Formative assessment in Physical Education allows both students and teachers to monitor the learning progress and provide ongoing feedback that can be used to improve teaching and learning. Students will be able to improve their performance and gain a deeper understanding of the topic taught. The nature of the ongoing formative assessment also allows teachers to modify instructional strategies and customise them to the students; needs and level of competency.

Different types of formative assessments can be used in Physical Education lessons which include observations, checklists, rubrics, self, and peer assessments. These assessments can be used as just-in-time feedback to shape and improve the individual’s overall progress and development. 

Opera Estate Primary School’s daily PE lessons include self and peer assessments tools such as Traffic Light, Exit Checklist, Consensogram, Padlet, Plickers, Gamification and the PE Learning Journal self-assessment checklist, whereas peer assessment tools used are Think-Pair-Share, Skill Observation Checklist in PE Learning Journal, and the Choice Board. Here are some samples:

Traffic Light

In the traffic light assessment, 3 colour hoops, red, green, and yellow are used to symbolize the traffic lights and each hoop has its own success criteria. Students are given time to practise the skills taught, while the teacher facilitates and guides their learning. Effective questioning during lessons is used to get students to think and analyze the skills applied. At the end of the lesson, students assess their own performance based on the success criteria by placing a beanbag or a ball in one of the hoops. This will create a teacher-pupil conversation, where students can articulate their decision and the teacher motivate them to better their performance. 

Exit Checklist

This is the easiest way to check for students' understanding of the lesson and effective daily Formative Assessment tool to capture students learning. There are 3 to 4 options for students to choose from. PE Teachers can assess students on their affective and psychomotor domains. The PE teachers will discuss with the class on the success criteria that students can refer to for their self-assessment. At the end of the lesson, students get to indicate the statement they are giving themselves for the day. Students take ownership of their own learning and behaviour during a lesson. Such sessions provide good opportunities for the teacher to have a conversation and encourage students with lower self-perception to improve their performance in the next lesson.

Padlet and Plickers (ICT Based)

Padlet and Plickers are two learning applications that are often used for self-assessment. The choice board in padlet provides an option for students to choose the tasks based on their readiness and interest. Students enjoy capturing their best moments in Gymnastics and Games & Sports lessons using iPads.  Padlet is also used as an e-pedagogy tool for collaboration in which students can share and evaluate work from other groups. The Plickers app allows students to be independent and self-directed learners. They reflect and self-evaluate their level of learning based on the agreed success criteria. At the end of the lesson, the Plickers card will be scanned and the results will be instantly reflected on the application.

Gamification

To make students visualize, track their own progress, and motivate themselves to be self-directed learners, gamification is introduced in some PE lessons. In Gamification, a learning task and success criteria are differentiated where students practise at their own pace and ability to narrow their learning gaps. The self-assessment is embedded during the skills challenge. Specific success criteria are set for each level and easily monitored by PE teachers on students’ progress either using an ICT or a non-ICT tool. Flipped learning strategy is a starter for the gamified lesson whereby students are given access to the PE e-book link to better prepare them before the Face-to-Face time.

PE Learning Journal

The PE Learning Journal captures students' learning in all PE learning areas. The learning evidence can be through self & peer assessment, choice board, learning reflection, quizzes, and teacher's feedback. In addition, the journal gives opportunities for students to co-construct the success criteria with teachers. These assessment tools are effective ways to involve students in the assessment process. Self-assessments and peer assessments can help students develop a better understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses, and to learn from the successes and mistakes of others. The PE teachers will also be involved in the assessment under the teacher assessment page once the students finish with the previous two assessments. The three ways of assessment allows both students and teachers to have a more authentic learning environment. It also allows students to be more aware of their progress and areas they need to work on. Students were observed to be more reflective in their progression and could take ownership of their learning. It also allows teachers to facilitate, provide feedback and address learning gaps in students. The PE teachers can be more effective in monitoring the students who require more scaffolding and differentiated instructions.

Conclusion

The OEPS PE teachers have designed a variety of assessment tools for the different PE modules. As part of their professional development, the PE teachers share ideas on Formative Assessment through platforms such as Timetabled Time (TTT) and Professional Learning Teams (PLT). The school also has a biannual Teachers for Teachers (T4T) platform for the teaching staff where Teacher Leaders and PLT teams share their lessons and resources undergirded by the theoretical principles for each respective pedagogy.

Contributed by: 

Mr Lincoln Yeo (Senior Teacher for PE)

yeo_lim_khun@schools.gov.sg 

Mr Osman Suraidi (PE Teacher)

osman_suradi@schools.gov.sg 

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