Stage 5 - Information about Activities
In this website, a range of Stage 5 activities are presented, and work samples show a range of performance on each activity.The majority of Stage 5 activities are presented as follows:
Description of activity
This sets out the requirements of the activity providing details of what the students were asked to do. The description also indicates the extent to which the activity was structured. In some cases the description presented (which is phrased to students as the audience) was provided to the students in written form. In other cases the activity was communicated orally to the students, it really depends on the nature and size of the activity as to which communication method is appropriate.
Context
This section summarises previous teaching and learning experiences and how they relate to this activity. It also shows where this activity fits into the teaching and learning cycle.
Areas for assessment
A list of areas for assessment that are addressed by the activity is provided. The areas for assessment for each course are listed with the course performance descriptors. They represent manageable groupings of outcomes that may be used when planning an assessment activity or the assessment schedule for a course, or for reporting purposes.
Outcomes
A list of outcomes that are addressed by the activity is provided. It is recommended that the outcomes addressed are communicated to the students.
Criteria for assessing learning
Criteria used to assess student performance on the activity is provided. Those relate directly to the outcomes addressed by the activity. Developing criteria for assessing learning at the same time the activity is developed, allows the teacher to be clear on exactly how the activity will be assessed. Sharing this criteria with the students allows them to be aware of what to aim for when completing the activity and to know exactly what they will be assessed on.
Guidelines for marking
In some cases, guidelines for marking are presented. These show how teachers were able to differentiate, and make consistent judgements about, the quality of student performance in relation to the criteria. In some activities it may be appropriate to hand these out to the students at the time of the activity.
Feedback
The sort of feedback required and the form it will take is described for many activities. this may be a marksheet, formal report or simple oral feedback to individual students.
Future directions
The future directions section explains how the activity could lead to the next step in the teaching and learning cycle.
Resources
Resources that were used with the activity are included where appropriate eg. worksheets.