There are 4 key aspects I make sure to do for inquiry-based project assessments:

• presenting a clear rubric of expectations: ENHANCE this exercise further by getting students to create parts or all of the rubric, and giving feedback for one to be finally used (this is an example of 'assessment as learning' as well)
• breaking the larger task into sections/stages of the investigation process with their own completion dates to reduce stress and help students manage their time and expectations: ENHANCE this by getting students to translate these dates into their own calendars and have them make their own self-deadlines based on how they know they like to work or struggle with working.
• have peer assessments & teacher feedback discussions along the journey, especially after a project section or two
• evaluate their process, not just their product: at 3 points along the inquiry journey, students should be completing reflections - (1) near the start of the process which would address their initial thinking and plan; (2) after getting the data and considering what factors have impacted their data and how, and what they could do about it next time; (3) after the conclusion of the report: drawing out changes in their learning from start to finish, and what they've learned about themselves as an inquirer and their process of doing inquiry (self-resiliency skills, motivations, etc.); this makes a natural and significant part of their process shows that their effort is just as valuable and encourages students to produce their best work.  I give student agency over the form of their reflections, and keeping them easy to do is the best way to get authentic responses from students (often video or voice recording snippets for stage 1 & 2 reflections, teacher conversations and written responses for stage 2 and 3).  For each reflection there would be prompting phrases or questions for them to focus on.  Usually, I only formally evaluate the last rubric as part of the assessment for the inquiry project.

Students will complete their projects at their different levels of learning, but I think that it is important that they do their best work. A rubric would be helpful for the student to stay on track and guide them on all necessary components: procedure. materials, data, presentation, etc. I also think that it would be beneficial to include a peer conference and a teacher conference as part of the project, and for the teacher (or some resource) to be available if the student needs assistance during their project. I like the option of using a video for presentation for students who may struggle with writing but shine on camera. Allowing students choices in presenting their information is a great way to keep students engaged to the product of their project.

My Honors Biology students complete independent research projects so I am accustomed to assessing variable work.  I give a general rubric so they clearly know my expectations.  For example, for their log books I look for 20 specific criteria and this is easy for me to grade.  Their research papers also have a rubric but the quality varies much more. They have to meet a bare minimum and then differentiate themselves by their attention to detail and content.  I think I would do something similar for an inquiry-based project.

Rubrics are important as they give students clear and concise directions about what is expected. That being said, just using a rubric at the end of a unit with final presentations does not offer students any type of formative feedback. Therefore,  a rubric is only as good as the times you actually use it. rubrics need to be reviewed at the beginning of the project, after each section has been completed and then used as  a summative report. Reviewing a rubric at the beginning and end of a project lets students know the expectations and how they will be graded. Reviewing each section of a rubric while the project is in progress  can be done using peer reviews, small student & teacher groups or one on one with a teacher. This enables the student to gain feedback to improve their project as they are working on it.

I really like the idea of peer reviews and mentor reviews. I think something I would incorporate is a gallery walk of final projects, where peers and parents can provide constructive feedback, offer praises, etc. Because of my mixed-ages and skills and lack of time I am not sure I can incorporate rubrics just yet. Many of the children in my program have learning disabilities and would require a lot of help to write, etc. Personally, going through the inquiry process and making connections is the most important aspect of the program I lead and my main focus.

I've had success using a rubric, similar to the fourth grade one shared here.  I also think it's important for students to have many "mentor" examples to look at.  They can practice grading these mentor inquiry projects the same way we did in the last lesson.

Assessment has always been the hardest part of inquiry science for me because it takes me away from the doing part of the investigation. I tend to enjoy the doing and become stuck in that part of inquiry based teaching and learning even though assessing design, and what students have learned are important aspects and parts of the process. I feel that assessment is my weakest area when it comes to creating inquiry based investigation opportunities for students. This course has given some examples that I can use to strengthen my assessment skills with the use of rubrics as well as examples of how students can present their data via video.

Yes, I agree that learners often work hard on their reports, but some reports will be stronger than others.  I believe if you front load the expectations by providing a clear rubric, go over previous samples or exemplars and provide time to conference with each student will provide enough support for each student to find success.  I believe my students will be able to easily record the data, but I think they may have some issues on how to report the data.   I can see myself having a couple of lessons on how to take data and create graphs.  I also believe that for some of my students they will require accommodations by having different expectations and a different rubric.

I will create a 4 point BAME rubric - beginning, approaching, meeting, exceeding -- that focuses on the research question, hypothesis, investigation procedure, and presentation of results. It's important for me to take into account the English language levels of my students, and for these reason I think most of the focus on language will go into the inquiry question, hypothesis, and brief analysis of results. My students are also new to graphing and data presentation, and since this is such an important skills I also want to focus on this in the rubric. For these reasons, I found the assessment rubric for 4th grade reports to be the most helpful.

I order to assess a student's understanding in an inquiry-based learning investigation I believe using a rubric would be the most clear solution.  Creating a rubric that depicts that child's age level will give students the information they will need to design and implement an experiment based on their question.  Students will also need the teacher to explain each individual section of the rubric, the point value, and give examples and nonexamples of (previous investigations or ones created by the teacher for samples) investigations.  In viewing these examples students will develop a better understanding of what the expectations are.  I really like the idea of having the students create some type of presentation.  Our district did an online training from our local AEA on utilizing the Seesaw app.  Seesaw is the way my building K-2 will be communicating with parents and students if we need to do online learning at any point during the upcoming school year.  I think this would be an excellent program for first graders to use to report their science discoveries whether they are doing the work at school or at home if distance learning is put into place.  Students could use this Seesaw app to draw pictures, take photographs with their tablets of their experiment and the data they collect, and they can record themselves with a video to explain their question, investigation, and results.  For students that do not feel comfortable video taping themselves, they could use just audio to add a conversation to the pictures that they upload.  Depending on the teacher's preference, these presentations that are added to each student's journal on Seesaw can be shared with the teacher only or can be shared with the class and student's families so all students can view and learn from each other.

Using a rubric is extremely helpful with grading projects.  A rubric creates a more even approach to assessing projects.  Rubrics clearly communicate to students what will be assessed in the projects so that there are not any "surprises" for them.  I make myself available to students for assistance with their projects to answer questions or to let them bounce ideas off me as they are developing ideas for their project.

While we may not be necessarily be creating projects in the traditional classroom/educational sense, if we do get to the point of doing some assessments on inquiry-based projects, the use of a well developed rubric will be key! It allows for a bit of wiggle room on interpretation but still provides a base line for the children on exactly what will be expected, and reminds us while overlooking the project what we are expecting too, helps focus in on that. I can see incorporating rubrics in a few things we do.

Clearly stated requirements, through an understandable rubric, is essential. No matter what the final product ( article, poster, video,etc.) students need to understand what is being asked of them. In class, discussions can be generated to help students see the importance of each part of the rubric.  I also see the importance of periodic assessments in regards to a large project.  This helps the students stay on track; chunking out the work also helps me as the teacher see which students need extra assistance to meet the rubric's assessment points and to offer more directed guidance to all.

I think that on of the key elements of assessment in inquiry-based projects is doing it throughout the process, and not just for the summative assessment. That way, students can receive a grade that reflects their learning throughout the process and not just how well they do on a single report. Anecdotal documentation is one way that I like to reflect student learning, as I can see how the students are developing over a period of time. Having learning goals that are clear and manageable are also important, so that all students can have a greater chance of success. Going over the learning goals with the students throughout the process and asking students about their own progress on them is a helpful strategy as well.

I like to make learning relevant. And in doing so, I like to make the assessment relevant as well. Assessment should be less focused on grades or scores but what did the learner actually learn by doing the project? Criteria for assessment should look at elements such as creativity, data analysis, implementation, interpretation, and at the depth of knowledge level 3 or 4. In traditional grading systems there is a lot of emphasis on grades/scores and less on the actually learning take place. I understand why but I like to focus on authentic learning and what a student can actually tell me they have learned from doing something.

There are likely several different ways to create a good report, and these differences reflect the personalities of the kids. I really like the idea of using a rubric that clearly states what is expected for each outcome. There is a minimum that is required as well as a possibility of earning a very high grade because of excellence and creativity.