)

#1: Student Self-Confidence Student Surveys

Classroom Observation– Field Notes

Student Surveys
#2: Help Outside the
Classroom Logs of school tutoring data

Post-test data
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#3: Retention of class content
Quiz score on second pass
Teacher Journal
#4: Teacher Takeaways

Student surveys were used to collect data on student self-confidence the day of an

in-class assessment for the treatment groups (Appendix A). The format was a 5 point

Likert survey where students selected whether they agreed or disagreed, and to what

extent, with a series of statements I provided. After receiving feedback from my research

team, I decided to ask an open ended question asking students to explain their answer

after each statement. This provided additional qualitative data for the first research

question.

I was also able to use my field notes to monitor students’ self-confidence. There

are a large number of students at my school that struggle with test anxiety, and I’ve seen

many examples of how this can affect students. Monitoring the classroom environment

allowed me to look at students’ confidence from another angle. Student surveys were

also used for students to reflect on what type of help they sought before the quiz

(Appendix B). I used check boxes to ask students to select all help centers they have

visited. This also reinforced the different places students had available to them for future

reference. Again, I asked students to briefly explain why or why not each help center

was used because it was suggested that I could gather additional qualitative data this way.

I received weekly school emails of student attendance so I could cross reference where

students said they went with the school’s documentation of these visits.
 13
For retention of class content, I was able to look at this both short-term and long-

term. The pass two quiz for both standards: “I can identify force as an interaction

between a pair of objects” and “I can distinguish between balanced and unbalanced

forces and how they relate to the motion of a system”, can be found in Appendix C. For

long term retention, I gave a post-test second semester (Appendix D). My students

changed from first semester to second semester and I had seven students carry over that

took the post-test.

Finally, I used a teacher journal to self-reflect on the takeaways from the teacher’s

point of view. My journal prompts can be found in Appendix E.

The research methodology for this project received an exemption by Montana State

University's Institutional Review Board (Appendix F) and compliance for working with

human subjects was maintained throughout the course of the study.

DATA AND ANALYSIS

Figure 1
Analysis of Student Responses: Confidence for Summative Assessment
 14
14

12

10
Number of Students

0
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

7th Period Treatment Group 8th Period Treatment Group

Figure 1 shows student responses to the survey question given right before taking

the in class, summative assessment. The question stated, “I feel prepared for the

standards quiz”. The data shows that students in both the seventh period treatment

group and eighth period treatment group had high levels of confidence right before

taking their assessment. However, my observations show that the students who worry

and/or get test anxiety were unaffected by this treatment. Fifty seven percent of the

seventh period treatment group agreed or strongly agreed that they felt prepared for

the quiz on the first balanced forces standard, “I can identify force as an interaction

between a pair of objects”. There were three students who specifically mentioned the

formative assessment in their responses. Student 1 indicated that he agreed with the

statement and went on to write, “Because I knew what I did wrong on the formative”.

Student 2 strongly agreed with the statement and wrote, “I am prepared because I
 15
studied using my materials and feedback from the formative”. Student 3 also strongly

agreed and wrote, “Because I did well on the formative”.

Eighth period saw higher numbers of students feeling confident. Seventy three

percent of students in the eighth period treatment group agreed or strongly agreed that

they felt prepared for the quiz on the second balanced forces standard, “I can

distinguish between balanced and unbalanced forces and how they relate to the

motion of a system”. There were two students who mentioned the formative

assessment for this survey question. Student A said she agreed with feeling prepared

and wrote, “Got feedback back”. Student B strongly agreed that she felt prepared and

wrote, “I did good on the formative and looked over the practice problems”. The

only students that mentioned how the formative assessment affected their confidence

were students who felt prepared. This shows that students were likely not negatively

impacted by the formative assessment; rather, they didn’t feel confident for other

reasons.

Figure 2
Analysis of Student Help Visits Before Quiz One (N=15)
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Treatment Group (7th Period) Non-Treatment Group (8th Period)

Figure 2 shows that before the first quiz, there were a total of 15 visits for extra

help, with most students being from the treatment group.

Figure 3
Analysis of Student Help Visits Before Quiz Two (N=9)

Treatment Group (8th Period) Non-Treatment Group (7th Period)

 17
Figure 3 shows that before the second quiz, there were a total of nine visits for

extra help, with most students being from the non-treatment group.

After a closer look, every student in seventh period who went in for extra help as

part of the non-treatment group also went in for help as part of the treatment group.

Also, both of the two students in eighth period who sought extra help as part of the

treatment group also sought help as part of the non-treatment group. This shows that

there was no relationship between the treatment and students accessing help outside

of class. This shows that although students were recommended to seek physics help,

some students did not have time or did not have the desire to go.

