Assessment tasks should be authentic. By that, it is intended they address the challenges of the discipline and provide students with an opportunity to apply knowledge and skills to real-world contexts. For example, students who design a website for a local NGO are engaged in an authentic task because they are using the skills and strategies of designers who build websites for specific audiences and purposes.
There are two key features of MYP units that support the design of authentic assessment tasks:
A good place to start when developing an authentic assessment task is to consider what kinds of work professionals in your subject area engage in. For example:
Naturally, students will not be able to replicate the work of professionals, but they can begin to engage in the same types of work. Likewise, students can use the disciplinary knowledge and skills that they develop to answer questions, solve problems, or explore issues that are meaningful to them.
For a ready reference to designing authentic tasks, print out this poster and display it in the teachers’ lounge or your classroom!
