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Session 5. Assessing Product and Process, and the Showcase
Objective. Write a shared rubric for product and process, collect evidence of individual learning, and plan a showcase that includes every pupil and gathers audience feedback.
A project can be wonderful and still be marked unfairly. If pupils do not know the criteria, or if the mark rests on how a team looks on the showcase day, they learn to perform, not to understand. This session shows how to write a rubric pupils can read, how to bring in evidence for process and individual learning, and how to run a showcase that is a real exchange with visitors, not a parade of the best speakers.
Key ideas
Assess product and process
- Product: what the team made. Process: how they planned, worked together, used feedback and met milestones. Learning: what each pupil shows on their own.
- Give the outcomes the biggest weight. A beautiful product that does not show the outcome should not get top marks.
- An example split: content and outcome 40, product quality 25, process and teamwork 20, presentation 15. Adjust it, but tell pupils at the start.
Writing a rubric pupils can use
- Choose 4 to 5 criteria and describe three levels in words you can see or count: 'at least 8 dated events in order', not 'good timeline'.
- Show the rubric and an example of good work at the launch, and again at the draft stage, so it guides the building (see course 5.5).
- Test it: two teachers read the same work and compare levels. If they differ, the words are too vague.
Evidence for process and individual learning
- Use sources you already have: the work log, milestone dates, your check-in notes, exit tickets, and a short oral question to each pupil.
- Add pupils' own voice: a five-line self-reflection and a peer comment on one teammate. Treat these as information, not as the only basis for a mark.
- Keep marks fair: product mark for the team, individual marks from evidence, and a note of how each was reached.
The showcase and what comes after
- Fix the date early and invite the audience in writing. Plan 40 minutes: 5 welcome, 25 stations where teams talk to visitors in small rounds, 5 feedback cards, 5 thanks.
- Stations let every pupil speak, unlike five-minute speeches by the best speaker. Give each member one thing to explain; prepare a plan B if few visitors come.
- After the showcase, read the feedback cards with the pupils, write what you would change, and thank the audience. These notes start your next project.
An example split of a project mark (illustrative values)
Weighting product, process and individual learning
Decide the weights before the launch and tell pupils. If the outcome is the reason for the project, the outcome should carry the largest part of the mark, whether the product is pretty or not. Process criteria such as meeting milestones, using feedback and keeping the log reward the habits you want next time.
Combine team and individual marks openly. For example, half of the mark comes from the shared product and half from each pupil's own evidence (their paragraph, exit tickets, oral answer). This does not punish a strong team and does not hide a pupil who did little. Always write on the mark sheet which evidence each number came from, so you can explain it to a parent in two minutes.
A showcase everyone can join
Replace the long speeches with stations. Each team stands at a table with its product. Visitors move in two rounds of about twelve minutes, and at each table a different team member explains a part: the problem, the method, the result, the next step. Every pupil has a job and speaks to small groups, which is easier than speaking to a hall.
Prepare in advance. Rehearse once in class with another team playing the visitors. Give visitors a quarter-page card: one thing I liked, one question. Have a plan B, such as inviting another class if few guests arrive. Afterwards, read the cards with pupils, write down what you would change, and thank everyone in writing. Plan the date early so that families can attend.
Examples from the classroom
From 'good map' to counts
Scene. Malika's Grade 7 geography colleagues in Fergana write 'good map' on a rubric. Two teachers mark the same map and give different levels. They rewrite Level 3 as 'at least five fields, a key with four symbols, a scale and a title, no more than one wrong label'. Now two teachers agree, and pupils know what to add before the showcase.
Insight. Describing levels with counts and visible features makes marks consistent and gives pupils a guide.
Stations in a corridor
Scene. Aziz's Grade 5 class in Bukhara shows water-saving guides in the school corridor. Seven teams sit at desks; visitors walk in two rounds of twelve minutes. Each pupil explains one part, and the quietest boy explains the table because it was his job. Parents leave 19 feedback cards and the caretaker asks for the guide to be copied.
Insight. Stations give every pupil a real role and produce feedback from visitors.
Using the cards
Scene. Dilnoza reads the audience cards with her Grade 4 class in Samarkand. Four cards ask the same question: 'How much water does a tap use in a minute?' The class decides that was missing from their guide. They add one line and a number, and Dilnoza writes the change in her notes for next year's project.
Insight. Audience feedback is evidence for revision and for your next design.
Common pitfalls
- Writing level descriptions such as 'excellent effort' that nobody can see or count.
- Showing the rubric only on marking day, so it cannot guide pupils while they build.
- Letting the best speaker present for the team, so quiet pupils never show their learning.
- Closing the project without reading the audience's feedback or thanking them.
Write the Rubric, Plan the Showcase
- Read the three descriptions of the same product in the Activity Kit (a Grade 7 cotton-fields map) and the blank rubric.
- In pairs (15 min): fill the rubric with three observable levels for two criteria, one product and one process. Use counts or features you can see.
- (10 min) Score the three descriptions with your rubric. Compare with another pair: where did you differ, and which words caused it?
- (10 min) Plan a 40-minute showcase on the planning grid: stations, one explaining task per team member, the feedback card, and a plan B.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which rubric words did two pairs read differently? How would you rewrite them?
- How does the station plan give a quiet pupil a real job?
- What will you do with the audience's feedback cards?
Reflect
- Which of your usual marking words (good, weak, effort) could you replace with something you can count?
- Who in your class would never speak at a showcase unless you plan a role?
- What did your last audience tell you, and where did you write it?
Try it tomorrow
- Write one rubric row with three levels using counts, and test it with a colleague on one piece of work.
- Show pupils the rubric and one example of good work at the next launch, and again at the draft stage.
- Print ten quarter-page feedback cards for the next open lesson or showcase and keep them.
Further reading and links
Share the rubric at the start, assess product and process with evidence, and let every pupil speak at a showcase that also listens to the audience.