Suggestions for Evaluating Student Learning

Teachers are expected and encouraged to formulate their own assessment strategies and tools to evaluate the
knowledge levels of individual students who have been taught the programme content of What Kind of WorldÖ?
Below are some of the suggestions on how such an assessment can be planned and implemented. The suggested techniques are not in anyway prescriptive methods of evaluating student achievement, but merely simple guidelines to refer to where appropriate.

Since much of the teaching and learning of the What Kind of WorldÖ? content occurs in group problem-solving
activities, role-plays, and through students connecting the programme concepts to their everyday life experiences, teachers are encouraged to employ any (or all) of the following techniques:

1. Informal Teacher Observations by gathering information in the form of anecdotal records and check-lists from the
day-to-day teaching and learning experiences and outcomes. This approach helps in highlighting specific strengths
and limitations of individual students, and permits the teacher to get a sense of topics that need to be re-taught, as
well as areas where the programme needs clarification.

2. Performance Assessment can be utilized in accordance with informal teacher observations, especially where
students demonstrate what they can do, e.g., in a role-play in Workshop One: Canada and the United Nations:
The Human Knot (See SectionÆ page 2). Performance Assessment offers a direct and immediate judgment of the
target behaviour within a contextual setting. It is mostly useful for evaluating interpersonal behaviour and ability to
relate content learned to students actions. Setting up of debates on specific global issues, linked to current affairs,
e.g., a story from the local newspaper, is another possible way of assessing student performance.

3. Portfolio Assessment is another helpful technique to use in evaluating student learning of the What Kind
of WorldÖ? content. For instance, one of the suggested activities in the facilitator's package is "drawing and
decorating the Class Charters" (Section Æ, page 5), "identifying and clipping articles from magazines and
newspaper" (Section Æ, page 8), and "posting views on the Internet"(Section Æ, page 12), that deal with
global issues. Keeping a record of these and reviewing the complete collection, allows a teacher to have a clear
sense of content validity of the unit taught.

4. Student Self-Evaluation is an additional method that can be used by teachers to get a sense of what students
have experienced during the teaching/learning process of a course or programme. Self-evaluation requires students
to answer questions designed to elicit information about their work, from the learner's perspective (reflective learning). Self-evaluation questions change with each assignment to reflect the work students are doing.
A standard self-evaluation form can be designed and used or generic questions can be asked (see examples below).
Self-evaluation can benefit both the teacher and students as the answers to the questions tell a teacher what concerns students. The teacher should instruct the students to be free to express their true feelings about the course or
programme, as this is their own reflection. Example of a Standard self-evaluation tool:

1. Please rate your overall level of understanding of the following:

Poor Fair Good Very good ExcellenPoor m Fair m Good m Very good m Excellent
i) Operations of the UNm m m m m ____m ____m ____ m m _____m m _____
ii) Canada's role in the UN m m m m ____ m ____ m ____m _____m m _____
iii) Canadians and Human Rights m ____m ____m ____ m _____m m _____

2. Indicate the level of your participation and contribution to the What Kind of WorldÖ? class activities

Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently AlwaysNever Rarely Sometimes Frequently Always
i) making constructive commentscomments ____m ____ m_____ mmm_____mm _____
ii) asking questionscommentscommentsco ____m ____ m _____ m m _____mm _____
iii) contributing to discussionsm m m m m m ____m ____m _____m m _____m m _____ m m m
iv) participating in group role plays m m m m ____ m ____m _____m m _____m m _____
m m
3. What did you find to be the most interesting part of the What Kind of WorldÖ? programme?

4. After learning about the UN, Human Rights and Canada's role in dealing with global issues, what one thing will
you do differently to improve the state of our world?

5. Write a couple of summary paragraphs and note what you think you have grasped well and in what areas you feel you still need to learn more about world issues.

5. Teacher-Made Achievement Tests are perhaps the most well suited to provide objective feedback as to how much students have learned and understood. Teachers can, and are encouraged to develop tests for use with their particular grade level. The What Kind of WorldÖ? programme contains clear objectives for each of the three workshops, and provides sufficient resource materials for use in teaching. Achievement tests can be based on the stated objectives,
as well as on the social studies curriculum learning expectations for each province (See Section ¡). A balance can be drawn between recall and critical understanding of facts contained in the package, by designing multiple choice,
matching, short answer and essay tests, depending on the grade level for which the tests are intended.

Here are samples of possible test items for the three Workshops in the Package:

Match the stated facts in column A with the correct Human Rights issues in column B:

1. Column A A. political rightA. political rightColumn B
___freedom to speak one's own language A. A. political right
___being able to freely express an opinionA. B. equality right
___be free from racism and discrimination A. C. cultural right
___freedom to vote the work one doesE. soc D. civil right
___be paid fairly for the work one doesE. socE. social right
___access to quality educationF. economic r F. economic right

2. Circle the best answer from the five choices (a, b, c, d, and/or e) listed below, to complete the sentence:

When Mozambique, an impoverished country in Africa, experienced massive floods in 1998, diseases such
as dysentery and cholera broke out. The United Nation's Organization called upon to respond immediately
to such an emergency situation was most likelyÖ

a. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
b. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
c. World Health Organization (WHO)
d. United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
e. United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural organization (UNESCO)

3. Write a few paragraphs describing the role Canada has played, and continues to play, in the UN. Give some
examples of key Canadians who have contributed in a significant way to UN operations.