Teacher Education Instruments

Student Content Assessments

Instrument 2: PEERS Assessment Guide: Ecosystems Content Knowledge

Project: People Exploring Ecosystem Resources as Stewards (PEERS)
Eastern Oregon State College

Funding Source: NSF: Teacher Enhancement (ESIE)

Purpose: To determine significant changes in student content knowledge of ecosystems management (issues, facts, problems) via classroom concept-mapping evaluation

Administered To: Elementary and middle school teachers who participated in PEERS summer institutes, mini sessions, research projects, and evaluations and are currently evaluating student content knowledge. These maps and subsequent evaluations are conducted twice during the unit.

Topics Covered:

• Content Specific Assessment: biology

Format/Length: 1 concept map. This instrument contains four evaluative dimensions for use with student concept maps for the purpose of evaluating student content knowledge: vocabulary, concepts, actions/relationships, and interrelationships relating to ecosystems management. Each dimension is assigned point values: 1 point is given for each relevant vocabulary term; 3 points for each concept identified; 3 points for each identified action or relationship between terms or concepts; and 5 points for examples of different interactions of ecosystems management.

Name: _________________________________________  Date: ____________________________

Goal:	Significant change in knowledge of ecosystems management, facts, issues, alternatives, and problems.
Instrument:	Instructor evaluation of concept maps.
Administration:	Concept maps or "webs" are created on the first day of the second week as part of the field experience. A second web is created on day 4 of week 2 as a comparison.
Instructions:	Students should start with the ellipse at the center of the page and build a concept map that depicts their personal knowledge and understanding of ecosystems management. Point values are assigned as follows.
	Vocabulary: 1 point for each term that is salient to ecosystems management (branched terms such as riparian, watershed, abiotic, biotic, organic, photosynthesis, producer, consumer, management plan, consensus, etc.)
	Concepts: 3 points for each concept identified in relationship to ecosystems management (separate ellipses for such ideas as baseline data, monitoring, consensus building, stakeholders, intervention, etc.).
	Actions/Relationships: 3 points for each connecting line that cites an action or relationship between terms or concepts (arrows and lines defined operatively such as, "is part of," "is restricted by," "is maintained by," is governed by," "can be affected by," etc.).
	Interrelationships: 5 points for cited examples of recursive, cyclic, or complex interactions of ecosystem management. For example: economic limitations and management decisions interactions (arrows drawn and explained that show a high degree of exchange between sets of concepts or ellipses).

Student Prompt:

Please add additional ellipses for concepts, words, and connecting lines that indicate descriptors, arrows to indicate interactions and relationships, and operant words with arrows to describe specific interactions. Please start with the ellipse "Ecosystems Management" at the center of the sheet.