Tips on Making a Science Rubric

Are you anything like me? When I started teaching and I found a cool new science activity, I couldn't wait to test it out with my students! Unfortunately, figuring out how I was going to actually grade that student work was usually an afterthought. 😆

If you can relate, I'm here to help with a reliable rubric strategy that you can use again and again. Here's a quick breakdown of how it works:

📋Pick your standard: There are so many cool activities we can do with our classes, but next year's science teacher would really appreciate if we hit the standards we're supposed to be teaching. 😆 That means the easiest way to start a rubric is by picking the standards that the project will reinforce.

It seems basic, but those standards will give you lots of words and concepts to guide your rubric-making. 

Let's start with a standard that reads, "Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation." I have a project where students spray sand with water from a spray bottle to see erosion, so this would be a great fit.

📋Break your standard into skills: Some standards pack a ton of information into their performance expectations. We're going to have to focus here to get anything useful done. Try to separate out just two to four tasks for students to complete that will fulfill the standard.

In my erosion activity, for example, students could make observations about erosion they see with the sand and water set up. Then they could include measurements in their work, maybe measuring how the sand's height decreased as they sprayed the water. 

Where do these skills go? I like to list them on the left side of the rubric, like the image below:

📋Make a "proficiency scale": This part of your rubric is super important. It tells students where they are at and, even better, where they can go to improve.

How wide should your scale be? If you're using standards-based grading, a lot of experts recommend using a 0 - 4 point scale. Anything bigger, and the distance between the low numbers and the high numbers looks pretty intimidating!

The scores should be divided so if students do exactly what they need to master for the skill and no more, they'll earn a three - and that's okay! Fours are to acknowledge when students go above and beyond to show their advanced understanding of the topic.

For example, in the rubric below, the first skill is "I can include measurements in my erosion observations." A student who makes a list of of the measurements they took, with the right units, meets the expectation of that skill, so they get a three for that skill.

If a student got creative by not just measuring basic dimensions but also measuring the speed of the water flowing through the model, that would earn them a four.

In standards-based grading, a "3 out of 4" means that the student is doing a great job operating at grade level. 

It's important for the students to see specific descriptions for each level!

In this example, if a student can measure using a ruler, but isn't sure about the proper units, the rubric shows them what to ask about so they can move from a two to a three. Now they know where they need help - and learning a little self-advocacy never hurt anyone, right? 💪

I hope this rubric strategy will be helpful as you get ready for more fun projects this year!

If you enjoyed the awesome teaching strategies shared here, join the Kesler Science mailing list below! We also send out fun phenomenon, graphs, sale notices, and product highlights throughout the year. You can unsubscribe at any time, and we never sell your info. We hate spam, too!