And Action! Using Science Skits to Evaluate Students' Understanding of Science Concepts

The authors of this article believe that giving students opportunities to talk about and represent science concepts helps them develop deeper, more integrated understandings, while providing teachers with rich, alternative methods of assessment. They provide Science units and instructional approaches that are consistent with science and engineering practices advocated by the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) (Achieve Inc. 2013), as well as several core disciplinary ideas. In their classroom students not only learn science concepts by engaging in these practices, but the development and performance of the science skits also requires them to explain and demonstrate scientific explanations to others. This article describes the process from classroom to stage as students organize concepts, plan, write scripts, and perform. Using science skits to assess students' scientific understanding is a "win-win" for everyone--students, parents, and teachers. Writing and performing the skits requires students to clearly articulate and actively demonstrate what they know about the concepts and scientific practices. They serve as alternative assessments and provide a broader picture of what students understand about the unit of study than they could get from a pencil and paper test alone.