Figure 4
Quiz Scores on Standard One Pass Two

8th Period (Non-Treatment Group)

7th Period (Treatment Group)

77% 78% 79% 80% 81% 82% 83% 84% 85% 86%

Figure 4 shows that students in the non-treatment group scored 4.75% higher than

students in the treatment group on standard one pass two.

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Figure 5
Quiz Scores on Standard Two Pass Two

8th Period (Treatment Group)

7th Period (Non-Treatment Group)

88% 89% 89% 90% 90% 91% 91% 92% 92% 93% 93%

Figure 5 shows that the treatment group scored 2.5% higher than the non-

treatment group on standard two pass two.

Figures 4 and 5 show that regardless of being the treatment or non-treatment

group, students in my eighth period physics class scored slightly higher on average

than students in my seventh period physics class on the second pass for both

standards. Before the start of the balanced forces unit, both classes took the Force

Concept Inventory. This test, which is used each year in physics, measures mastery

of concepts commonly taught in first semester physics. The average for seventh

period was 22% while the average for eighth period was 20%. This shows that both

classes were very comparable in terms of their initial understanding of forces, and the

slight differences seen in short-term retention are likely not attributed to the

treatment.
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Figure 6
Analysis of Long-Term Retention: Balanced Forces Post-Test Scores

4.8

4.6
(6 possible points)
Post-Test Score

4.4

4.2

3.8

3.6
All Students (N=35) Students in My Class Again Semester 2
(N=7)

Figure 6 shows how my second semester physics students as a whole compared to

the students who were in either my seventh or eighth period class first semester for a

balanced forces post-test. The balanced forces post-test, found in Appendix D,

covered the main concepts from the Balanced Forces unit. Each question was

original in the sense that no students had ever seen it before. The seven students who

were in either seventh or eighth period first semester scored an average of 81% on the

post-test. The lowest score was 67% and the highest score was 100%. All of my

second semester students (N=35) scored an average of 68.5% on the post-test. The

lowest score was 33% and the highest score was 100%. Although there are many

factors to consider, such as the fact that my second semester students came from five

other teachers, this data shows that the treatments may have helped students retain

more content.
 20
My takeaways and what I learned from the first cycle allowed me to improve for

the second cycle. For example, I had a better handle on getting the formative

assessment to students who had absences so they were able to get feedback and take

the quiz in a reasonable amount of time. I struggled with this the first time through

because if I forgot to give the formative, the timeline for that student got pushed back.

I also became very aware that students need time after receiving feedback to work

with it. My students who wanted to get extra help often had busy schedules and

might be busy with sports, trying to get help for other classes, working after school,

and more. It was necessary to give students ample time to sort through the feedback.

I had a very positive experience with giving the formative assessments myself.

As opposed to other ways students receive feedback during class, this was very

similar to an actual quiz for them. During the administration of the formative

assessments, students were quiet and took the task seriously, as they would for

something that is graded. Students expressed appreciation for the extra practice and

feedback.

INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION

The purpose of this project was to determine the effect of formative assessments

on my 11th grade physics students’ self-confidence, ownership of the material, and

retention. The data shows that formative assessments have a positive effect on students’

self-confidence and potentially retention of material as well.

A majority of students in both treatment groups agreed or strongly agreed that they

were prepared for the summative assessment. Although there are factors out of my
 21
control such as students that struggle with test anxiety, low self-confidence and more,

formative assessments gave students the opportunity to identify areas of strengths and

weaknesses in an atmosphere where they weren’t pressured or being graded. This was a

positive outcome of my study.

Students did not access help more or less due to the treatment. The data shows that

students who access help outside of the classroom did so regardless of the treatment.

This showed me that some students, after receiving feedback that they had made many

mistakes, still did not access help. This ownership is part of a much bigger issue of will

vs. skill which is an important part of the process that started my inspiration for this

project to begin with. How do we engage students who are capable of more, but will not

apply themselves? This is an area for future exploration.

Students’ retention was viewed using short-term data and long-term data. Short-term,

the treatment did not seem to have a significant effect on how well students were able to

apply key concepts for the second quiz. Long-term, the data showed that students who

were a part of this study scored higher on a balanced forces post-test than students who

were not part of this study. Since there were six general physics teachers during this

study and students switch teachers and classes after first semester, there are a plethora of

factors that may affect long-term retention.

Finally, from the teacher perspective, this study made me a better teacher by being

responsive to my students and their needs. I felt more at ease during quiz time, knowing

that we had thoroughly practiced everything that students were seeing. This study also

helped me get to know my students on a deeper level. I received a lot of responses from
 22
each and every student throughout this process which really allowed me understand their

thoughts and viewpoints.

