XX High School

World History

Renaissance Unit Test

DIRECTIONS TO THE STUDENTS

(1)This is a closed book test. Do not refer to your textbook or notes.

(2)Print your name and class period on the test.

(3)The test contains the following:

  1. Art Slide
  2. Multiple Choice
  3. Matching
  4. Short Answers
  5. Short Essay

(4)Attempt to answer each question. You may guess at the right answer. Since there is no penalty for guessing, you should ANSWER EVERY QUESTION.

(5)Record your answers for Sections I-V on the test. If it helps, underline, cross out, or take notes on the test itself.

(6)Respond to Sections IV and V on the blank notebook paper provided.

(7)Raise your hand if you have any questions about the test, need to leave the room for any reason, or need additional sheets of notebook paper to record your answers.

(8)You will have the entire block period (90 minutes) to complete the test.

(9)When you are finished with the test, raise your hand and I will pick up the test from your desk. You may spend the remainder of the period studying for another class or resting, but you MUST REMAIN SILENT.

Good luck!

Name:

Period:

The Renaissance Test

  1. Art History Slides: Please print your answers on the answer sheet. (10 points

possible)

Painting #1

1.The artist is ______.

2.The title of the painting is ______.

3. Print three reasons explaining why this painting is an example of

Renaissance artwork.

Painting #2

  1. The artist is ______.
  2. The title of the painting is ______.
  3. Print three reasons explaining why this painting is an example of Renaissance artwork.
  1. Multiple Choice: Choose the BEST possible answer and record it on the scantron sheet. (10 points possible– one point each)
  1. The Renaissance may be described as an age of:
  2. curiosity and isolation.
  3. discovery and education.
  4. “rebirth of art.”
  5. reviving customs from the Middle Ages.
  1. A Renaissance scholar
  2. debated the nature of life after death.
  3. studied only one academic subject.
  4. explored the richness and variety of the human experience.
  5. usually was a monk or priest.
  1. Which is the following was CANNOT be attributed to Leonardo da Vinci?
  2. Mona Lisa
  3. sketches of undersea boats and flying machines
  4. notebooks containing sketches of the human body
  5. David
  1. A well-known patron in Italy was
  2. Lorenzo de Medici
  3. Dante Sciandri
  4. Martin Luther
  5. Leonardo da Vinci
  1. Which of the following is a reason the Renaissance happened in Italy as opposed to other areas of Europe?
  2. Italy had suffered from the Bubonic plague
  3. Italy had grown rich from trade
  4. The rich gold mines in Florence and elsewhere caused the northern states to be dependent on the Church.
  5. Italy was in a constant war-torn state as a result of attacks on the papal states.
  1. Which of the following is NOT a belief held by Martin Luther?
  2. Salvation can be reached by faith alone.
  3. The sale of indulgences was wrong.
  4. Each person who had faith could have a personal relationship with God.
  5. A person could achieve salvation through “good works.”
  1. Which of the following was NOT and advantage of the printing press?
  2. Books became more expensive.
  3. Knowledge of art, science, and religion spread.
  4. Pamphlets and books became faster to print.
  5. P
  1. Who began the European age of printing, by printing a complete edition of the Bible using movable metal type?
  2. Galileo Galilei
  3. Nicolaus Copernicus
  4. Martin Luther
  5. Johann Gutenberg.
  1. The Act of Restraint of Appeals was intended to:
  2. recognize marriage only under the state.
  3. force Henry VIII to answer to the pope.
  4. prosecute Protestants.
  5. limit the king by order of Parliament.
  1. The Council of Trent intended to:
  2. reorganize the Protestant faith and end the practice of “works.”
  3. reconcile the Lutherans and the Protestants.
  4. reform the Catholic faith and end papal indulgences.
  5. unite the Catholics and the Protestants.

III.Matching: Print your answers on the answer sheet. (10 points possible)

1. humanism / a. persecuted by Protestants
2. heliocentric / b. forced to say the earth was the center of
the universe and the planets revolved
around the earth
3. Nicolaus Copernicus / c. placed importance on learning literature,
poetry and history
4. Galileo Galilei / d. in order to find truth, doubt everything
5. William Shakespeare / e. a financial supporter of the arts
6. Inquisition / f. restored unit by keeping a Protestant
nation
7. patron / g. the day he died, he correctly published
the earth and other planets all revolve
around the sun the sun
8. Elizabeth I / h. English poet and playwright
9. Mary I / i. sun-centered model of the universe
10. Rene Descartes / j. used secret testimony, torture, and
execution to stamp out heresy[r1]

IV. Short Answer: Print a paragraph containing AT LEAST 4-5 sentences responding to

each of the short answer questions below on the blank notebook paper provided. (10

points possible)

[r2]

  1. Why was the timing right for the Renaissance? Why did the Renaissance begin in Italy and take longer to spread to Northern Europe?
  1. Explain why science was controversial for both the Catholic Church and scientists. How did scientific discoveries during the Renaissance change man’s view of the world?

V. Short Essay: Print your answer on the blank binder paper provided, and write an

outline to help organize your thoughts. (20 points possible)[r3]

“Martin Luther did more than speak against the practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church. He spoke for the practices in which he believed.” Define Protestant Reformation. Explain why and how the Protestant Reformation began. Explain what Martin Luther wanted to change. In your opinion, did Martin Luther advance or hold back freedom of religion?

Answer Key for Unit Test

  1. Art History Slides
  2. Botticelli
  3. “The Man with the Medal”
  4. possible answers: use of bright colors show that artist used oil paints, subject matter is a portrait, use of perspective by including a foreground and background in painting, use of light
  5. Caravaggio
  6. “Medusa”
  7. possible answers: subject matter is Greek mythology, the snakes are portrayed very realistically and look as if they are moving, perspective is used by overlapping figures, Medusa is showing emotion
  1. Multiple Choice
  2. B
  3. C
  4. D
  5. A
  6. B
  7. D
  8. A
  9. D
  10. A
  11. C
  1. Matching
  2. C
  3. I
  4. G
  5. B
  6. H
  7. J
  8. E
  9. F
  10. A
  11. D
  1. Short Answer

1. Answer should include (5 points possible):

a. 2 points: People were finally recovering from the plague.

While suffering through the plague, the focus was on mere

survival, and literature, the arts, and scientific

developments were not the main focus. After the plague,

people are in a celebratory mood.

b. 2 points: The Church had lost some of its power, allowing

more freedom in terms of disagreeing with the Church.

The Muslims had taken back the holy city of Jerusalem

and the plague had caused people to question their faith.

c. 1 point: The economy was recovering and there was a growing

merchant class.

2. Answer should include (5 points possible):

a. 1. 5 points: The Catholic Church could lose power if scientists

disproved what the Church said. As a result, Catholics

might leave the faith, especially since the Reformation was

going on and there was a precedent for leaving Catholicism.

  1. 1.5 points: A scientist risked being labeled a heretic, and could

lose his life or be imprisoned. For this reason, Galileo

recanted and Copernicus waited until the day he died

to publish his findings.

  1. 1 point: The scientific revolution encouraged curiosity and

exploration. Scientific discoveries encouraged others

to reexamine areas of science. As a result, many scientific

discoveries were made.

  1. Short Essay (20 points possible):

a. Define protestant reformation (3 points):

The Protestant Reformation was when Martin Luther protested the certain

actions of the Catholic Church. Martin Luther demanded that the Catholic

Church reform its ways. When the Church refused, Luther formed the

ProtestantChurch.

b. Why did the Protestant Reformation begin? (3.5 points)

The German people were disgruntled for having to pay taxes to the

Church when the Church was far away in Rome. The Germans also

resented having Italian priests in German churches. Germans also

saw rampant misspending and abuses by the Church.

c. How did the Protestant Reformation begin? (3.5 points)

In 1517, Martin Luther wrote his 99 Theses and letter, which he

nailed to the Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. The pope

told Martin Luther to recant, and when he refused, Martin Luther

was forced to go into hiding for over one year.

d. Explain what Martin Luther wanted to change? (5 points)

Martin Luther disagreed with the Catholic Church’s view that through

“good works” a person could obtain a place in heaven. Martin Luther

disagreed with the sacrament of penance, the sale of indulgences, and

the idea of purgatory. Martin Luther also believed religious services

should be performed in languages understood by the people, i.e., not

Latin.

e. Did Martin Luther advance or hold back freedom of religion? (5 points)

1. Advance- Martin Luther was the first to form a separate Christian

religion. He established a precedent for standing up for one’s religious

beliefs. Many others followed his lead and established distinct

Christian churches.

  1. Held Back – Martin Luther was intolerant of those who had religious

beliefs that differed from his own. Martin Luther is known to have

persecuted Jews and initiated anti-Semitism in Germany.

Rationale

This rationale explains how the Renaissance unit test has been developed in accordance with the objectives for student learning and designed to avoid issues with reliability, standardization, validity, and practicality (RSVP issues). Developing a test in this manner is consistent with CIAS model, which maintains that curriculum, instruction, assessment, and students should all interlink. Moreover, although this test has been designed as a summative tool, the unit test also has formative applications, as will be described in the rationale.

Students

The majority of the students come from the upper-middle class and have benefited from attending middle schools that rank among the best in California. Approximately half of the students in World History might take A.P. history classes. The A.P. history classes at XX High, require students to be strong writers and have the ability to write under time constraints. In order to adequately prepare these students, I have included two short answer responses and one short essay on the tests. While the impetus for writing intensive exams came from the higher-level students, all of the students benefit from the practice and feedback. I have also strived to add balance to the test by allowing for multiple choice, matching, and fill in the blank options. While we strive to improve our writing as a class, struggling writers have an opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of a unit via the objective question portions.

While I want students to learn how to write under time constraints, I do not want to cause undue stress. For that reason, I try to schedule all tests during block periods and allow students the complete 90 minutes to complete the test.

Test Specifics

After carefully considering the unit objectives, the curriculum and the instruction, I developed a unit test. While developing the test, careful consideration was given to the number of items, the types of items, and the scoring of these items.

The unit test contains thirty objective questions: responding to art slides, five fill-in-the-blank with explanation, ten multiple choice and ten matching. The test also includes two short answer responses and one essay question. According to Bond, a unit test should include at least fifty items. I decided to include thirty-three items, as a practical consideration for my students. I have about ten students who take nearly the entire time, ninety minutes, to complete unit tests. I do not want to compromise these students’ performances by adding additional items. Moreover, I expect paragraph answers consisting of at least 4-5 sentences for each short answer response. I anticipate that students will write about one page in response to the short essay response. Because I want students to spend time thinking before they write and organizing their responses, I want to make sure they have adequate time.

The types of test items have been chosen to reflect the breadth and depth of the objectives for the unit. The art slide portion of the test relates to the two days the class studied Renaissance artwork. For these questions, two slides of the five students saw during class will be randomly selected. The slides will be shown at the beginning of the test. The students will have to identify the artist and the painting for each slide. Students will also be required to explain three characteristics of Renaissance artwork that are demonstrated by the particular painting. These questions assess students’ ability to identify Renaissance artwork and distinguish artwork from this period of time.

The test includes ten multiple choice questions and ten matching questions, in order to cover the breadth of the curriculum. The test questions have been grouped together to avoid students from having to change “mind sets” (Nitko). The multiple choice questions also help prepare students for standardized tests. Nitko points out that students are required to take state assessments and standardized tests. Giving students an opportunity to practice multiple choice questions is important, because decisions will be made based upon how well students do on state assessments and standardized tests, which will affect both the school and students. When developing the multiple choice questions, I followed Nitko’s advice and created questions that minimized the advantage that test-wise students have.

The test also includes ten matching questions. These questions are designed to assess whether students can link names, events, and places to their significance in the context of the curriculum covered during the unit.

In order to allow students to demonstrate the depth of their knowledge, students have been given ample time to complete the two short answer responses and one essay question. In this section, I am interested to see how students analyze facts about events and people, along with historical examples, to respond to the prompts. I am interested in assessing how students link and connect facts and concepts together in their writing.

Nitko recommends that teachers should prepare an answer key for the test before giving students the assessment. Doing so helps teachers to efficiently and accurately score students’ assessments, and return assessments in a timely manner. Returning students work quickly promotes an opportunity to give students feedback and keep motivational levels high. To further assist with scoring, students use a separate answer sheet to record their answers for objective items.

RSVP Issues

The unit test addresses four reliability, standardization, validity and practicality issues.

I have attempted to reduce reliability concerns by making the unit testing itself and the scoring of the unit test consistent. In order to accomplish this, I have included clearly define criteria. Following the Ormrod’s recommendations, I have provided clear directions for each section, grouped question types together, and specified the scoring criteria in advance. I have also created clear directions for the test and each section in the test. I reviewed the test for typos and made sure that proper margin and question alignment was used.

The test itself does not directly address standardization. Rather, when I administer the test, I will, in accordance with Ormrod’s suggestions, provide a quiet and comfortable environment. In reality, there always seems to be standardization issues for students who take longer to take the test. When students finish the test, they invariably begin to move around in their seats more, shuffle papers or pull books out of their bag. Despite my admonishments, I find this buzz is impossible to eliminate. I have also followed Nitko’s advice and included a cover page to prevent those who receive the test from beginning before the rest of the class.

I have designed this test to reduce validity concerns. As discussed above, the unit test was designed to use art slides and writing questions so that students could show the depth of their learning. The unit test also includes objective questions to cover the breadth of the unit’s curriculum and instruction. The table of specifications also serves as a checkpoint to ensure that the test covers what I taught.

I acknowledge that including written responses reduces the practicality of this unit test. The art slides, short answers and short essay are time intensive to grade. However, at least the time for grading has been somewhat mitigated by making sure that students complete all their answers on a separate answer key, facilitating the grading process, especially for objective questions. I have attempted to take into consideration practicality issues of my students by administering the test during a block period, and therefore ensuring that they have adequate time to complete the test. I have also developed the test in accordance with a study guide that the students will receive one week prior to the test.