Leaving Tests Behind

With the current backlash against the No Child Left Behind law, which has the power to impose major consequences on schools whose students test poorly, check out this alternative to fill-in-the bubble standardized tests as reported in the Time (February 5, 2015) article, "Leaving Standardized Testing Behind":

"If you had wandered late last year into Matthew Tosiello's third grade science class at Abingdon Elementary School in Virginia, you would have encountered an army of frogs.  Origami frogs that is — palm-size critters made of green index cards, each equipped with a tongue made of either masking tape or water sodden paper.

"Tosiello had asked his 8- and 9-year-old students to design an experiment to determine which natural adaptation — a sticky tongue or a wet tongue — was better for lapping up flies, a role played by eraser-sized chads left over from a three-hole punch.  The kids then had to describe their hypotheses, methods, and findings...

"[Through this activity,] Tosiello was able to determine which students were struggling with mathematical concepts like symmetry or measurement (frogs had to be folded precisely, with their tongues exactly 6 cm by 2.5 cm) and which grasped the more complex science ideas."

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