A variety of assessment and evaluation tools were used for the Bridge Project. Students kept a working portfolio that included daily assignments, group journals and logs, research they had gathered, and any other pertinent information. Ms. Texas periodically reviewed the portfolios with students. Once a week, she met with student groups to discuss progress toward their goals. This time was spent working with students on issues related to group dynamics, time management, and conceptual understanding of the content. Several times throughout the project students had the opportunity to reflect on the process and provide feedback and/or suggestions for improvement. These opportunities occurred at regular intervals: after writing the research article, at the end of the first bridge construction (before load testing), and at the conclusion of the project. Students had two opportunities to provide feedback to each other: through peer editing during the professional journal writing and then through a post-it session before the bridges were load tested. At the conclusion of the project, students reflected on the process by participating in a fishbowl discussion/Socratic seminar, did a self-assessment, assessed each member of their group, and reflected on group dynamics. Asking for and respecting student feedback resulted in students behaving more like adults and gaining greater respect for themselves and each other. Finally, more traditional assessments were also used during the project including tests, quizzes, and open-response questions to assess understanding of the academic core concepts.

Rules for Fishbowl/Socratic Seminar
Group Member Evaluation
Bridge Project Evaluation
Self-Evaluation
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