Nontraditional exams assess students through projects
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| Senior Kristin Nelson organizers her materials for a design board for her interior design final project. |
 Semester exams run from Dec. 16-18, but not all of them are the traditional multiple choice, true or false, fill in the blank, or essay tests. Some classes test student skills and their understanding of the course objectives using culminating projects.
Interior Design students are serving a hypothetical family, the Kings, by designing their great room and nursery. The project involves creating business cards, determining color schemes, locating desirable materials and furniture, developing a floor plan and a budget, and much more. The class has been working on the project since returning from Thanksgiving break. Teacher Karen Schneider designed the project to fit the criteria for Family, Career and Community Learners of America's interior design competition and hopes her students consider using their project to enter the contest in February.
Students in Technical Drawing will use the time allotted for their final exam to create a multi-view drawing of a mechanical part using software called AutoCad, the industry standard for blue prints and technical drawings. The project is more feasible than a traditional exam, said teacher Brian Cardarella, because the objective of the semester-long class is to familiarize the students with AutoCad through various mechanical drafting projects.
Ben Kalb and Morgan Allen's Social Problems students each develop a project of their choice to demonstrate their understanding of everything about socialization that they discussed in class. Some students create diaries, textbooks, or children's books while others film movies. The options were endless, Allen said, and the project allows students to play off of their strengths. The students will present their projects during their final exam time. |
