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CAT's

Techniques for Assessing
Course-Related Knowledge and Skills

Assessing Skills in Synthesis and Creative Thinking

 

1. ONE SENTENCE SUMMARIES - have students answer these questions on a specific topic, and then synthesize answer into one long, informative, and grammatical sentence: Who/What, When, Where, Why, How?
   
   
2. WORD JOURNAL - requires a 2-part response. First, student will summarize a short text read in a single word, next the student writes a paragraph or two explaining why they chose that particular word to summarize the text.
   
   
3. APPROXIMATE ANALOGIES - have students complete the 2nd half of an analogy-A is to B as X is to Y, etc., to which the instructor has prepared the first half.
   
   
4. CONCEPT MAPS - have students draw/diagram a map connecting the major topic of focus with what they consider its most important features/other ideas and concepts that they have learned/etc-can use for class discussion or group work.
   
   
5. INVENTED DIALOGUES - students can either select and weave together actual quotes from primary resources, or have them "invent" reasonable quotes that fit the character and context of the speakers.
   
   
6. ANNOTATED PORTFOLIOS - have students put together a limited number of examples of their work (creative writing, research papers, art, poems, etc.), along with a commentary as to why each example is significant.

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