How to Use Data Visualization

What misconceptions do you come across in your class? Have you spotted learning gaps? These are the challenges we want to try and help overcome with EducationCity’s Assessment Report.

Before we explore the solutions to any misconceptions you may have come across, take a sneak preview into the How to Use Data Visualization pack. This includes how they report on EducationCity can help you identify learning gaps, and where misconceptions have occurred. Click the button below to download the pack.

Why do misconceptions occur?

A misconception is a misunderstanding of a view or opinion that is perceived inaccurately. Sometimes students may find it hard to grasp ideas or concepts covered in class.

They may perform best in different areas of their learning, for example, some students may be stronger in certain subjects than others or perform better in assessments. Some steps can be put in place to support students in fully understanding the underlying concepts, enabling you to measure their success and growth.

How can misconceptions be addressed?

Instructional support (scaffolding) can be used to help students master a new task or keep up with more advanced learners. Examples of scaffolding strategies using technological aids and being part of learning groups that pool students’ knowledge to support one another.

Performance feedback either from peers or a teacher ensures students who are mastering new academic skills have frequent opportunities to try these skills out with immediate feedback and encouragement. Effective guidance will only help students grow in their abilities!

Make the lesson relatable with students ‘Talk-Through’ Activities. When students appear to have successfully learned a skill, set up activities for them to complete and ask the students to ‘talk’ through the activity, e.g., each step that they are taking, describe their problem-solving strategies aloud, describe any problems they may come across and how they will solve them. This will not only make students feel more confident but help to address any gaps in learning where intervention may be needed.

So, now we’ve discovered how misconceptions can be resolved, how can EducationCity’s Assessment Report help?

Once you know what areas within the topic have been misunderstood, you can then start to personalize your lessons to help your students’ understanding.

Whilst it’s important you manage students’ progress, it’s also beneficial for students to track their learning progress too. Following an assessment, a Revision Journal is automatically generated if the student scores less than 100%. The revision contains Activities and Learn Screens to offer additional support. This means that whilst a student is completing their work, they can keep track of their scores as the content is automatically marked. This takes the time you would spend for marking out of your hands!

In the example below from an Assessment Report, you can see that Alanna answered a question incorrectly, where she had to complete the number sentence. Her peers, Alex and Amelia, got this correct, so this is a good opportunity for group work to help Alanna fill this learning gap.

Aaron didn’t attempt that same question, nor a few of the others that fall under the number sequences objective, so it could be he struggled with this area of the assessment. You could personalize learning and address these areas of weakness by creating a MyCity with the content on number sequences and patterns for some revision and practice.

Whether you have students struggling in your class who need that additional bit of support or reinforcement on a topic, there are several ways misconceptions can be addressed using EducationCity.

If you’d like to explore the Assessment Report for yourself, simply sign in. Alternatively, if your school doesn’t have EducationCity, get in touch with our team to set you up with some free access.