Focusing on Science Practices: Assessing Levels of Student Performance

该项目旨在通过帮助化学本科生更熟练地掌握科学实践和技能来服务于国家利益。为了让学生从被介绍到特定的科学实践到展示对该技能的熟练程度，每个实践需要经历多次，复杂程度各不相同。虽然让学生参与科学实践的重要性得到了很好的证明，但教师评估这些实践并向学生提供定期反馈的机制却没有得到很好的证明。该项目旨在加强当前的努力，以增加学生的参与度和科学实践的发展。除了了解本科生在完成课程任务的同时如何从事科学实践，以及在哪些领域需要额外的课程开发，项目团队还将开发资源，教师可以将其用作开发特定任务评分规则的基础，并可以与学生分享，以提供参与科学实践的期望的指导。该项目将(1)描述学生在完成旨在获得科学实践证据的任务时的行为和产品，以及(2)生成评估资源，教师可以使用这些资源来记录表现水平并向学生提供可行的反馈。重要的是，向学生提供的评估和相关反馈应侧重于提高成绩，要易于理解，并与期望的学习结果清楚地联系起来。本项目将采用定性研究设计来描述学生参与科学实践的方式，并采用以证据为中心的设计过程来创建教师资源。学生参与科学实践的证据将来自对学生在实验室工作和学生工作的观察，例如实验室报告、测验、考试和演示文稿。将从课程讲师那里收集他们对学生参与不同实验的科学实践的期望的信息，以及向学生提供的任何材料，以支持或评估他们参与科学实践的情况。为了调查本科生化学课程中科学实践技能的发展，将在入门、有机和高级化学实验室课程中收集数据。教师资源在开发特定任务评分规则方面的效用，将通过与课程中的化学教师进行访谈和试点来确定。随着专业组织对科学实践的发展和评估的期望增加，这项工作的结果有可能帮助教师采用和持续修改明确旨在帮助学生发展这些关键技能的教学方法。确定学生在与课程相关的任务中从事科学实践的方式，并开发资源来帮助化学教师进行评估，预计将有助于增加对这些技能的重视，并提高化学项目的成就。项目结果将与化学教育中的许多不同受众相关，并有可能影响数百名教职员工和数千名学生。NSF IUSE：EDU计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by helping undergraduate chemistry students become more proficient in science practices and skills. For students to move from being introduced to a particular science practice to demonstrating proficiency with the skill, each practice needs to be experienced multiple times with varying levels of complexity. While the importance of engaging students in science practices is well documented, mechanisms for instructors to assess these practices and to provide regular feedback to students are not. This project is designed to enhance current efforts to increase student engagement and development of scientific practices. In addition to knowledge about how undergraduate chemistry students engage in science practices while completing course tasks and areas where additional curriculum development is needed, the project team will develop resources that instructors can use as a foundation for developing task specific grading rubrics and that can be shared with students to provide guidance as to expectations for engaging in science practices.This project will (1) characterize student behaviors and products when completing tasks designed to elicit evidence of science practices, and (2) generate assessment resources that can be used by instructors to document levels of performance and provide actionable feedback to students. It is important that assessment and associated feedback provided to students focus on improving performance, be understandable, and be clearly linked to the desired learning outcomes. This project will employ a qualitative study design to characterize the ways in which students engage in science practices and an evidence-centered design process to create instructor resources. Evidence of student engagement in scientific practices will come from observations of students working in the laboratory and student work, such as laboratory reports, quizzes, examinations, and presentations. Information will be collected from course instructors regarding their expectations of the ways in which students will engage in science practices for the different experiments as well as any materials provided to students to support or assess their engagement in science practices. To investigate the development of science practice skills across the undergraduate chemistry curriculum, data will be collected in introductory, organic, and upper-level chemistry laboratory courses. The utility of the instructor resources for developing task specific grading rubrics will be established through interviews and piloting with chemistry instructors in courses across the curriculum. As professional organizations increase their expectations for the development and assessment of science practices, the results of this work have the potential to assist instructors in their adoption and ongoing modification of instructional approaches that are explicitly designed to help students develop these key skills. Characterizing the ways in which students engage in science practices during course-related tasks and developing resources to aid chemistry instructors in their assessment is expected to contribute to increasing the emphasis of these skills and enhancing achievement in chemistry programs. Project findings will be relevant to many different audiences involved in chemistry education and have the potential to impact hundreds of faculty members and thousands of students. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.