Tips for using the VALID quick quizzes.

Hello and welcome to the Introduction to VALID quick quizzes.

The link on this webpage will take you to a summary of all 73 quick quizzes.

These quizzes are past VALID item sets. Each item set presents a unique context and students must apply their knowledge, understanding and skills to this context.

The items are designed to be formative assessment and feedback will be provided to both the teacher and student immediately after they submit each quiz. Each item has been psychometrically validated and reviewed as part of the test development process.

The items are all linked to dot points in the syllabus for stages 3, 4 and 5. Stage 3 teachers will also need to download the syllabus coding key to interpret this summary table.

The summary table records the stage of each item, the name of the item set, the year that it appeared in the test and the major syllabus and minor syllabus focuses that it addresses.

The easiest way to search for an appropriate set is to use the search function of the sheet. By clicking Control F you’ll open the find dialogue and you will be able to type the code for the syllabus dot point into the sheet to find the item sets that may correspond to units of work you are currently working on. For example, if I was doing a stage 5 unit of work on genetics, I know that I would type in SC5- LW for Living World and I know that genetics is Living World 3 and that will bring me to these two item sets that are predominantly genetics-based questions.

This would also work, for example, stage 4 working scientifically. I know that first-hand investigations are predominantly working scientifically 5 so now I am able to find all of the stage 4 item sets that predominantly assess those first-hand investigation type outcomes.

Or if I was doing stage 3 and I was predominantly looking at digital technology I would type in SC3-DIT. Again, a stage 3 teacher will need to download the coding key for this and I will be able to find all of the item sets that address the digital technology outcomes in stage 3.

Once I’ve established which set I wish to download, I can then find the set I wish to download, I can then choose the format that I would like to work in. We have created Microsoft form versions, Google form versions and a pdf of each of the item sets. You simply click on the link in the column that you are interested in using. The form link will force you to duplicate the quiz. The quiz will then be saved in your Department Office 365 Forms Account. The Forms app appears in your account. The Google version will force you to copy the quiz and save it to your Google Drive. You should have logged in using your @education.nsw.gov.au account. Once you have downloaded either the Microsoft version of the Google version you can then edit these quizzes, adding your own questions, merging quizzes together or deleting questions that you don’t think suit your needs. You can also add your own links to the feedback that is given to students after they have submitted the test. You may wish to link to items in your own Google Classroom or Microsoft OneNote ClassNotes to ensure that students are referred back to the learning that you have presented them with.

Once you have downloaded either form, you can generate a link that can be sent to your students via email or placed in either their classroom OneNote or Google Classroom so they can complete the quiz.

If you have any questions about any aspect of these quizzes, please contact the VALID team using the contact us tab on our website.

Thanks

Hello and welcome to this introduction to the VALID Extended response quizzes. The link on this website will take you to a summary table of the 36 extended response questions designed to assess students depth of understanding using the structure of the observed learning outcome or SOLO taxonomy.

The quizzes are different from the quick quizzes also available on this webpage in that student answers are free text and cannot be auto-marked. These quizzes will need to be marked by teachers. There is also no feedback for students when they submit their answers.

The quiz summary information is presented in this Google sheet which can be searched in the same way as the quick quizzes. The syllabus dot points addressed by each quiz are listed in the table and teachers can search by using the Control-F function.

Primary teachers will also need to download the syllabus coding key to use and search this Google sheet.

Like the quick quizzes summary table, this table includes the stage and name of each quiz, the year that it appeared in VALID and the syllabus dot points addressed by the quiz.

To search the table, I click control and f. If I was looking for a stage 5 physical world question, I type SC5-PW and every quiz that addresses physical world syllabus dot points will be highlighted.

Once you have found the quiz you wish to download, you can chose from a Microsoft Forms Quiz or a Google Quiz. A link to a PDF version of the quiz and the marking manual can also be downloaded.

When downloading the Microsoft Forms version, you will be asked to duplicate the quiz. A copy will be saved in Office 365 online account in the Forms app that can accessed via the staff portal. You can edit, add to or merge the quizzes from here.

