Helping students revise their causal framing involves trading up for more powerful explanations. Learning isn't a one-shot deal of getting "the right answer," so assessment can't be either. Students might work through a number of models before reaching one that has the most explanatory power for their level. Assessment becomes a diagnostic tool to figure out what causal patterns students are using. It guides us in deciding what instructional steps to take next.
This section introduces: 1) the details behind the assessment materials on this site; 2) assessments to diagnose how students are structuring causality within density or ecosystems; 3) rubrics for analyzing the assessments; and 4) guidelines for developing your own assessments and rubrics.
