Assessing Student Transfer and Retention of Learning in Mathematics, Physics, and Engineering Courses

评估学生在数学、物理和工程课程中的学习迁移和保留

• 批准号: 0206943
• 负责人: Andrew Bennett
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: Kansas State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-07-15 至 2007-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0206943&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Assessing; Student; Transfer; Retention; Learning

This project is based on the theme that assessment is most useful when it is closest to instruction, in both form and time. Summative assessments at the end of a program provide necessary feedback, but are often of limited value in guiding improved achievement. Such assessment takes place several years after instruction in basic concepts and changes in instructors and instruction during the intervening time may make the feedback appear irrelevant. In addition, faculty members are often distrustful of reports where the faculty members lack first hand knowledge of the assessment procedure. To be most effective in improving design and conduct of actual courses, the instructors in the course should use the assessment tools themselves, preferably during the conduct of the course. Because the main reason for STEM majors taking core engineering science courses is to prepare them for future courses, the most important aspect of assessment is the ability of students to transfer their learning to new contexts in later courses. Assessment should not only serve the purpose of the instructor or the institution it should also aid the students in recognizing their own achievements and in guiding the students to improve their understanding. The goal of this project is to design online assessment tools that can be easily integrated into core engineering science courses and that are capable of answering the following questions: What specific material have the students learned in core engineering science courses in mathematics and physics? What understanding do the students have of the material they have learned? Is it just disconnected facts and procedures, a broad conceptual picture informed by careful understanding of the details, or something in between? If it is something in between, can we describe more exactly what understanding they have gained? How much (and what type of) knowledge do the students retain after specific classes have ended. Can the students use the material they have learned in new situations in their professional courses? How consistently do they use the understanding developed in core engineering science courses when encountering these ideas in new contexts? In the best case, can we predict in advance whether students have gained the necessary understanding to successfully apply their knowledge in new contexts?Early versions of the sought after assessment tools have been developed under an earlier grant: "Technology & Model- Based Conceptual Assessment: Research on Students Applications of Models in Physics and Mathematics" funded by the NSF ROLE program (REC-0087788). Model Analysis is being used to develop and validate the tools. These tools are providing great insight into student conceptual understanding and learning styles, and this project is expanding their use to more core classes, and extending the focus from basic research on student learning to assessment of learning and conceptual understanding. The assessment tools we are developing are providing real-time feedback to both instructors and students, enabling both to adjust the teaching and learning process to improve student achievement in terms of conceptual understanding and the ability to transfer learning to new contexts.

这个项目是基于这样一个主题，即评估在形式和时间上最接近教学时最有用。项目结束时的总结性评估提供了必要的反馈，但在指导改进成果方面的价值往往有限。这种评估是在基本概念的教学之后几年进行的，在这段时间内教师和教学人员的变化可能会使反馈显得无关紧要。此外，教师往往不信任报告，教师缺乏第一手知识的评估程序。为了最有效地改进实际课程的设计和实施，课程中的教师应该自己使用评估工具，最好是在课程实施过程中使用。由于STEM专业学习核心工程科学课程的主要原因是为未来的课程做准备，因此评估的最重要方面是学生将学习转移到后期课程的新环境中的能力。评估不仅应该服务于教师或机构的目的，它还应该帮助学生认识自己的成就，并引导学生提高他们的理解。该项目的目标是设计在线评估工具，可以很容易地集成到核心工程科学课程，并能够回答以下问题：学生在数学和物理核心工程科学课程中学到了什么具体的材料？学生对所学的材料有什么样的理解？它只是不相关的事实和程序，通过仔细理解细节而形成的广泛的概念图景，还是介于两者之间的东西？如果是介于两者之间，我们能否更准确地描述他们获得了什么样的理解？在特定课程结束后，学生保留了多少（以及什么类型的）知识。学生能否在专业课的新情境中运用所学的内容？当他们在新的背景下遇到这些想法时，他们如何始终如一地使用核心工程科学课程中开发的理解？在最好的情况下，我们是否可以提前预测学生是否已经获得了必要的理解，以便在新的环境中成功应用他们的知识？在早期的资助下开发了受追捧的评估工具的早期版本：由NSF ROLE计划（REC-0087788）资助的“基于技术模型的概念评估：关于物理和数学模型的学生应用研究”。正在使用模型分析来开发和验证这些工具。这些工具为学生的概念理解和学习风格提供了很好的洞察力，这个项目正在将它们的使用扩展到更多的核心课程，并将重点从学生学习的基础研究扩展到学习和概念理解的评估。我们正在开发的评估工具为教师和学生提供实时反馈，使他们能够调整教学和学习过程，以提高学生在概念理解和将学习转移到新环境的能力方面的成绩。