Assessment+of+Inquiry+Lessons

= Assessing an Inquiry Lesson =

There are a variety of ways to approach assessing an inquiry. You can look at the content they learned and assess the knowledge gained through a presentation method for example, or assess the student by their reflection of their learning through a journal or personal essay as another example, or you could choose to not really assess it for marks but to just leave it as a process by which the students gained knowledge to use at a later time - such as during an exam for a long answer question related to the broad themes/topics/questions from the unit. Whichever way you choose to assess your students, make sure they are aware of what is expected of them, and always encourage them to let the process of inquiry take them where they need to go. I always tell my students that if you start on one specific topic, and something you read sparks your interest related to your assignment, research it as well and include it! Do not let your outline of requirements for a project, stop you from learning what interests you about the topic. A key to success in life is to open your mind to topics you never knew interested you. Allow the inquiry process to flow and be just that - an INQUIRY into something! Looking into something - learning about something that may lead you to somewhere totally different - it is all part of the learning process. Let it happen and you may be surprised at what you learn.

Here are a few rubrics to help get you started:
This one is fairly general and has a scale of 1-4, looking at a variety of areas: This document is good because it has 4 rubrics. It has an inquiry rubric for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12: