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The students in Mr. Kim's high school U. S. History class worked-in pairs to prepare a presentation describing how multiple perspectives on an event of their choice in twentieth century American History often did not support one another. He wanted to grade their presentations.
Ms. Sharp's middle school civics class wrote and performed skits in small groups to illustrate the various cases handled by local courts. Each group drew court case descriptions at random until they found one that would have gone first to a lower court. Once they found such a case, they were to prepare a skit to illustrate the criminal or civil activity that led to the case, highlights of the court proceedings, how the case was decided, and why it was the purview of this court. This task required knowledge and skill, and Ms. Sharp believed students deserved a grade.
Miss White's primary students worked in groups to create interview questions for members of the community to find out how they felt about a tax increase to support school technology. Each group selected a "school friend" and a community official to interview, but first they needed to come up with good questions. How might Miss White report her students' work to their parents?
Observation is an accepted research method for...