4163 Cambridge International Award in Teaching and Learning
Assessment task 2: Evidence of learning
Use this template to help you write your reflection before getting formative feedback. You can
then change your draft based on the feedback. When you are ready to submit your portfolio,
copy the text into the ePortfolio template provided. You should use continuous prose without
subheadings.
1. Explain your personal understanding of learning and how people learn.
I believe that learning is a journey. A journey that students can be successful even if they are
doing it wrong in the first place. Students should not be afraid of making mistakes. Students
can reflect why they do it wrong. In my opinion, learning is a cycle of being brave to take risk,
doing it, and reflecting on it. Students would notice the important variables of success. For
example, in order to enable learners to progress, the teacher must make sure the learning
objectives and what success in lesson looks like. Based on a study in US in 1998, experts in
education compared two groups of learners (White and Frederikson, 1998, pp. 3-118). The
first groups worked in a specified way with their teachers to reflect on their own learning
against clear performance criteria using reflective assessment. The second groups worked the
same way, but without the reflective assessment. At the end of the lesson, both high and low
achieving learners using the reflective assessment had improved their performance in literacy
and numeracy more than the control group. I believe, if students know where they are going in
a lesson, and what the criteria for success look like, their learning journey will dramatically
improve.
2. Identify the teaching methods and learning activities you think engage and motivate
learners to learn, and explain why you think this.
Several teaching methods that I found to be effective are jigsaw methods and guided-inquiry
methods. The approach is using collaboration with peer assessments. Jigsaw methods, for
example is when students are asked to solve and share their Tarsia Puzzles. Students like to
give feedback using “what when well” and “even better if” (www/ebi), because this gave them
clear targets to improve. This is coherent with embedded formative assessments and the
significance of education as opposed to training (Wiliam, 2011, p. 9). Guided-inquiry, on the
other hand, provides control to the groups’ discussion, where usually students are facing
open-ended questions. The teachers can create an environment where students are
motivated to share and discuss with their peers. Slavin, Madden and Stevens (1989, p. 4)
states that cooperative learning can be used successfully as the primary instructional method
in reading, writing, and mathematics. I personally believe that the effect of peer tutoring on
learning is as strong as one-on-one tutoring from a teacher as supported by Calhoon and
Fuchs (2003, pp. 235-245). They stated that the peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS)
improved students’ computation math skills significantly more than control students. This
makes the lesson very engaging and become a part of their implicit memory.
Word limit: 400 words Word count: 407
Cambridge International Award in Teaching and Learning
References:
Please make sure you have followed academic conventions and referenced your work correctly.
We advise you to use the Harvard reference system.
Calhoon, M.B. and Fuchs, L.S., 2003. The effects of peer-assisted learning strategies and curriculum-
based measurement on the mathematics performance of secondary students with disabilities.
Remedial and Special Education, 24(4), pp.235-245.
White, B.Y. and Frederiksen, J.R., 1998. Inquiry, modeling, and metacognition: Making science accessible
to all students. Cognition and instruction, 16(1), pp.3-118.
Wiliam, D., 2011. Embedded formative assessment. Solution Tree Press.
Slavin, R.E., Madden, N.A. and Stevens, R.J., 1989. Cooperative Learning Models. Educational
Leadership, 47, p.4.
2 4163 Evidence of Learning and Reflection for assessment in 2018, 2019, 2020
