The diagnostic evaluation It is a tool that is used to analyze the previous knowledge of the students in relation to a subject that is going to begin to be studied. Also known as initial evaluation, it can be applied in any type of educational context, although it is normally used above all within regulated education..
The objective of this evaluation process is to discover what students know in relation to the expected learning that they are going to try to achieve throughout a course or part of it. In this way, the teacher can modify his approach to place more emphasis on the parts of the subject that the students least master..
In general, it is applied at the beginning of the school year, and individually for each subject to be developed in the classroom. However, it can also be used at the beginning of a new topic or unit, or when changes are made within a subject that has already begun to be studied..
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Next we will see some of the most important characteristics of this type of evaluation system.
Because its main objective is to discover what exactly the students know in order to modify the learning process, the diagnostic evaluation is usually classified as a version of the formative.
Therefore, many of the tools used to assess students' initial knowledge are the same as those used to correct the teaching system based on what students are learning..
However, because it has some characteristics of its own, the diagnostic evaluation also has its own procedures, which will be studied later..
The main objective of the diagnostic evaluation is not to rate the students' work with a numerical score, nor to decide if they have the necessary knowledge to pass the course.
On the contrary, its function is to serve as a guide for both the teacher and the students regarding which parts of the syllabus should be worked on in more depth..
This type of evaluation process can even help detect students with special needs..
Thus, after taking the relevant tests, the teacher may discover that some of his students need to take a support course, or that others should be at a more advanced level.
Within the latest research related to education, one of the most important discoveries is that of significant learning.
It would be a theory that predicts that students would acquire knowledge in a more effective way if the theory could be related to their own lives, their worries and concerns.
By conducting a diagnostic evaluation process before starting the syllabus, teachers can discover what prior knowledge students have.
In this way, you will be able to relate all the new ideas that you want to convey to them with those that your learners previously had..
Thus, the theory predicts that students will have much less trouble memorizing new information, since at all times what they learn will be built on the basis of all the knowledge they already possessed before..
The developers of the theory of diagnostic evaluation defend that there are at least three types of knowledge that students can have before starting to study on a specific topic.
The first type would have to do with those previous knowledge and skills that are disorganized, and that have little relationship with what is going to be studied in a specific topic..
For example, knowing how to ask questions would have to do to some extent with the study of the social uses of language, but it would not be knowledge that is especially relevant to the subject..
The second type of prior knowledge has much more to do with the subject to be learned. In the study of mathematics, for example, knowing how to perform a second grade equation before going to class would be very useful for those students who have to start studying algebra.
Finally, the students could also have ideas, beliefs and previous mental representations about some aspects of the world relevant to the topic to be studied..
For example, when studying the effects and workings of gravity, many students mistakenly believe that objects with a greater mass fall faster than one that is less heavy due to gravity..
The trainer's job, therefore, is to identify all this knowledge and the way in which it can influence the educational process that is about to begin..
Because it is not a regular assessment process, and because it is necessary to discover different types of knowledge, the teacher must be able to use different types of techniques and procedures to find out what the students know exactly before starting to teach the syllabus.
Next we will see which are some of the most used tools within the context of diagnostic evaluation.
To carry out a good diagnostic evaluation, it is necessary to combine tools from different disciplines.
Thus, to be able to identify the initial knowledge that their students have before starting a syllabus, a teacher has to use both quantitative and qualitative instruments..
Quantitative tools, such as exams or written assignments, will allow the teacher to quickly discover if the student has previously been in contact with some kind of formal training on the subject to study..
On the contrary, qualitative instruments such as interviews or lectures in class will serve to identify the other types of prior knowledge that may be relevant for the study of a subject. However, these tools are more expensive to use, so they are less widespread in classrooms..
In the new education of the 21st century, teachers must be able to increasingly implement the use of both types of tools to perform the initial assessment in the best possible way.
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