Ep 48. Using Project Based Learning Assessments in Math

Johanna Kuiper 0:00
I feel like one of the questions we get most often asked by our students is, when am I ever going to use this in real life? In today’s episode, we’re going to help answer that question. With the help of Caroline’s expertise on project based assessments, we’re going to be talking about how to take real world problems, and apply it to the math that students are learning. With that, let’s get started. Welcome to solving for the undefined podcast. I’m your host, Johanna, founder of Miss Kuiper’s Classroom, the place that equips teachers and creating a healthy math classroom where students can thrive, no matter their academic abilities. But it’s not always about the numbers. And that’s why I’m here, bringing you the formulas to solve your problems, math and otherwise, plus strategies on cultivating that necessary math mindset.

And that’s what you can count on. All right. Hello, hello. Welcome

to a brand new episode. Today. We have Caroline on here. And we are excited to talk about some project based assessments.

Caroline Chaput 1:04
Welcome to the show. Hi, thanks for having me.

Johanna Kuiper 1:08
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? So like, who are you? What was your journey as an educator?

Caroline Chaput 1:14
Yeah, so this, I’m right now in my fourth year of teaching, I actually started as an elementary school teacher, so I, that’s what I like went to college for. And then I realized when I was student teaching, that I didn’t love that grade level. And so I got a job as a math intervention tutor and loved it. And I loved working with like, that demographic of kids where they aren’t necessarily special ed, but they need like the extra support and the small group environment. And so I decided to change completely and go into math, Ed. And I’ve just loved it really.

Johanna Kuiper 1:55
That’s really cool. I had a very similar experience of I went to college, and it wasn’t what I wanted to do. But I wanted to go to that college because I had like a scholarship from them. And eventually, I had to like declare my major. And I fall in love with math education. And here we are today. So tell us, how did you get into project based assessments? Where did that come from?

Caroline Chaput 2:24
So I, when I first started at my first school, we had 80 minute class periods, and I was teaching mostly ninth grade algebra one. And so a lot of it honestly was just me trying to fill the time. Because 80 minutes is such a long time for students to be sitting there and just doing math worksheet after worksheet and taking tests, I was like, There’s got to be a better way than just repetitive problems. So that’s kind of how I got into it. And then I realized, like, all of the benefits that it has, for my students, and so yeah.

Johanna Kuiper 3:03
Nice. So 80 minute class period seems like such a long time. How many class periods Did you guys have in one day? For? Okay,

Caroline Chaput 3:12
it was like semester, mostly. So most of the classes, it was like four classes every day for a semester, and then you’d switch with the one they broke up for the foundation, so that the kids got like a solid foundation of algebra one. So it was 80 minutes today, every day for the entire year.

Johanna Kuiper 3:33
Wow, that is a lot. A lot. Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about what is a project based assessment.

Caroline Chaput 3:41
So it’s really just taking what they’re learning and applying it to, like real life scenarios. And so there’s like word problems and like real world applications, but with a project based assessment, it’s more kind of hands on. And they are making like decisions about what is going to happen, like within the scenario that they’re given. And so it’s a lot about choice and critical thinking and defending no decisions. So it’s a bit deeper than just doing word problems.

Johanna Kuiper 4:21
Could you give us an example like your most recent project based assessment, what was it?

Caroline Chaput 4:26
Yeah, so I actually just updated one of mine today, and it’s a landscape design project. So it’s for solving inequalities. And basically, their client comes to them, they have a $75,000 budget. And they need to design a pool, a patio and gardens for them. And so they have to use that budget, figure out how much they’re going to allocate for each and then write inequalities to figure out how big everything can be what they want it to look like, and then ultimately bring it back to the client and with their final product,

Johanna Kuiper 5:03
that sounds really cool. How do you your students feel about those types of projects? Because I know, maybe before they came into your classroom, they had a teacher who would just give like a normal test or a quiz. So what was like the adjustment for students to have like a project based assessment over maybe like a regular test.

Caroline Chaput 5:24
So I usually don’t do that, like entirely in place of tests. So I’ll usually have both or I’ll do like a quiz and the project base a Huffman so that they get full ways to show their understanding, I think that’s a really important part of it. And I also like that they can use their resources and their notes and or work in a group for these assessments. I don’t think that really answered your question.

