Constructivist education calls for students to construct their own knowledge. When discussed, constructivism often comes off as an idealist bent on education. One problem that arises is assessment. How can a teacher assess a student who is guiding their own learning? A fantastic, empowering tool for students in a rubric. If a teacher constructs a rubric for students, then all expectations of the student are clear, totally spelled out.
RubiStar is one of the best resources on the web for creating rubrics. RubiStar lets you start with a subject area, and then choose how many categories to place on your rubric. Try choosing the “Making A Poster” link and you are presented with pre-made categories to use on your rubric, or just type in your own. When you are done, you can save the rubric on their server, print it out, or save it to your computer in Excel or HTML format. Here is my example rubric:
Take the next constructivist leap and let your students make their own rubrics, then assess them with that. Talk about really directing your own learning.
note: when making your own rubric, don’t forget Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences – students can display their understandings in many different ways.
