Using Rubrics to Assess Behaviors
To assess certain team and individual behaviors, you may want to develop sets of "rubrics," or scoring guidelines.

Using Rubrics to Assess Team Responsibility
For example, you may want to assess team responsibility by observing whether the team is (1) solving its problems itself, (2) asking each other before asking the teacher, (3) helping other teams, classmates, and the teacher, and (4) using its "inner voice"--a volume heard by teammates, but not by other teams.

The rubrics for item (1) solving, might include the following scorable attributes:

Points
4 The team tries to solve its problems by itself, without seeking outside help.
3 The team seldom solves its problems as a team and ask classmates or the teacher for help.
2 The team seldom solves its problems and gives up easily.
0 The team never attempts to solve its problems and gives up readily.

Using Rubrics to Assess Individual Responsibility
You may also want to assess whether team members demonstrated individual responsibility by (1) listening to others, (2) helping teammates, (3) making polite requests, (4) giving praise and encouragement and not making "put downs."

The rubrics for item (1) listening, might include the following scorable attributes:

Points
4 The student actively listens to and values the opinions of others.
3 The student actively listens, but it is not evident that he/she values the opinions of others.
2 The student listens to but does not value the opinions of others, or the student values the opinions of others but does not listen to them.
0 The student does not listen to and does not value the opinions of others.

References
Harmin, M. (1994). Inspiring active learning: a handbook for teachers. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

HTML code by Chris Kreger
Maintained by ETE Team
Last updated January 11, 1999