Assessment What are the questions? What evidence will we accept?

1. AssessmentWhat are the questions?What evidence will we accept? Diane Ebert-May Department of Plant Biology Michigan State University ebertmay@msu.edu http://first2.org

3. The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be. -Paul Valery, The Art of Poetry

4. Question 1 Students learn science best by doing science. Please respond on a scale of 1-5: 1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neutral; 4= disagree; 5=strongly disagree

5. Question 2 Science should be taught as it is practiced. Please respond on a scale of 1-5: 1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neutral; 4= disagree; 5=strongly disagree

6. Question 3 How important is it to use multiple kinds of data to assess student learning? Please respond on a scale if 0-100 in increments of 10:

7. Question 4 How often do you use data to make instructional decisions? Please respond on a scale of 0 - 100 in increments of 10:

8. Question 5 Large lectures are active learning environments. Please respond on a scale of 1-5: 1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neutral; 4= disagree; 5=strongly disagree

9. Question 6 Where on the continuum is the ideal classroom ? Active Learning

10. Question 7 Where on the continuum is your classroom ? Active Learning

11. Question 8 How many different forms of active learning do you use in your courses? Please respond: 0-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

12. Question 1 Students learn science best by doing science. Please respond on a scale of 1-5: 1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neutral; 4= disagree; 5=strongly disagree

14. Question 2 Science should be taught as it is practiced. Please respond on a scale of 1-5: 1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neutral; 4= disagree; 5=strongly disagree

15. Learners doing science...

16. Question 3 How important is it to use multiple kinds of data to assess student learning? Please respond on a scale if 0-100 in increments of 10:

17. How important is it to use multiple forms of data to assess student learning? % Relative Importance n=127

18. Question 4 How often do you use data to make instructional decisions? Please respond on a scale of 0 - 100 in increments of 10:

19. How often do you use data to make instructional decisions? % Frequency n=127

20. Question 5 Large introductory lectures are active learning environments. Please respond on a scale of 1-5: 1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neutral; 4= disagree; 5=strongly disagree

22. Examples to View

23. Question 9 True or False? Assessing student learning in science parallels what scientists do as researchers.

24. Description: -What is happening? Cause: -Does ‘x’ (teaching strategy) affect ‘y’ (understanding)? Process or mechanism: -Why or how does ‘x’ cause ‘y’? Parallel: ask questions

25. We collect data to find out what our students know. Data helps us understand student thinking about concepts and content. We use data to guide decisions about course/curriculum/innovative instruction Parallel: collect data

26. Quantitative data - statistical analysis Qualitative data - break into manageable units and define coding categories - search for patterns, quantify - interpret and synthesize Valid and repeatable measures Parallel: analyze data

27. Ideas and results are peer reviewed - formally and/or informally. Parallel: peer review

28. What is assessment? Data collection with the purpose of answering questions about… students’ understanding students’ attitudes students’ skills instructional design and implementation curricular reform (at multiple grainsizes)

29. Research Methods

30. Why do assessment? Improve student learning and development. Provides students and faculty substantive feedback about student understanding. Challenge to use disciplinary research strategies to assess learning.

31. Data collection approaches

33. “Few faculty members have any awareness of the expanding knowledge about learning from psychology and cognitive science. Almost no one in the academy has mastered or used this knowledge base. One of my colleagues observed that if doctors used science the way college teachers do, they would still be trying to heal with leeches." J.J. Duderstadt (2001), president emeritus of the University of Michigan, in "A University for the 21st Century."

34. Objective: explain evolution by natural selection

35. Explain the phenotypic changes in the tree and the animal. Use your understanding of evolution by natural selection. Individual Problem

36. - Describe the goals for the activity, problem, task - Select the assessment tasks aligned with goals - Develop performance standards - Differentiate levels of responses based on clearly described criteria - Rate (assign value) the categories How do we develop rubrics?

37. Scoring Rubric for Quizzes and Homework

38. - Improve the reliability of scoring written assignments and oral presentations - Convey goals and performance expectations of students in an unambiguous way - Convey “grading standards” or “point values” and relate them to performance goals - Engage students in critical evaluation of their own performance - Save time but spend it well Advantages of Scoring Rubrics

39. Problem of criteria Problem of practice and regular use Scoring Rubric website http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/nise/cl1/flag/ Sample Rubrics for Environmental Science http://www.msu.edu/~ebertmay/isb202/home.html Limitations of Scoring Rubrics

40. What Type of Learning? Bloom (1956) 6 major categories in the Cognitive Domain of Educational Objectives Condense to 4 - realistic to work with

41. Cognitive Levels Knowledge - remember Understanding and Application - grasp meaning, use, interpret Critical Analysis - original thinking, open-ended answers, whole to parts, parts to whole, evaluation Synthesis - make connections

42. If assessment is.... ...data collection with a purpose of answering Qs..... Then we ask Qs... develop learning goals and objectives design active learning instruction gather appropriate data to answer the question use tools like Bloom’s taxonomy to ‘calibrate’ data OR.....

44. Model for Learning - System

45. Pre-Posttest Analysis Does active, inquiry-based instructional design influence students’ understanding of evolution and natural selection?

46. Alternative Conceptions: Natural Selection Changes in a population occur through a gradual change in individual members of a population. New traits in species are developed in response to need. All members of a population are genetically equivalent, variation and fitness are not considered. Traits acquired during an individual’s lifetime will be inherited by offspring.

47. Explain the changes that occurred in the tree and animal. Use your current understanding of evolution by natural selection. (AAAS 1999)

48. Misconception: individuals evolve new traits n=80; p<.01 % of Students

49. Misconception: evolution is driven by need n=80; p<.01 % of Students

50. In guppy populations, what are the primary changes that occur gradually over time? a. The traits of each individual guppy within a population gradually change. b. The proportions of guppies having different traits within a population change. c. Successful behaviors learned by certain guppies are passed on to offspring. d. Mutations occur to meet the needs of the guppies as the environment changes. Anderson et al 2002