intersections+of+Assessment,+Pedagogy+&+Curriculum


 * Theories about Learning**

In our discussions about Theories of Learning we looked at "the field" ... we focused on literature and research. I am interested in how we develop our own "Theories about Learning". What new/novel thinking do we do ... as educators and practitioners.

It occurs to me that this wiki is really a repository for other people's thinking ... that we have set ourselves the task of sifting through and analysing the insights and information that has been generated by others ... it is perhaps a model for our preferred way of operating in the real world - as consultants we are fond of quoting the experts (Fulan, Hattie et al) ... we are comfortable sharing the insights of others ...

Do we develop our own theories about learning? Is their an audience/forum for our thinking - are WE interested in what WE think?

This page is attempt to explore one of my own ideas about learning ... outside of the "isms and the ists" ... it is not a "Theory of Learning" but rather a "Theory about Learning" ... it is informed by reading ... but also experience ... it is an attempt to explain and relate three concepts/notions that seem to be essential in our discussions about education - Assessment, Pedagogy and Curriculum.

A recent conversation about learning lead me to think about the question - Can we say "Assessment is Pedagogy"? ... What does it mean?

This lead me to consider the idea of the intersection between Assessment and Pedagogy (and then Curriculum) ...

By looking at the "intersection" of ideas we can explore "what is not" as well as "what is" ... I think it is useful to consider "Assessment without Pedagogy" and "Pedagogy without Assessment" ...


 * __Exploring the idea of an intersection of ideas__**

… let's consider Reading and Comprehension

“reading for comprehension” is a tautology - Reading IS Comprehension … if you define reading as "making meaning ...etc "

to further explore reading and comprehension it could be useful to look at a different idea - “decoding for comprehension” …



The “intersection” between decoding and comprehension (the purple bit) is where students use phonetics to make meaning AND use meaning to help decode …

This model recognises that there are other strategies for comprehending (morphological, contextual, grammatical, semantic) and that decoding can be done without comprehension …

Looking at this model could challenge teachers to …
 * focus on a range of other “meaning making strategies” (not just phonetics)
 * minimise activities that focus on non-comprehensive decoding
 * move kids from decoding without comprehension (flashcards, spelling lists) into decoding for comprehension
 * recognise that readers use meaning to help decode and decoding to support meaning making

__**The intersection between Pedagogy and Assessment**__

I think a useful way of talking about Learning is to look at the intersections between the “ideas” of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment …



Is there such a thing as pedagogy without assessment? assessment without pedagogy?

What does the intersection of Pedagogy and Assessment look like?

I think ...

The most interesting place on this diagram/map is the intersection of Pedagogy and Assessment and Curriculum (the brown bit) ... this is where we bring together;
 * What we know about the student
 * What we know about the knowledge/learning area
 * What we know about ways of learning

Professional Learning questions;


 * What can we learn about assessment strategies?
 * What can we learn about the area of learning and how it is understood?
 * What can we learn about the process of learning?