Johanna Kuiper 5:49
That’s okay. It was good to know that like you, it isn’t replacing entirely, maybe like the traditional like quiz or test. But it’s another way, like you said, for kids to show what they’ve learned. And it gives them multiple, not only just opportunities, but maybe one way, one of those different types works better for however they’ve learned,

Caroline Chaput 6:12
right, and the first, the first one that’s always challenging for them, just because they’re not used to doing it. And so really, it’s just a lot of practice and modeling and getting them used to like, defending their decisions and figuring out the problems on their own.

Johanna Kuiper 6:30
Yeah, I like within that project based assessment. It’s not only like do the work, but you have them justify their decisions. Because I feel that has a very like applicable sense of, like, when you have a job, and or if you’re getting your master’s degree, or whatever you have to defend, you’re like, is it? Is it a dissertation? Like defend your ideas and what you have? And so that’s also giving them extra skills that they will need throughout their life outside of school as well.

Caroline Chaput 7:05
Yeah, that’s a huge part of it.

Johanna Kuiper 7:07
I think that’s, that’s really cool. So what are the components of a good project based assessment,

Caroline Chaput 7:14
I would say, making it relevant to something that they might actually use in their life. And so like, obviously, not all of our students are going to be landscape designers. But it kind of is giving them different ideas of how math is actually used, making it. And along those same lines, making it like creative, where they can do the math piece, and then do like the creative piece where they’re actually putting something together. I think another key piece of it is having like reflection questions. So you did this math, but what does it actually mean? What are your variables representing, in like, why is it important that you’ve got these answers for your client, or whatever the scenario is,

Johanna Kuiper 8:03
I’m trying to like think of because you gave the landscaping design example. What other ones have you done,

Caroline Chaput 8:10
I’ve done like planning a trip. There’s like a whole bunch of different scenarios within that where they are planning their family vacation. For like factoring. We do in polynomials, we do like a garden. And so they have to like find area and perimeter using polynomial operations. And then like, answer questions based on that, a lot of it, especially with, like, polynomials you can do with geometry, which is really cool. And so it’s like kind of combining both of those things that they’ve learnedover the last few years.

Nice, and it’s giving like the math another type of application for it with like polynomials in geometry as well, right.

Johanna Kuiper 8:37
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You’ve touched on it a little bit already but what makes it more beneficial than a standard quiz or test.

Caroline Chaput 9:47
So again, like I said, being able to use our resources. So that’s a huge thing, especially for the students that really struggle with taking tests, being able to use their notes Honestly, like, use the internet to get ideas and things like that. So that they can show that they understand, even with these resources, and now you can look up pretty much anything. And so a lot of it is just teaching them, how to figure out how to use your resources to help you. Because when I first started this, like, at the beginning of this year, I had students that were like, well, I don’t even know how much a pool will cost, like, how would I know that? And I’m like, Well, did you Google it yet? They’re like, Oh, wait, yeah, that’s probably a good idea. So just getting them to be a little bit more independent, I think, is important. And then also the reflective questions, it’s a lot easier to use those in the project based assessments than in a regular test, because it gives it more relevant.

Johanna Kuiper 10:57
So then, how often do you give these project based assessments? Because I know you said it doesn’t fully replace standard quizzes or tests. So how often do you use project based assessments,

Caroline Chaput 11:09
usually, like once per unit. So it’s usually either before the test or after the test kind of culmination of everything that they’ve done on the unit, and having them apply it to that. And it is worth pretty much the same as like, a test grade.

Johanna Kuiper 11:28
And so how long does it take students to complete a, like one of these project based assessments,

Caroline Chaput 11:37
depending on the class period, usually, like an a group of students, usually like three to four days, okay? Night, depending if they are expected to, to do it at home or not, which I usually don’t have to do.

Johanna Kuiper 11:51
That’s nice. And it takes like a longer set of time to, because it gives them a chance to like, think about it, work on it, go home, and like it’s in the back of their mind, too. So it gives them more time to like, reflect on it, and then come back with like new ideas. Because I know for me, if I’m in the middle of a project, if I step away and like go do something else, that’s when I have my ideas or like my aha moments, and then I can come back in and rethink about things and continue on doesn’t, it doesn’t lead to as much brain fatigue that way.

Caroline Chaput 12:27
And it’s nice when they like are expecting it. So they know like these next three days, this is what we’re going to be working on. So then they just come in, and we like go over a few things, and then they’re able to just like get right to work on it.

Johanna Kuiper 12:39
That’s awesome. So within this, how would you suggest if teachers wanted to start using this classroom in their classrooms? How would you suggest they get started with them?

