Assessment
Assessment in this lesson is designed to check understanding at several points, not just at the end, so we can respond to what students actually know and adjust as needed. Formative assessment happens throughout the first half of the lesson. The opening sorting game works as an informal diagnostic: as students place items into garbage, recycling, or compost, we watch for patterns and misconceptions without attaching grades. The follow-up presentation then builds directly on what we see, using common mistakes as teaching points so students get implicit feedback on their choices. Kahoot functions as a more structured formative check. Students receive immediate right/wrong feedback on each question, while we track which items or concepts are most often missed. If a particular type of waste keeps being sorted incorrectly, we plan to pause and revisit that example with the whole class before moving on.
The main summative assessment is the creative project, where students design a poster to teach recycling and composting to peers who know very little about it. We will use a simple three-point proficiency scale (not meeting expectations, meeting expectations, exceeding expectations) tied to clear criteria: accuracy of sorting information, explanation of why recycling and composting matter, clarity and organization of the message, and effective use of visuals or performance to communicate ideas. Students will be considered to have met the learning outcomes if they reach at least “meeting expectations” on the three criteria. To keep the assessment fair and transparent, we will introduce the criteria before students begin planning and briefly review them again as groups work, so that students know what success looks like.
Feedback will be both teacher and peer based. During the formative stages, feedback is mostly verbal and immediate, such as quick clarifications during the sorting game and short debriefs after Kahoot questions. For the summative creative task, we will build in time for groups to share a draft idea with another group and receive peer feedback focused on one “glow” (what is working well) and one “grow” (a suggestion for improvement). After presentations, we will provide brief written or oral comments linked to the rubric, highlighting specific strengths and one concrete next step for each group. Taken together, these formative and summative approaches allow us to see whether students can sort waste accurately, explain the purpose of recycling and composting, and communicate these ideas clearly to others, which are the core outcomes of the lesson.
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift; that is why it is called the present”
– (Kung Fu Panda, 2008).