VALUES

My findings indicate that students benefit from, and appreciate, receiving teacher

feedback prior to summative assessments. This turned out to be more of a social-

emotional outcome than an academic feat. As a science teacher, I am used to hearing

from students that math and science classes are very difficult and stressful, and my

personal high school experience reflects that as well. A vast majority of my students in

general physics are motivated to do well, but aren’t necessarily interested in science.

Being able to see my students feeling good about what they were doing was one of the

highlights from this project.

In future years, I hope to improve on several elements of this study. First, I strive to

improve on the quality and quantity of formative assessments in my classroom. Although

I believe that students received high quality feedback, the quantity was lacking. It took

me a long time to grade each student’s work, and it would not be feasible for me to do

that several times a week for all my classes. Finding a way to maintain the high quality

of the feedback students received while also giving frequent checks for understanding is

something to consider for the future. This is where technology can play an important

role. There are constantly new ways of providing feedback to students as technology

evolves, and that is something I would like to try out as opposed to regular pen and paper

feedback. Since I am already familiar with using Canvas and Google Forms, these may

be options to consider.
 23
An area for future research is how to involve students’ parents/guardians in this

process. Something that teachers want to avoid at all costs is the surprised parent because

his or her student is receiving a low grade in class. Using formative assessment

performance to drive parent communication could have positive impacts on student

achievement.
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REFERENCES CITED

Bell, B. & Cowie, B. (2001). Formative Assessment and Science Education. Norwell,
MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through
Classroom Assessment. Phi Delta Kappa.
https://www.rdc.udel.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/InsideBlackBox.pdf

Brown, S. (1996). Summary Comment. Symposium on Validity in Educational

Assessment. Educational Assessment Research Unit, University of Otago, Dunedin, New
Zealand, 28–30 June.

Haynes, K. (n.d.). Empowering Students to Take Ownership of Learning. Retrieved from

https://www.teachhub.com/empower-student-to-take-ownership-of-learning
International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 2015 Vol. 18, No. 1, 15–26

Kingston, N., & Nash, B. (2011). Formative Assessment: A Meta-Analysis and a Call for
Research. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 30(4), 28-37.

National Research Council (1999). The assessment of science meets the science of
assessment. Board onTesting and Assessment Commissionon Behavioral and Social
Sciences and Education, National Research Council. Washington, DC: National
Academy Press.

National Research Council 2001. Knowing What Students Know: The Science and
Design of Educational Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press

Padak, N., & Padak, G. (n.d.). Guidelines for Planning Action Research
Projects (Publication).

Sadler, D. R. (1989) Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems,

Instructional Science

Sondergeld, T., Bell, C., Leusner, D. (2010). Understanding how teachers engage in
formative assessment. Teaching and Learning, 72-86.

Terada, Y. (2017, September 21). Why Students Forget-and What You Can Do About It.
Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/why-students-forget-and-what-you-can-
do-about-it

Thompson, M., & Wiliam, D. (2007). Tight but loose: A conceptual framework for
scaling up school reforms. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American
Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
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APPENDICES
 26
APPENDIX A

STUDENT SELF-CONFIDENCE SURVEY

Survey: Formative Assessment

Directions: For each question, select strongly disagree, disagree, neutral (neither agree
nor disagree), agree, or strongly agree. Only one option may be selected for each
statement. For each question, explain why you answered the way you did.

1) I looked over the feedback I received from my formative assessment (above) prior to

the standards quiz.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Why did you answer the way you did in the above question?

2) The feedback from the formative assessment(s) helped me fix my mistakes.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral. Agree Strongly Agree

Why did you answer the way you did in the above question?

3) I value getting feedback on my work before a quiz.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Why did you answer the way you did in the above question?

4) I feel prepared for the standards quiz.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Why did you answer the way you did in the above question?
 27

APPENDIX B
STUDENT SURVEY FOR USING OUTSIDE RESOURCES

Survey: Accessing Help Outside of the Classroom Name:_______________________

Period: ________

Select all that you have been to in the past 5 school days:

⬜ Physics morning help – M, T, Th, F at 7:00 am in Room 143

⬜ Physics peer tutoring – M-F during all lunch periods in the Lit Center and M,
T, Th, F at 7 am in the Lit Center

⬜ After school tutoring – Wednesdays and Thursdays at 3:15-4:15 in the

Learning Commons

⬜ I have met with my teacher outside of class

⬜ I have not been to any of these places for extra help.

⬜ Other (please explain):

For each of the following, briefly discuss why you have gone to this place OR why you

have chosen not to.