Caroline Chaput 12:51
So I would definitely start by just like introducing word problems and kind of modeling those regularly. So that when they get to the independent piece of the project based assessment, they have a better idea of how to, like go about solving those problems, because it would be hard for to go right from like worksheet test to a project based assessment without having seen any of that and developing any of the skills.

Johanna Kuiper 13:25
And so that first one they give, what structures do did you put in place during that first one to help students kind of acclimate to this new idea?

Caroline Chaput 13:35
I think using groups is really helpful so that they can like work together. I also add in a lot of like prompting questions. So defining variables, like what are you trying to figure out, let’s look at the big picture and try to see where we’re going. I also also think it’s really important to kind of chunk them up. So like, have Part One. Today, tomorrow, you’re gonna work on part one, the day after that you’re going to work on part two. And then this is what you need to have your final draft, or whatever it is that they need to have at the end. Because a lot, that’s what I noticed a lot is you hand the student this packet with all these directions, they look at it and they are just like what the heck is no idea what to do? Yeah, super overwhelming. And so kind of scaffolding it and putting it into parts makes it a lot easier for them to comprehend.

Johanna Kuiper 14:33
Nice, I can definitely see the chunking of it really helping students focus in on one part of it, and not get overwhelmed by the seemingly massiveness of like one big project. Yeah. And how do you find that working with a group can help like their overall understanding of math and like with the added social piece,

Caroline Chaput 14:59
I think that’s a cool aberration is really important, there’s a very thin line between, like effectively collaborating, and then just like relying on one person in the group to do all of the heavy lifting. And then everybody else kind of just follows. And so that’s definitely a challenge that teachers kind of have to manage and put expectation for, because otherwise, it wouldn’t be beneficial for the groups. But I do think when they’re like sharing ideas, and figuring things out together, it’s super beneficial. And it’s also another skill that they need to have once they leave high school, being able to work with people, especially people that they don’t usually work with.

Johanna Kuiper 15:44
Yes, I definitely agree on that. I use groups regularly within my classroom, and one of the things I do is, I do it every day, and every day, they have a new random group of people that they are going to be working with. And I think, like you said, it gives them that ability to learn to work with people that they might not normally choose to work with. Because like when you go to a job, you don’t get to choose your coworkers. And so it gives them that practice of working with people, how do you interact with people? How do you coexist and work on a project together, breaking up responsibilities, and coming out with a complete product in the end? Yeah. So what are some resources that could help teachers begin the process of using project based assessments in the classroom.

Caroline Chaput 16:37
So I recently within the last year found a website called open up resources. And so it’s from six to 12, for math, and it’s basically a lot of discovery based learning. And it has really good real world applications. And just kind of taking those and making them and beefing them up of it, I found to be really helpful. Like the process that I go through, usually when I’m like creating them, or like updating them, is I’ll take an idea, or like a real world application from the textbook, and then kind of add on to it. And so I actually have a starter kit for project based assessments for teachers that want to kind of start with an idea and go all the way to a finished product, I guess, of a project based assessment. And it goes through, like, what the standards are, what your objectives are, what kind of questions you want, asking your students and kind of planning the whole thing out to be a bit more intentional in what you want the students to get out of those projects.

Johanna Kuiper 17:53
Awesome. And where can they find that resource from you

Caroline Chaput 17:57
that they can find it? On my website? So if they go to bully inspired curriculum.com, and then go to the blog, it’s in there. It’s also in the math resources section. Yeah.

Johanna Kuiper 18:14
I will also link it down in the show notes if you want to check that out. So I always ask this in every single episode, any episode that I do with another person, so what is your favorite math joke or pun?

Caroline Chaput 18:31
Okay, so one that I Oh, that always makes me laugh is the jokes. That’s like, do your algebra. Stop asking us to find your X? She’s not coming back. And don’t ask why. That’s awesome. I think it’s just funny every time I see it. That’s great.

Johanna Kuiper 18:51
I really like that too. Awesome. So where can people find you on socials and stuff?

Caroline Chaput 19:00
So I’m mostly on Instagram, at Bolita inspired dot curriculum. I have my blog, which I have linked up to my Instagram. That’s pretty much it. Those are my two main kind of socials that I use consistently.

Johanna Kuiper 19:17
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate you taking the time to teach us more about project based assessments, and how we can use them to benefit our students in the classroom. Thank you so much.

Caroline Chaput 19:31
Thank you for having me.

Johanna Kuiper 19:32
Thank you so much for tuning into today’s episode. To find all the links and resources to things talked about in this episode, head on over to Miss Kuiper’s classroom.com and click on podcast

Transcribed by https://otter.ai