The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of instruction for the development of analytical rubrics based on teacher-student compromise, which would be applied to performance assessment about the ninth-grade housing segment of the 7th nationa...
The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of instruction for the development of analytical rubrics based on teacher-student compromise, which would be applied to performance assessment about the ninth-grade housing segment of the 7th national curriculum and the eighth-grade housing segment of the revised 2007 national curriculum. Two different performance tasks were selected from the housing segments of middle school technology & home economics. One was to describe a house students would want to live in, and the other was making a life-sharing environment-friendly village model. The former was an individual performance task that required writing a research paper, and the latter was a group performance task that needed practice. This study planned to provide instruction on the learner-involved development of analytic rubric regarding the selected tasks, and then to look for any possible improvement in the learning motivation of learners.
This study was implemented in the following procedure:
Rubric development instruction was designed in three different stages: defining, developing and evaluating. In the definition stage, the 7th national curriculum, the revised 2007 curriculum, the 7th technology & home economics textbooks and teacher's guides were analyzed to select performance tasks, and how to fulfill the selected performance tasks, materials required for that and special instructions were presented. And a rubric development schedule and compromise process were determined. In the development stage, achievement criteria for the selected performance tasks were checked to select what to evaluate, scoring criteria and rating scales. After negotiating with every class member in two sessions, this researcher had a final negotiation with group leaders after school about the development of analytical rubrics. In the final evaluation stage, the content validity of the primary rubrics was checked by a home education expert and two fellow teachers to finalize it. After this researcher and another home economics teacher scored the task performance of learners by utilizing the finalized rubrics to assess the goodness of the rubrics, each grader's scoring reliability was investigated.
The findings of the study were as follows:
As for the analytic rubric for the individual task performance in the housing segment, three evaluation items were selected: the conceptual accuracy of the basic conditions of a residential space, the adequacy of the application method, and whether to meet the deadline for the submission of research paper. And two different scoring scales were prepared. One consisted of A, B and C, and the other was constituted by A, B, C and D. In the event of the analytic rubric for the group task performance about making a life-sharing environment-friendly village model, four evaluation items were selected: the validity of life-sharing residence and environment-friendly residence, making a village model, the possibility of resources recycling, and self-evaluation/group evaluation. And a scale designed to rate task performance as good, fair or poor was selected. As a result of analyzing each grader's scoring reliability to determine the goodness of the analytical rubrics, each grader's scoring turned out highly reliable, which indicated the strong reliability of the rubrics that were prepared in an objective manner.
In order to find out the influence of the rubric development instruction on learning motivation, two different third-year classes in a middle school located in Gyeonggi province were selected respectively as an experimental group and a control group. A static group pretest-posttest design was adopted, and the way of presenting the rubrics and learning motivation were respectively selected as independent and dependent variables. Both groups took four lessons. The experimental group was divided into six groups according to their seats, and developed the rubric for the individual performance task that was given in advance. In the second session, they developed the other rubric for the group performance task in the same way as the first session. After handouts about the finalized rubrics were provided to each class, they were asked to fulfill the individual task at home and to submit the output before the deadline, and they made a preparation for the group performance task in advance before they did it in class.
In the third session, they were once again informed about the rubrics to confirm their awareness of the scoring criteria, and each of the students came forward according to their class number when their task performance was scored by using individual scoring cards. Feedback was provided to them by telling them what's good and bad about their task performance. In the fourth session, they were informed about the rubrics again, and then made a model in group. Each group's task performance was scored when they got it done. They wrote down their individual performance scores on the group scoring cards, and this researcher evaluated them and calculated their final scores. Each group got feedback by explaining them what's good and bad about their performance.
The control group members were explained about the individual performance task and divided into several groups in the first session. In the second session, they were explained about the group performance task and had a discussion on their future group activities. They took the third and fourth lessons in the same way as the experimental group. After every activity was completed, both groups took a posttest on learning motivation.
The instrument used to assess their learning motivation was Keller(1993)'s Instructional Materials Motivation Survey, which was converted into 14 items. And the questionnaire was added by open-ended questions to let the students give an answer without any restraints.
The collected data were analyzed with SPSS 10.1 for Windows program. Independent-samples t-test was utilized to confirm the equivalency of the experimental and control groups, and paired-samples t-test was employed to look for any possible changes between the pretest and posttest. In the case of the open-ended questions, every answer was transcribed by using a Hangul program and then analyzed in terms of attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction, which were subfactors of learning motivation.
As a result, the instruction for the learner-involved development of analytical rubrics for the housing segment had a positive impact on the confidence(C) and satisfaction(S) of the middle schoolers, which were two subfactors of learning motivation.
When their answers to the open-ended questions were analyzed to find out what they thought was good about the instruction, they got to build confidence in the course of being aware of the evaluation criteria and fulfilling the given tasks. They were contented with their scores and found the instruction to be interesting and applicable to real life. They came to become more cooperative while being engaged in group activities, and the instruction provided an opportunity for them to take lessons in a new way.
As to what difficulties they faced, the given tasks were elusive and time-consuming, and the given materials were insufficient. They found a common ground when they were in conflicts with one another, and that instruction was strange since they weren't familiar with that.
In relation to what improvements should be made, they preferred easier performance tasks, and some failed to find the groups they belonged to. The scoring criteria were appropriate, but they asked for easy-to- understand criteria. Some called for easier and more specific criteria on the ground that vague scoring criteria might make graders too subjective. And the addition of more pictures and additional explanation was asked to improve their understanding. All the opinions showed that the time-consuming and demanding performance tasks put pressure on the students.