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

几乎所有的大学化学入门课程都有一个实验室部分，学生应该在那里学习科学实践，如设计实验，分析数据，并使用实验证据来解释他们的发现。然而，几乎没有有效和可靠的测试可以可靠地衡量学生进行这些科学实践的能力。相反，化学实验室测试通常侧重于衡量学生对化学概念的知识以及他们操作实验室设备的技能。这一改善本科生STEM教育(IUSE：EHR)探索与设计项目将通过开发和验证问题来填补普通化学实验室的这一重要空白，这些问题可以衡量学生在具体科学实践中做得有多好。这些问题将包括开放式和多项选择题，使其对招生人数较少和人数较多的课程都很有用。这些问题最初将在研究型大学(密歇根州立大学，MSU)、拉美裔服务机构(佛罗里达国际大学(FIU))和以本科为主的机构(大谷州立大学(GVSU))进行测试。因此，项目团队可能能够确定特定的实验室活动，帮助学生更熟练地使用特定的科学实践。确定的科学实践问题和有效的实验室活动将与大学化学教师分享，并可用于高中化学教师。为了实现这些目标，项目团队将为(1)计划和实施调查；(2)分析和解释数据；(3)在四个不同的化学主题领域(光谱测量、气体定律关系、化学计量学和动力学)的证据构建解释和参与辩论的三组问题(即评估项目)。评估项目的开发将使用迭代过程，包括确定要评估的每个实践的关键要素；开发问题和评分规则；以及确定评估项目的有效性、可靠性和实用性。评估项目将由在实验室教学和仪器开发方面拥有广泛专业知识的成员组成的顾问委员会审查，并由学生进行测试？大声思考？面谈，并根据需要进行修订。接下来，项目团队将在密歇根州立大学、FIU和GVSU的普通化学实验室管理这些评估项目。他们将对学生的表现进行评分，并检查学生在各种实验室课程中参与科学实践的水平与学生在相应评估项目中有效执行实践的能力之间的关系。建立评估学生的流程？对科学实践的熟练程度将提供一个模式，其他人可以用来为其他科学实践或其他科学学科制定评估。

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.