Life Science Assessment Probe: Baby Mice Probe 17

Teacher:

Katherine Theobald

Context:

For the first Performance Assessment Task, I decided to again use both of my Biology classes. Classes were beginning a genetics unit.

Background:

Because they have language based disabilities, they often have trouble with vocabulary and overall understanding of concepts. This [assessment] fit in well into my instruction and teaching goals because it allowed me to assess their foundational knowledge of the complex topic of genetics. This probe was done at the start of a unit on genetics.

Task:

Appendix 1 - Probe 17: Baby Mice (Keeley, Volume 2)

Students were provided the “Baby Mice” probe (Keeley, Volume 2).  In this scenario, a child’s pet mouse had babies.  Five of the babies were back and two were white.  They father mouse was black.  The mother mouse was white.  The children gave different explanations for the differences in colors.  Students were asked to explain which child they thought was the ost correct.

Jerome: Baby mice inherit more traits from their fathers than their mothers.

Alexa: The baby mice got half their traits from their father and half from their mother.

June: Male traits are stronger than female traits.

Seif: Black mice have more traits than white mice.

Fiona: The black baby mice are probably male and the white baby mice are probably female.

Lydia: Parent’s traits like fur color don’t matter - nature decides what something will look like.

Billy: Blood type determines what traits babies will have.

Results:

Explanation

Overall Choices

Female

Male

Class 1

Class 2

Jerome

3

1

2

2

1

Alexa

4

3

1

2

2

June

2

1

1

1

1

Seif

2

0

2

1

1

Fiona

0

0

0

0

0

Lydia

0

0

0

0

0

Billy

2

0

2

1

1

Jerome/June

2

1

1

1

1

While many of the students held misconceptions and mistaken ideas about genetics and the mechanisms for inheritance, they were able to use the terminology presented in the previous unit on DNA.

Closing the Loop:

Unlike my previous CATs, I have not actually done the closing the loop portion yet.  For the misconceptions based on previous units, I will address those right away to ensure that their foundational knowledge from past material is strong heading into the genetics unit.  As for the other ideas, I plan to address those misconceptions throughout the unit. I will have the seven possible explanations on the board worded as a general statement and not specific to this scenario.  I will also include a few other correct statements and misconceptions that are prominent in a genetics unit.  Then we will address them as they come up in the unit.

Reflection:

The assessment went smoothly and the students all provided thorough explanations for their choices.  This probe will impact my teaching for this unit because I know have information on the misconceptions and preconceptions that my students have going into the unit.  One thing I would change would be to not allow students to choose more than one answer. I will be sure to tailor my instruction to address all of the ideas that they highlighted.

Source:

Keeley, P., F. Eberle, and L. Farrin. Uncovering Student Ideas in Science Volume 2: 25 More Formative Assessment Probes.  Arlington, Virginia NSTA Press. 2007.

Acknowledgement: The author completed this assessment while a student at Montana State University