Selecting candidate portfolio pieces at the end of each unit

At the end of each unit, to help students keep track of their progress and set their own goals for their future learning, have students choose the piece of writing (for grades 2–5, chapter or unit explanations or arguments; for grades 6–8, end-of-chapter arguments, science seminar arguments, or design arguments from the Engineering Internships) and a model that they are most proud of for that unit. Models might include a description and screenshot of the modeling tool, a drawing, or a screenshot of the Sim with annotations.

Have students respond to the following prompts about their work:

• Which explanation/argument/model did you choose?
• Why are you proud of this work?
• What about explanation/argumentation/modeling would you like to improve in the next unit?

Students may need support in evaluating their own work and setting goals. It is recommended that you make time in class for students to meet in small groups and provide feedback to one another about their selections. Students should be given guidelines about how to provide positive and constructive (never negative) feedback. The following example reflections can be shared with students to help them think about their own work and that of their peers:

Examples for student arguments:

Why are you proud of this argument?	What about argumentation would you like to improve on in the next unit?
Last time I didn’t explain why my evidence mattered, but in this argument I did. I thought the evidence was hard to understand, but I still tried to use it to write my argument. I think my claim was really clear and my argument was convincing. I remembered to think about my audience and I tried to explain things to them clearly.	I want to remember to use evidence. I want to user more than one piece of evidence. I want to remember to explain why my evidence matters. I want to try to refute on of the other claims.

 

Examples for student models:

Why are you proud of this argument?	What about argumentation would you like to improve on in the next unit?
Last time I forgot to label the parts of the model and it was unclear but this time I added labels. I think this content is really confusing, but in my model I made it clear how all the parts work together. In the model I made in the first chapter I had the arrow wrong, and in this chapter I fixed it.	I want to remember to add labels to my model. I want to make sure my model shows all the important parts. I want to include the relevant parts and not the irrelevant parts.

 

Compiling final portfolios

At the end of the year, have students create a final portfolio that shows work that they are the most proud of and how they have grown. Suggest that students begin by looking at the work from each unit that they have selected and annotated, but that they can choose any of their work, they just need to include:

For K-2:

• 3-5 work products that they are proud of and that show growth in development of science and engineering practices

For grades 3-5:

• 2 written explanations and/or arguments that, as a set, show growth in that practice, and that they are proud of
• 3 models that show growth, and that they are proud of
• 1 other piece of work of any kind, that they want to showcase

For grades 6-8:

• 4 arguments that they are proud of and that, as a set, show growth in that practice
• 3 models that show growth, and that they are proud of
• Other piece of work of any kind that they want to showcase

Students should describe their rationale for choosing those pieces. They should consider the rubrics and compare the pieces from the same groups across the year to explain how they show growth. Students should also refer to their own notes from their candidate work products to describe how they did or did not work towards meeting their own goals for improving the practice. The following questions can structure a cover page for each set of work products in the portfolio:

• Which [explanations/arguments/models] did you choose?
• Why did you choose this set? How do they show how you’ve improved?
• Did you meet the learning goals that you set for yourself? Why? Why do you think so?
• What about this set of work are you most proud of?
• What are some skills you hope to work on next year?
• What additional piece of work did you choose?
• Why did you choose it? What do you hope to show with it?

Example student reflection for final portfolio

Which arguments did you choose?

My launch unit argument from Microbiome
My argument from the Science Seminar from Traits and Reproduction
My argument about the weather in Galetown from Weather Patterns
My argument about volcanoes from the Earth’s Changing Climate Science Seminar

Why did you choose these arguments? How do they show how you’ve improved?

I chose these arguments because they show how I’ve become better at writing arguments this year. In my argument from Microbiome about fecal transplants, I didn’t know how to explain why my evidence mattered. I knew to do that in all my other arguments so that was better. I picked the volcano argument as my most improved argument because even though I said why my evidence mattered in the last few arguments, the volcano argument had a lot of evidence and I showed why all of it mattered. And that evidence was more complicated than the evidence about Galetown.

I picked the Weather Patterns argument to show how I improved because even though I had a refutation in the one before and not in this one, the Key Concepts in this unit were tricky and even though they were tricky I still used them as evidence.

Did you meet the learning goals that you set for yourself? Why? Why do you think so?

I think I mostly met my learning goals. I did start including more evidence like I said I wanted to. I didn’t always remember to think about my audience though.

What about these arguments are you most proud of?

I am most proud of how I convinced people by including lots of evidence and explaining why it mattered.

I am most proud of how I wrote an argument about an ecosystem and talked about indirect effects.

Download the rubric as a PDF: AmplifyScience_Rubric-for-scoring-student-portfolios.pdf

Rubric for scoring student portfolios

	0 Incomplete	1 Incomplete	2 Thorough
Completeness of portfolio	Does not include all the pieces of work OR does not include annotations.	Includes the correct number of pieces and annotations.	Includes the correct number of pieces and shows reflective effort in annotations.
Examines growth in written explanations or arguments	Doesn’t describe growth over the year.	Describes how they have improved over the year in general terms, but doesn’t reference the criteria in the argumentation rubric.	Description of the improvement over the year and references either growth on the argumentation rubric or facility with argumentation when a disciplinary core idea (DCI) or crosscutting concept (CCC) made task more complex.
Examples growth in modeling	Doesn’t describe growth over the year.	Describes how they have improved over the year but doesn’t reference the criteria in the modeling rubric.	Description of improvement over the year references either growth on the modeling rubric or facility with modeling when DCI or CCC made task more complex
Reflects on how well they met their own goals for improvement	Doesn’t describe how well they met their goals.	Describes whether or not they feel they met their goals, but doesn’t explain why or why not.	Describes whether or not they met their goals and explains why they think that.