Electricity and Magnetism

Student Work

Grade Level and Ability:
Student work is sorted into three different categories based on the four-point rubric, “Electricity and Magnetism.” A score of 1-5 indicates that a student is in the “developing” range. In this range, the student is struggling with the concepts of electricity and magnetism, as well as using proper grammar and punctuation. A score of 6-12 indicates that a student has some knowledge of concepts relating to electricity and magnetism, but needs some reinforcement of key terms and vocabulary. This is called the “proficient” range. A score of 13-16 indicates that a student is in the “distinguished” range. At this level, the student has a firm understanding of the concepts of electricity and magnetism.

This learning experience was conducted with 19 students in the fourth grade. There are 21 students in the class, but two students were absent the day of this lesson. The teacher modeled questions in the Jeopardy review game, asked the students questions relating to the key concepts of electricity and magnetism throughout the game, and assisted and observed as the students completed the post-test. The teacher also modeled an acrostic poem using the word magnets, and observed the students as they created their own poems independently. I was able to check the students’ understanding as they answered the review questions, as well as by observing their work during the completion of the post-test and the acrostic poem.

Upon scoring the students’ acrostic poems, I found that ten of the students scored in the distinguished range. The high success rate may be due to the fact that students were already familiar with the concepts and were creating the acrostic poem as a review writing piece. Nine of the students scored in the proficient range, with five of the students almost scoring in the distinguished range. One student scored in the developing range. This may be due to the student’s diagnosis of ADHD and a visual learning disability.

Pre/Post-Test Scores:
The students were pre-assessed with several questions regarding the concepts of electricity and magnetism prior to beginning the unit. At the conclusion of this learning experience, the students took the same assessment as a post-test. All of the students in the class showed a tremendous difference in their pre- and post-test scores. This shows that the students retained the information from the lesson. The table below shows the pre- and post-test scores for all students.

Examples of Student Work:

Developing Student Work: Scored Rubric (60 KB) / Scored Rubric (73 KB)

Proficient Student Work: Scored Rubric (60 KB) / Scored Rubric (78 KB)

Distinguished Student Work: Scored Rubric (60 KB) / Scored Rubric (26 KB)

Additional Examples of Student Work: