Five Easy CATs
One-Minute Paper The purpose is to elicit data about students' comprehension of a particular class session or topic.The Minute Paper asks students to respond to two questions: (1) What was the most important thing you learned today? (2) What questions remain uppermost in your mind as we conclude this class session?
Muddiest Point The Muddiest Point is used to find out what students are unclear about. At the end of a lecture or class session, students are asked to write brief answers to the following question: What was the muddiest point in my lecture today?
One-Sentence Summary The One-Sentence Summary assesses students' skill at summarizing a large amount of information. Given a topic, students respond to the following prompt: Who did what to/for whom, when, where, how, and why?
Directed Paraphrasing Directed Paraphrasing assesses students' understanding of a concept or procedure by asking them to paraphrase it in two or three sentences for a specific audience. Ask students to: write a layman’s "translation" of something they have just learned.
Application Cards Application Cards assess learners' skill at transference by eliciting possible applications of lessons learned in class to real life or to other specific areas. After teaching about an important theory, principle, or procedure, ask students to: write down at least one real-world application for what they have just learned.