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Hutchison Stephen
EMT 698: Curriculum Inquiry and Scholarship
Assessment Task #1 Starting Your Teacher Inquiry Journey (30%)
Assessment Criteria

High Distinction (80100)

Distinction (70-79)

Credit (60-69)

C1. Generate a source

of inquiry by articulating
a wondering.

Background to the
wondering is described
in a clear, articulate,
powerful and intriguing
way.

Background to the
wondering is described
in a logical, helpful and
detailed way.

Background to the
wondering is described
in a logical, helpful and
detailed way.

The importance of the

wondering to the
teacher inquirer is
clearly articulated.

The importance of the

wondering to the
teacher inquirer is
articulated.

The importance of the

wondering to the
teacher inquirer is
unequivocal.

C2. Apply scholarly and

systematic inquiry skills
to construct an initial
report on the literature.

Background to the
wondering is poorly
articulated.

The wonderings
personal importance to
the teacher inquirer is
mentioned.

The wonderings
personal importance to
the inquirer is not clear.

Five articles that relate

to the wondering are
summarized in a basic
and descriptive way.

Fewer than five articles

that relate to the
wondering are
presented.

Articles relate in a clear

and strong way to the
wondering.

Articles relate in a
basic, but at times
tenuous, way to the
wondering.

Articles do not relate to

the wondering in a
close enough way to
warrant inclusion.

Analysis and evaluation

of the articles are
analytical and
summative.

Analysis and evaluation

of the articles are
discursive and
descriptive.

Commentary is entirely
descriptive.

Insightful analysis and

evaluation of the
articles.

Convincing attempt to
offer meta-evaluation of
the nature, quality, and
extent of literature that
relates to the
wondering.

Limited metaevaluation of the

nature, quality, and
extent of literature that
relates to the
wondering.

Skillful meta-evaluation

For the most part,

Articles are presented

With some minor

adjustments, the
wondering can translate
into an inquiry that can
be useful in the
context of this unit.

Five articles that relate

to the wondering are
summarized and
presented in a clear,
concise and
sophisticated manner.

Five articles that relate

to the wondering are
summarized and
presented in a clear,
concise and coherent
manner.

Five articles that relate

to the wondering are
summarized and
presented in a clear and
coherent manner.

Scholarly and
discerning meta-

Background to
wondering is explained
in a basic way.

Major revisions required

to articulate the
wondering in a way that
will allow it to generate
an inquiry that will be
useful in the context of
this unit.

With one or two minor

adjustments, the
wondering can translate
into an inquiry that can
be useful in the
context of this unit.

Insightful and complex

analysis and evaluation
of the articles.

NN (<50)

With some refinement

and adjusting,
wondering can translate
into an inquiry that will
be useful in the
context of this unit.

The wondering, in its

current form, can
translate into an inquiry
that can be useful in
the context of this unit.

Articles that have been

selected are the
foundational or classic
articles that have been
carefully and
discerningly selected
because they relate so
strongly to the
wondering.

Pass (50-59)

Some of the articles

that have been selected
are the foundational or
classic articles that
have been carefully and
discerningly selected
(among others)
because they relate so
strongly to the
wondering.

Poor or limited
commentary on the
nature, quality, and
extent of literature that
relates to the
wondering.
Articles are presented
entirely separately, with

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evaluation of the
nature, quality, and
extent of literature that
relates to the
wondering.
Commentary occurs
across the five articles
(not within each article)
and a main big idea
that links to the
wondering is
emphasized.
C3. Conceptualize an
inquiry question.

An insightful, innovative
and sophisticated
question is articulated.
The question needs
very minor changes and
these will be mostly
related to wording (as
opposed to
conceptualization).
The question emerges
from directly and
convincingly the
wondering.

C4. Communicate in
writing with in-text and
reference list according
to the APA style (6th
edition).

A comprehensive and
highly integrated
submission where the
relationship between
the three task elements
is clear, accessible, and
mutually supporting.
Accurately uses APA
referencing to the
literature.
Expression is coherent,
concise and cohesive
and adheres to all
English conventions.

of the nature, quality,

and extent of literature
that relates to the
wondering.

commentary occurs
across the five articles
(not within each
article).

quite separately, with

limited commentary
across the articles.

poor commentary
across the articles.

A clear question is
articulated.
The question will need
some rejigging in
terms of wording,
scoping or
conceptualizing.

A basic question is
articulated. The
question will need
major rejigging in
terms of wording,
scoping or
conceptualizing.

