From Promethean Planet…
A while back, I had read this quote from Paul Black (1998):
“When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative assessment; when the customer tastes the soup, that’s summative assessment.”
That made sense to me then, but somehow I just can’t remember why. The analogy is now lost on me. Perhaps, because of the advances in technology, my opinion of what is (or could be) formative assessment has changed from being a way to more frequently assessment student understanding (and allowing this to shape teaching) to being a way for students to assess their own understanding based on the answers given and the discussions held.
Which is why we may want to avoid giving the answers too soon.
Imagine asking a question to the students and the students all “vote on the given choices” or “type in a response” on their keypads. (Obviously I’m referring to Activotes or Activexpression)
Once the input is given, the students immediately see if they got it right or got it wrong. Cool, huh?
