Implementing High Quality Assessment for Learning: Mapping as a Professional Development Tool for Understanding the What to Learn, Why to Learn It, and How to Learn It

Abstract

Effective implementation of assessment for learning requires that teachers fully grasp the ‘big picture’ for the unit and lessons/modules that they will be teaching their students over a period of time, including all the related activities. This means understanding how various blocks of knowledge fit together, especially at the higher levels, which students will use to build conceptual frameworks focused on principled understandings—the big ideas. This chapter recognizes the importance of understanding the what, the why, and the how of what teachers need to teach and student to learn. It offers a proven strategy designed to help teachers develop the big picture through an interactive process called mapping. Different empirical studies have demonstrated that the mapping process can lead teachers to discover new and complex insights about what they are to teach and why this content is important. Further, the mapping process helps them become familiar with the kinds of events and phenomena necessary to understanding how to ensure that their students achieve the expected learning outcomes.