Assessment Strategies
Students work in cooperative groups, pairs and individually throughout this lesson. There are several opportunities for teachers to assess student progress. Student work on Student Worksheet 1- Thinking about Inventions is largely critical thinking (artifact analysis and classification) based on students' prior knowledge. Students will learn facts about the inventors and inventions during the debriefing, so any thoughts they write or discuss prior to teacher input should only be assessed in light of how reasonably they apply critical thinking skills. The teacher should observe students' cooperative work and group discussion to informally assess their analytical thinking. Student work on Student Worksheet 2- Understanding a Patent is also a critical thinking exercise in which students demonstrate their comprehension of the patent materials. The first part about the Drawbaugh magnetic clock is done together as a group, while the second part about the Allen sled is done in small groups independent of teacher input. Students should be able to independently find the information requested in the different parts of the Allen sled patent. The teacher should observe students' cooperative work and group discussion to informally assess their analytical thinking. For Student Worksheet 3- Patent Application, use the Patent Application Assessment Rubric to evaluate the students" work.
