Using a rubric for the research cycle will provide assessment information for the teacher and feedback for the teams as well as for individual students. It should be applied to individual and group performance throughout the process, not just at the end. Use the rubric provided on the next page to rate how well your team did on your city research investigation. To see how Lowell Elementary has adapted the rubric for a more student oriented approach.
Teamwork is necessary for students to engage in behavior that makes for successful problem solving.
If a team does not have the skills to work together then work cannot be accomplished in a manner that involves the whole team. Using the 7 essential skills for teamwork to teach and assess teamwork behavior gives the teams and the teacher behaviors to teach and work towards. See the list that Birchwood Elementary uses to teach their students how to work together. These provide the guidelines by which we teach. The research cycle lends itself to many areas of the essential learnings.