When downloading the Google version you will need to be logged into Google using your @education.nsw.gov.au account. You will be forced to copy the quiz and it will save into your Google Drive.

The marking manual for each question contains a copy of the question, the marking rubric and examples of each of the marking criteria in the rubric. The appendix is a summary of the SOLO taxonomy used to derive the marking rubric.

If you have never marked VALID extended responses or would like a refresher on the SOLO taxonomy, there is another video on this webpage.

Slide 1

Hello and welcome to the introduction to SOLO. SOLO stands for Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome.

Slide 2

The SOLO taxonomy is an evidence based, cognitive framework that provides a categorisation system encompassing the increasing levels of sophistication of student understanding in science, the cyclical nature of learning concepts in science and the hierarchical nature of cognitive development.

Slide 3

The original SOLO model was developed by Biggs and Collis in the early 1980s. The model contends that we move through a series of modes of learning from sensori-motor through to iconic and concrete symbolic mode and then perhaps through formal and post-formal modes. The SOLO taxonomy suggests that each time we learn something new or novel, we begin, in the sensori-motor mode. For example, when handed a new device, the first thing we learn is the weight and feel of it, if only for a milli-second. We then move to iconic and we learn the components of the device, the on-off switch, the sound controls, the keyboard, the screen. Once we have turned the device on, we move to the concrete symbolic. We learn how to open the programs we use. We engage with the operating system and set up our device preferences and begin using the programs on the devices. For most of us, we will remain in the concrete symbolic. However, some of us will move into formal learning if we learn to use html coding to develop a website, use visual basic or develop macros in excel or create our own app to be used on a phone or laptop. A smaller group will perhaps move into the post-formal learning and develop a new operating system, an innovative device or develop a new way of storing and retrieving data.

Student learning and our teaching in Stages 3, 4 and 5 is mostly focused in the concrete symbolic mode of SOLO. Evidence suggest that there are a number of cognitive levels within each mode. Students who can retrieve one idea about the concept are operating at a uni-structural level. Students who are able to retrieve two or more ideas about the concept or are operating at a multi-structural level and students who are able to connect ideas and explain the relationship between them are operating at a relational level.

Slide 4

In 2006, John Pegg, expanded on the SOLO model. Student responses were shown to fall out into two cycles. Students in Cycle 1 are retrieving information below the stage level and they are holding onto their common-sense observations or their previous stage learning about the concept. Students in Cycle 2 are retrieving information at the stage level they have been taught and recall information at this stage appropriate level.

Slide 5

So student responses can be categorised as Cycle 1 unistructural (1 idea below stage), cycle 1 multistructural (2 or more ideas below stage) and cycle 1 relational (explaining the relation between below stage ideas OR Cycle 2 unistructural (1 at stage idea) cycle 2 multistructural (2 or more at stage ideas) and cycle 2 relational (explaining the relationship between at stage ideas).

Slide 6

The VALID extended response questions are often presented in an unfamiliar or unusual context. The questions are asked in several parts. This is to provide students with a scaffold to help them retrieve information and write a response.

Slide 7

Students will respond using the context of the question combined with their knowledge understanding and skills of the concepts addressed.

The student response is considered holistically and students are awarded the highest level of understanding they demonstrate anywhere within the questions.

Slide 8

Each marking manual provides teachers with an explanation of each level of the SOLO taxonomy as a simple rubric and more detailed A3 rubric which provides examples of each level in ‘teacher-speak’ and ‘student speak’. The manual then provides a number of examples of student responses at each level. A number code is then applied for each level. The number is not like the marks awarded for criterion based marking rubrics as it represents a demonstrated level of understanding.

Slide 9

When marking using a SOLO rubric teachers are asked to read the whole response and first decide whether the answer is cycle 1 (below stage) or cycle 2 (at stage).

The rubric should then be used to identify the level that the student has demonstrate in this cycle.

Teacher are asked to make an on-balance judgement based on the highest level of understanding demonstrated by the student.