The question is poorly

articulated. The
question will need a
major rejigging to be
useful in the context of
this unit.

The question emerges

from the wondering, but
the links could be more
explicit.

The question emerges

from the wondering but
the links are tenuous.

Is a cohesive
submission where the
relationship between
the three task elements
is clear and accessible.

Is a cohesive
submission where the
relationship between
the three task elements
is clear and accessible.

Cohesions among the

three task elements can
be discerned.

Does not contain the

three key elements of
this task.

In most cases,
accurately uses APA
referencing.

Uses APA referencing,

although there are a
small number of errors.

Uses APA referencing to

the literature but there
are frequent errors.

Lacks coherence so that

it is difficult for the
reader to decipher
meaning and
relationships.

Expression is coherent,
concise and cohesive
and adheres to all
English conventions

Expression is coherent
and partly cohesive and
adheres to almost all
English conventions.

Commentary occurs
across the five articles
(not within each
article).

An insightful and
innovative question is
articulated. The
question needs one or
two minor changes or
re-jigging and these
will relate to wording
(as opposed to
conceptualization of the
question).
The question emerges
directly and logically
from the wondering.

Expression is coherent
and partly cohesive and
adheres to most English
conventions.

The link between the

question and the
wondering is unclear.

Contains major errors in

grammar and spelling
that make it difficult to
understand.
Makes no attempt to
apply APA referencing.

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August, 2016
Hello Stpehen,
Thanks so much for the opportunity to assess Assessment Task 1.
In the first part of AT1, you were asked to describe the scenario, dilemma or tension in your
lived experience that led to the formation of your wondering. As you are aware, in the
context of this unit, we define a wondering as a burning question that you have about your
teaching practice that emerges from your real world observations from time spent in the
classroom and/or your teaching dilemmas or felt difficulties.
Your wondering was really clearly explained (and even had me doing maths problems! ). I
really was intrigued by your experience of teaching the grade 7 and 10s and was a bit
troubled by the explanations you offered in relation to the differences in experiences. Most
troubling was the rural contributing factor and the less qualified teachers in lower years
actually playing a part in the now challenged year 10 class. Your wondering stemmed clearly
from a felt difficulty, a sense of passion, and a desire to really understand the student
experiences and develop strategies for enhancing your own teaching. Lovely work.
In the second part of your AT1, you were required to conduct a basic scan of the literature
with a view to situating your work within a large, pre-existing knowledge base that is
captured in academic sources. You were to include at least 5 academic references.
The quality of your work persisted in your literature scan, Stephen. You did a fine job of
bringing together key liteartures that supported your wondering. You began by providing
evidence of the merits of developing conceptual understanding as opposed to rote learning.
You then supported your postulation around the relationship between teacher understanding
and student learning (especially linked to the current year 10s). You did a great job of
constantly referring back to your wondering throughout and this must have taken careful
writing on your part to offer such handrailing to the reader. Your scan ended with a fine
overview of the key arguments/debates around if it is possible to teacher conceptual skills to
older students (and more generally the challenges of teaching the why instead of just the
how). Throughout your entire review you operated at the big picture level you could
have so easily got stuck in the individual articles but you didnt and you are to be commended
for that. My only suggestion is that I was unsure about the whole of the literature and how
you decided to include what you did include
I think you can really use these papers to build on your AT2 where you will write a
comprehensive, systematic and extended literature review. It will be really fascinating for you
to chase up some of the leads that you hint at in this scan.
In the final section of this task, you were required to generate your inquiry question that
builds on the first two parts of this task.
Your question was generally good in many ways it ticks off on the good question checklist.
I wonder if with time this will change a bit and possibly move away from the focus on
practicality to something else. I dont know what it is, but my sense is that there is
something else beyond mere pragmatics and practicalities that might be worth investigating.
Also, how would you measure practical? I wonder if it is more about what are the
strategies for doing this? or what are the student experiences of or what are the impacts
on ? Something I think will emerge for you, especially after we cover the content of week
8 (methods). So, I suspect that this wont be the final inquiry question that informs your

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work in this unit, but it represents a first attempt to conceptualise your wondering as an
inquiry question. I am confident something will come for you.
In relation to the final criteria, you were required to submit a cohesive submission, where the
three parts held together well. You were also required to use APA style (6th edition) for in-text
and end-of-text referencing. Lovely writing. In text and end of text APA really flawless
thanks for taking the care to check your task so carefully.