For my pre- and post-assessment assignment, I chose to do a clinical interview with two of my

students on the topic of cellular respiration and photosynthesis. Before instruction, I had my students
relate the connection between the two, detailing which substances move from one to the other and
what forms of energy were in play. The image I used is shown below.

It is similar to the image I used for my middle school practicum, but I included in this image the
mitochondria and chloroplast, since in the class, we detailed the processes that occur in each organelle.
CLAIM
To the extent of the learning objectives, the lessons administered were only partially successful
in teaching students about cellular respiration and photosynthesis.
EVIDENCE
I had two students perform the task for the interview, whom we will call Student A and Student
B. Student A, based on the time I spent teaching them and on past assessments, is on the higher end of
the spectrum of students in terms of achievement, while Student B is on the lower end.
For the task, I asked the students what substances they think pass between the two organisms and what
energies were involved. I asked them to try to be as detailed as possible. I asked questions such as
“What substances do you think pass between them?”, “Do you know what [carbon dioxide, oxygen, etc.]
is used for?” “Do you know what light does in photosynthesis?” Below is the image as filled out by
Students A and B, respectively, before instruction:
 Student A’s image states the site of cellular respiration as the mitochondria, and the reactants
as glucose and oxygen. The end products are “ATP CO2 + etc.” They state that it “connects to
photosynthesis because the chloroplasts need the CO2 from our cellular respiration to start
photosynthesis and we use the end products of photosynthesis to start cellular respiration.” On the
image, they drew CO2 going from the mitochondria to the chloroplast and O2 going from the chloroplast
to the mitochondria, using an arrow in each. They also included a sun in the corner with the caption “to
help make energy”. When asked if they could name any other detailed processes, they could not.
On student B’s image, they labeled the mitochondria and chloroplast and drew a sun in the
corner with the caption “light”. The drew an arrow from the mitochondria to the chloroplast with the
caption “water + carbon dioxide” and an arrow from the chloroplast to the mitochondria with the
caption “glucose” and “oxygen”. The wrote in the outline of the human “cellular respiration”. When
pressed if they could name any other processes or more detailed concepts, they could not.
Below is the same image as filled out by Students A and B, respectively, after instruction:
 Student A correctly recalls the three reactions of cellular respiration, as well as the parts of the
mitochondrion, the intermediate of pyruvate, and the outputs of water and carbon dioxide. On the side
of photosynthesis, they recalled the light-dependent reaction and its electron transport chain (along
with Photosystems I and II) and the light-independent reaction, along with the parts of the chloroplast.
They also identified the outputs of glucose and oxygen.
Student B only merely recalled the outputs of cellular respiration and photosynthesis and the
cyclical nature of the substances as they pass from one process to the other. When pressed to recall any
further details of either, the student could not.
Below are grades for activities and assignments done for the unit on cellular respiration. The
circled assignments are those that were pertinent to the students learning the three reactions that take
place in aerobic respiration. (These grades were done on paper since my mentor teacher was the one to
input the grades online in the Skyward system. In addition, PK Yonge has standards based grading, so
the only grades I have for each assignment are check marks, indicating the presence and quality of each
assignment; the only calculated grades are those from summative assessments, but, as stated above,
since the EOC was so close and my mentor teacher decided to concentrate on reviewing for it, we did
not get around to taking an exam on either photosynthesis or respiration. For this same reason, I do
have any assignments or activities for the short photosynthesis unit. Thus, I do not have grades for
either a summative assessment on cellular respiration or one on photosynthesis.)
 Student A

Student B

REASONING
Based on the information from the pre-assessments, these students had yet to be introduced to
the more minute details of cellular respiration beyond the fact that glucose and oxygen are used, and
water and carbon dioxide are produced, and that in photosynthesis, water and carbon dioxide are used
and oxygen and glucose are made. They did understand the energies involved, such as ATP and light
energy. The topics of the reactants and products of each reaction, then, need not be addressed too
extensively. I did, however, have to create a lesson on cellular respiration that introduced the new
topics of glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, and the electron transport chain for cellular respiration, and the
light-dependent and light-independent reactions of photosynthesis. I had to ensure they had the
appropriate amount of exposure to the topics as well as concrete materials at which to look.
I used this pre-assessment because right afterwards, we were going into the unit on cellular
respiration. In that unit, we were to cover the three reactions of it: glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, and the
electron transport chain. For the lessons, I had the students run through interactivities created by Wiley
as introductions to the concepts. First was the glycolysis interactivity, after which we created a flow
diagram and noted the starting and ending molecules along with the energy molecules used and
created. The next day, the students went through the Krebs cycle interactivity, after which we created
another diagram of the cycle, noting the energy molecules that are created and that move into the next
step. Finally, the students did an interactivity on the electron transport chain, after which we filled in a
drawing of the process, noting the proton pumping and the action of ATP synthase. For each reaction,
we noted the end products of one step becoming the beginning products of the next step, so that each
process was connected to the next and work in a sequential order.
The students also did an exercise lab, noting the connection between rigorous exercise and
carbon dioxide production. The students used a template of a data sheet for the lab using Google Sheets
spreadsheets and turned in their assignments online using Google Docs.
After the cellular respiration unit, we were meant to move on to photosynthesis, but with the
EOC being so close, we did not have much time to go extensively into the concepts before we had to do
EOC review. Instead, we started the unit with another Wiley interactivity, this time on photosynthesis.
This interactivity (as well as the handout I created) highlighted the important parts of the light-
dependent and light-independent reactions, such as the role of light energy, and input of water creating
the output of oxygen, and the input of carbon dioxide creating the output of glucose. It noted the high-
energy molecules that connect the light-dependent reaction with the light-independent reaction. We
then had another lab, this time an online simulation on which light colors were best for plant growth.
The next exposure they had to the materials of cellular respiration and photosynthesis was in
the EOC review book, where we noted the three reactions of cellular respiration, the equation of
aerobic respiration, the reactions of photosynthesis, and the equation of photosynthesis. It was after
this review that I chose to perform the post-assessment.
The post-assessment consisted of the same clinical interview with the same two students. I used
the same line of questioning, asking the students to recall as much detail as they could on the two
processes.
I claimed that these assessments showed the assignments and activities done for these units did
only partly well in teaching students the learning objectives. This is because of the evidence from
Student B showing the scarcity of information retained from either unit. While Student A had retained
and recalled much information from cellular respiration and photosynthesis, but this is no surprise since
Student A, as stated above, was one of the higher-achieving students. Even with such a shortened unit
on photosynthesis, Student A still recalled much information and many concepts. My main determining
factor for my claim was the evidence from Student B. Student B, when pressed for more information,
could not recall any more concepts than the ones shown in the post-instruction assessment image. Thus,
I determine that the form of instruction I administered was not very effective. Student A’s artifacts
before and after instruction were wildly different, with the one after instruction providing more detail
and more knowledge about the ideas learned from the unit. Student B’s artifact showed marginal
improvement in understanding. They added a bit more information between the two interviews, which
shows some retention of information, but they could not recall key reactions from either process. When
determining the effectiveness of my lessons to include other students in the class as well as the other
classes, I would say that they only benefitted some or half of the students, but not all of them.