Condor Is Teaching a Physics Lesson on Laws of Motion

Condor is teaching a physics lesson on laws of motion. He knows that his students have a natural understanding of the topic going into it, and he wants to determine what they know before he begins the unit. He will use their prior knowledge to create activities to help them understand the physical laws. An assessment that would gather this information for him is a:

A) Formative Assessment
B) Authentic Assessment
C) Norms-based Assessment
D) Criterion-based Assessment