The quizzes accompanying The Walking Classroom’s podcasts can be an especially helpful tool. They can help to hold students accountable for their learning, determine what they have learned, and identify what still might be causing some confusion. Administering the quizzes as a pre- and/or post-assessment creates additional opportunities for learning too. The quizzes help students see just how much their knowledge is increasing as a result of walking, listening, and learning!
Pre-Assessment
We encourage adopters to show their students the quiz before a walk and to wait to administer the quiz until after students have heard the same podcast at least twice. Showing the quiz beforehand helps students focus. It also alleviates anxiety about taking the quiz. With improved focus and decreased anxiety, students are able to be more successful!
The pre-assessment is helpful for several reasons. It allows students to think about their prior knowledge of a topic, and have a sense of what to listen for during the podcast. Having a brief discussion about the students’ answer choices for some of the questions will help you gain a better understanding of the students’ background knowledge and/or possible misconceptions about the content. 
Post-Assessment
Using the same quiz as a post-assessment is a tangible way to show students how their knowledge and understanding has increased. We know what you’re thinking . . . more paper! Not at all. There’s no need to make two copies! Simply give the same copy of the quiz to students twice, once as a pre-assessment, and a second time as a post-assessment.
The first time the students take the quiz as a pre-asssessment, they can use a colored pencil or some other writing implement with a distinct color to mark their answers. Then, after going on a walk and listening to a podcast, students can take the quiz a second time.
This second time, they can use a different color to mark their post-assessment answers. Students can easily see how their thinking has changed since the pre-assessment, and most importantly, have a quick visual that reveals just what they’ve learned!
Providing Evidence
The quizzes are also an opportunity to have students provide evidence for their responses. If a student misses a question, they can earn points back by providing supporting evidence for the correct answer. Even students who score well on the pre-assessment can benefit from this practice! Have them provide evidence from the podcast to support their answer choice and address why some of the other choices are incorrect.
Want to save some trees? Electronic version of all The Walking Classroom quizzes are available in the Adopter Resources section of our site.
I condensed the pre- and post-quiz to 3 questions to be thoughtful about classroom time management. I call the questions “Before Walk Things I Know” and “After Walk Things I Know” instead of quiz to keep the mood light since these are not graded. I collect the pre- and post-data to document the increase in understanding of the subject after the podcast. Their results are much improved each time!
What a great idea, Lori! Thanks for sharing!