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Student Assessment: Laboratory Format Preference, John Pratte, Matthew Laposata
Student Assessment: Laboratory Format Preference, John Pratte, Matthew Laposata
Assessment and Feedback
The third student assessment asked students if they preferred to have all of their labs online, all of their labs hands-on, or a mixture (ESA21 exercises had three hands-on and nine online exercises). The survey was given to 163 students in Fall 2002 and to 577 students in Spring 2003. In addition to asking their preference in lab format, the instrument had students identify the reasons for their opinions in open-ended questions. In the Spring 2003 survey we included questions asking students about their class loads, time devoted to work outside of classes, commuting distance, and whether or not they …
Faculty Assessment: Outside Evaluators, John Pratte, Matthew Laposata
Faculty Assessment: Outside Evaluators, John Pratte, Matthew Laposata
Assessment and Feedback
A questionnaire was also developed to solicit faculty perceptions of the laboratory programs. The primary focus of the questions for the faculty was on the efficacy of the laboratory program, their perceptions of its effectiveness, and their satisfaction with the laboratory report format. This questionnaire was given to several scientists from outside institutions, and an outside evaluator reviewed the activity modules and visited the campus to perform a holistic external assessment of the project. Responses from these evaluators were very positive. For example, the outside evaluators were asked to assess the activities on 12 factors such as clarity of writing, …
Student Assessment: Comparing Laboratory Programs, John Pratte, Matthew Laposata
Student Assessment: Comparing Laboratory Programs, John Pratte, Matthew Laposata
Assessment and Feedback
The first assessment compared student opinions of the ESA21 activities to those of the previously utilized laboratory exercises. After the conversion of the Interdisciplinary Science courses to an environmental theme but before the use of the ESA21 exercises, the laboratory program for the course consisted of a series of on-campus activities examining basic principles in biology, physics, and chemistry. The exercises were a holdover from the course’s previous focus on multidisciplinary science, and they were modified (introductory material and questions added) for better relevance to the new environmental focus. As such, they were similar to many of the collections of …
Student Assessment: Perception Of Knowledge And Scientific Decision-Making Skills, John Pratte, Matthew Laposata
Student Assessment: Perception Of Knowledge And Scientific Decision-Making Skills, John Pratte, Matthew Laposata
Assessment and Feedback
The second assessment measurement had students rate their perceptions of their own knowledge and scientific decision-making skills. The instrument was completed in a pre/post test manner by 100 and 79 students, respectively in Fall 2001 in Interdisciplinary Science I (the course utilizing the ESA21 exercises), and was also completed by 169 students in Interdisciplinary Science II at the beginning of the same semester. All of the students in Interdisciplinary Science II had utilized the old laboratory program, allowing us to again compare the ESA21 and conventional exercises. The survey included open-ended and Likert-scale questions, and had six questions regarding content …