Collaborative Research: Developing Items to Assess Students' Understanding of Scientific Practices in Chemistry Laboratory Settings

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Almost all introductory college chemistry courses have a laboratory component where students are supposed to learn about scientific practices such as designing experiments, analyzing data, and using experimental evidence to explain their findings. However, few valid and reliable tests exist that can reliably measure students' ability to do these scientific practices. Instead, chemistry laboratory tests typically focus on measuring students' knowledge of chemistry concepts and their skill at manipulating laboratory equipment. This Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE:EHR) Exploration & Design project will fill this important gap in general chemistry laboratories by developing and validating questions that can measure how well students can do specific scientific practices. The questions will include both open-ended and multiple-choice formats, to make them useful for small and large enrollment courses. The questions will initially be tested at a research university (Michigan State University, MSU), a Hispanic-serving institution (Florida International University, FIU), and a primarily undergraduate institution (Grand Valley State University, GVSU). As a result, the project team may be able to identify specific laboratory activities that help students become more proficient at using particular scientific practices. The scientific practice questions and effective laboratory activities identified will be shared with college chemistry instructors and could be adapted for use by high school chemistry teachers.To accomplish these goals, the project team will develop sets of questions (i.e. assessment items) for the three scientific practices of (1) planning and carrying out investigations; (2) analyzing and interpreting data; and (3) constructing explanations and engaging in argument from evidence in four different chemistry topic areas (spectroscopic measurements, gas law relationships, stoichiometry, and kinetics). Development of the assessment items will use an iterative process that includes identifying the key elements of each practice to assess; developing questions and scoring rubrics; and establishing validity, reliability, and practicality of the assessment items. Assessment items will be reviewed by an advisory board of members with extensive expertise in both laboratory instruction and instrument development, tested using students ?think aloud? interviews, and revised as necessary. Next, the project team will administer these assessment items in general chemistry labs at MSU, FIU, and GVSU. They will score student performance and examine the relationship between the levels of student engagement with scientific practices in the various laboratory courses and students' abilities to perform the practices effectively in the corresponding assessment items. Establishing a process for assessing students? proficiency in scientific practices will provide a model that others may use to develop assessments for additional scientific practices or for other scientific disciplines.