SURVEY GUIDE

Teaching it

  1. Give the students access to the survey questions. 
  2. Give the students time to fill out the survey.
  3. Reveal the results of the survey. 
  4. Discuss the results of the survey. Students should look for patterns and themes, examine the level of consensus among their classmates, and reflect on factors that may have influenced the results. 

 

Printed handout: Have the students fill out the survey as a printed handout. Then, collect the handouts, compile the results, and share them (potentially in the form of charts and graphs). If you choose this option, consider having the students create their own charts and graphs based on the raw data; this might be a good opportunity to collaborate with a math teacher!

Online form: Have the students fill out an online survey. This option saves you extra steps by allowing you to instantly share the results of the survey with students. 

By a raise of hands: Deliver the survey orally. Have the students indicate their responses by raising their hands. This option works well if your goal is to keep your students engaged, but it will not work well if you you want the students’ responses to remain anonymous.

Four corners:  Deliver the survey orally, and have the students move to different places throughout the room to indicate their responses. Despite the name of this version, you can designate more than four “corners” throughout the room. This option works well if your goal is to keep students engaged, but it will not work well if you want the students’ responses to remain anonymous. 

Sliding scale: Use this option when your survey features a lot of “sliding scale” questions (the answers to which are phrases like a little, a lot, not much, not at all, etc.). For each question, have the students form a line based on how much/how little they agree with a statement. This option works well if your goal is to keep students engaged, and it facilities conversation during the activity. However, it will not work well if you want to keep the students’ responses anonymous. 

Discussion: You can have your students discuss the results of a survey either in small groups or as a whole class. 

Student-created surveys: Have the students write their own survey questions to investigate questions they generate on their own. This option puts the students’ learning into their own hands. It also gives you an idea of how well they understand the main themes of a lesson. 

ASSESSING IT

The  survey may be used to gauge students’ familiarity with certain topics and skills prior to completing a lesson or lesson activity. Collecting this kind of information can help you fine tune your activities to different students’ needs. 

Surveys are unique forms of assessment because they don’t directly measure a student’s mastery of learned skills and knowledge. Instead, you will need to grade the students based on criteria such as the following: 

  • The ability to explain their own opinions
  • The ability to analyze other students’ opinions
  • The ability to analyze and draw logical conclusions based on the results of a survey
  • The ability to represent the results of a survey using graphs and charts. 

Content-based criteria for specific survey activities can be found within the Protecting Our Waters lesson plans.