● Physics morning help:

_________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

● Physics peer tutoring:

_________________________________________________
 28
____________________________________________________________

● After school tutoring:

_________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

● Met with my teacher:

_________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

● Other (please explain):

_________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
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APPENDIX C

BALANCED FORCES PASS TWO QUIZ

Physics BF 1 Pass 2 & 2 Pass 2 FORM A Name ______________________________ Period ___

Standard Score

BFPM 1: I can identify force as an interaction between a pair of objects. (1)

BFPM 2: I can distinguish between balanced and unbalanced forces and how they
relate to the motion of a system. (2)

1. A student is pulling two boxes across the floor to the right at a constant velocity. Box A does not
slip or move on top of Box B (there is NO FRICTION between A and B). The student is pulling
ONLY on box B with a rope.
a. Draw the interaction diagram for the boxes shown below. (1)

b. Draw a free-body (force) diagram for each box. Label each force with (on, by) notation.
(1) Indicate equal forces with tally marks and write the force equation(s) for each box. (2)

FBD Box A FBD Box B

Force equation(s) for Box A Force equation(s) for Box B

 30
c. Circle the Newton’s 3rd Law force-pair interaction in the free-body diagrams above. (1)

2. For the following situations, determine if forces are balanced or unbalanced. (2) Draw a free-
body (force) diagram for the object in bold to support your answer. Label every force with (on, by)
notation. (1) Indicate equal forces with tally marks. (2)

A soccer ball rolls to the left across a field and comes to a A student pulls a box to the left. The box remains at
stop. rest.

BALANCED or UNBALANCED BALANCED or UNBALANCED

A hockey puck glides to the right across a smooth patch An archer is shooting a bow and arrow. The arrow
of ice at a constant velocity. Assume there is no friction. comes to a stop when it hits the target. Draw your
diagram for the moment in which the arrow hits the
target.

BALANCED or UNBALANCED BALANCED or UNBALANCED

 31

APPENDIX D

POST-TEST FOR SECOND SEMESTER STUDENTS

Question 1

A book rests on a table. Which of the following describes a Newton’s 3rd Law force
pair?

A) the earth pulls on the book and the table pushes up on the book.

B) the book exerts a force on the table and the earth pulls on the book.

C) the book pushes on the table and the table pushes on the book.

D) A & C

Question 2

If all the forces acting on an object are balanced, the object

A) is at rest.

B) is moving at a constant velocity.

C) is slowing down.

D) could be A or B.

Question 3

If an object starts to accelerate,

A) a balanced force is acting on it.

B) gravity is acting on it.

C) velocity is acting on it.

D) an unbalanced force is acting on it.

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Question 4

A force is exerted ON a bottle and an equal and opposite force is exerted BY the bottle.
What explains this?

A) conservation of energy

B) Newton's first law of motion

C) Newton's second law of motion

D) Newton's third law of motion

Question 5

For this scenario, the floor is NOT frictionless.

How many forces are acting on Box A?

A) 2

B) 3

C) 4

D) 5

Question 6

What is true about this object?

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A) It is moving at a constant velocity.

B) It is accelerating.

C) It is at rest.

D) It is speeding up.
 34

APPENDIX E

TEACHER JOURNAL PROMPTS

1) What went well about this cycle?

2) What would I change next time?

 35

APPENDIX F
INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD EXEMPTION
 36

APPENDIX G

STUDENT FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT FOR TREATMENT GROUP 1

BF Formative

1. Circle the free-body (force) diagram(s) that display non-constant velocity.

A sky-diver jumps from a plane and begins falling towards the ground, moving faster as
he falls. Assume there is no air resistance. When he is 2,500 feet above the ground, he
opens his parachute. He continues falling at constant velocity until he lands.
 37
For the next three questions, circle the correct answer. Explain your reasoning
and draw a free-body (force) diagram for each question.

1. Refer to the paragraph above. Before he opens the

parachute, the sky-diver is experiencing _____________. FBD for sky-diver
a. Balanced forces
b. Unbalanced forces
c. No forces

Explain your answer:

2. Refer to the paragraph above. After the parachute fully

opens, the sky-diver is experiencing ________________. FBD for sky-diver
a. Balanced forces
b. Unbalanced forces
c. No forces

Explain your answer:

3. At the moment the sky-diver lands, the force of the ground on him is
_______________ the force of him on the ground.
a. Greater than
b. Less than
c. Equal to

Explain your answer:

 38
APPENDIX H

STUDENT FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT FOR TREATMENT GROUP 2

BF Formative

Scenario: A student pulls a book (mass=1.5 kg) to the left at a constant velocity. The
book has a Gatorade bottle (mass=0.5 kg) on top of it.

1. Draw a picture of your scenario. Interaction diagram (optional)

2. Draw a FBD for the block and the bottle. Circle any N3L force-pairs.

FBD Book FBD Bottle

3. The student pushes with 10 N of force. Solve for ALL remaining forces. Write
the force values next to each force on your FBDs.