ChemQuery: An Assessment System for Mapping Student Progress in Learning General Chemistry

通识教育科学课程的学生通常不会意识到科学是通过一系列复杂的范式转变而进步的，这涉及到相当多的辩论和讨论。他们认为对问题的科学理解是一种彻头彻尾的过程，这阻碍了他们对科学概念的理解，以及他们在社会背景下将科学推理应用于问题的能力。不幸的是，没有办法量化这些误解，从而通过协调一致的课程回应来解决它们。该项目正在制作一种评估工具--科学认知调查，旨在衡量这些倾向及其变化。科学认知调查是在普通教育化学课程的背景下设计的，并通过与书面论文和访谈的结果相关联来验证。一名与评估工具的开发无关的独立评估员负责管理这些验证方案。这些工具一经确认，将免费提供给其他考虑修改课程以提高对科学方法的认识及其在普通教育课程中的地位的机构。首席调查员预计，《科学认知调查》将是一项宝贵的工具，有助于揭示学生理解科学论证的方式的能力不足之处，并指导课程发展纠正这些不足之处。除了课程评估形式外，《科学认知调查》还将以网络形式分发，供学生自我评估。这一实施将为学生提供实时分析他们对科学发现中歧义的容忍度和使用科学方法的能力。这个正在进行的项目可以被教师用作通识教育课程的作业，帮助学生理解科学是如何促进知识进步的。

Students in general education science courses typically do not appreciate that science advances through a series of complex paradigm shifts involving considerable debate and discussion. Their perception that scientific understanding of issues proceeds in a cut-and-dry process impedes their grasp of scientific concepts and their ability to apply science reasoning to issues in societal contexts. Unfortunately, there is no way to quantify these misconceptions and thereby address them with a concerted curricular response. This project is producing an assessment instrument, the Science Perceptions Survey, designed to measure these dispositions and changes in them as well. The Science Perceptions Survey is being devised in the context of general education chemistry courses and validated through correlation with results of written essays and interviews. An independent evaluator who is not associated with the development of the assessment tool is managing these validation protocols. Once validated, the instruments will be freely available to other institutions considering changes in curricula focused on enhancing the appreciation of science methods and their place in general education courses. The Principal Investigators anticipate that the Science Perceptions Survey will be a valuable tool in delineating deficiencies in students' ability to understand the way in which scientific arguments are constructed and to guide curriculum development in correcting these deficiencies. In addition to the curriculum assessment format, the Science Perceptions Survey will be disseminated in a web-based format for student self-evaluation. This implementation will provide students real-time analysis of their tolerance for ambiguity in scientific findings and their ability to use the scientific method. This ongoing project can be used by instructors as an assignment in the general education courses to help students understand how science advances knowledge.