56 Chunking of assessment tasks over time
Definition
Breaking assessments into smaller more manageable parts to reduce the cognitive load and the information processing required by the student and to increase the student’s ability to demonstrate their knowledge.
In action
Teachers should use past student observations and discussion with the student and their other teachers to determine how much information is appropriate to include in each chunk to maximize student engagement.
Support Strategies
- Break one assessment into multiple smaller assessments, each with their own instructions, rubric, and due date
- Provide the student with an assessment overview or timeline of when to work on the different chunks
- Allow for practice assessments to trial chunking with the student and make adjustments as needed.
- After the assessment is completed, help the student to make connections between the chunks by discussing the different tasks they completed.
Case Study
Student: Grade 3 student in a science class
Content: Students are to choose an animal and create a poster about it to present to the class. The poster should include information about its appearance, habitat, and relationship to other animals in its environment.
Problem: The student is excited about the task but does not know where to begin. They start by researching one area, but frequently switch back to another, resulting in a poster that can be difficult to follow.
Solution: The teacher chunks the project into three smaller parts, so the student can initially focus on describing the animal’s appearance, drawing it, and finding helpful pictures. When the student has gathered sufficient information for this chunk of the assignment, the teacher provides them with the next chunk, and so forth. After the assignment is completed, the teacher helps the student make connections between the three chunks to prepare for their presentation.
