subject: Assessment is Integrative (Part 3 of 3) [print this page] Assessment is Integrative (Part 3 of 3) Assessment is Integrative (Part 3 of 3)
At The Adventurous Child, we really value assessment in education. Consider the following quote:
"Assessment is an integrative process. Learning is personal, active, and genuine; discovery invites mastery and empowerment; delight feeds passion and a quest for more; and determination nurtures confidence and creates a sense that learning is forever" (Hughes & Gullo, 2010, p. 58-90).
By making learning a delightful journey that encourages determination among children, you are giving them a gift for life. A thirst for learning not just seeking the answer to a question, but the process of seeking it as well will carry children through school and life.
Since learning contains several components discovery, delight, and determination it stands that assessment must be multivariate, as well. How many ways do you currently assess your children? Do you give some methods more weight than others?
Until approximately age 6, children are concrete learners rather than abstract learners. Engaging them in their senses hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching is the most effective way for them to learn. Young children require tangible methods for really learning phenomena.
For example, weather is a great topic to teach young children. But why not teach it to them outside? By only discussing the phenomena of weather indoors, children are being denied opportunities to truly experience nature's mercurial ways. Reading a book or watching a movie clip is incomparable to taking them outside during a light rain shower, when they can see the clear drops, feel their wetness, taste the water, smell them, and hear their pitter-patter against the ground.
A multidisciplinary approach to learning is imperative for expanding children's learning. Why not integrate learning, discovery, delight, and determination with the Weather Station Learning Center?
With the Weather Station Learning Center in your outdoor classroom, kids will:
Measure water collected in the rain gauge
Observe the weather vane to note the wind's direction
Using the barometer and temperature gauges, discern variation (whether they are reading the numbers or simply observing the change)
Become capable of documenting weather at the weather weekly panel
Examine tiny creatures with the magnifying glass located in the activity platform
Assessment is integral to children surpassing developmental milestones. Help make learning a delightful journey by adding a Weather Station that is fun and educational!
