Tools for Assessment in Genetics

遗传学是所有生物学专业的重要基础课程之一，也是学生学习最具挑战性的课程之一。对遗传学的深刻理解要求学生理解肉眼看不到的过程，掌握技术术语，并进行数学思考。最近的许多国家报告都要求科学教育工作者开发课程，通过采用以证据为基础和以学生为中心的教学方法，而不是要求学生记住孤立的事实，来促进对核心生物学概念的更深入理解。 随着遗传学课堂教学技术的变化，大学教师往往很难确定他们的变化是否会增加学生的学习。该项目完成后，将提供称为概念清单（CI）的工具，供教育工作者确定学生对几个核心遗传学概念的理解和误解程度，例如突变的性质以及基因如何在生命系统中相互作用。教师可以使用这些工具来确定最适合学生需求的教学方法和课堂实践。该项目旨在改善大学生物科学的学习和教学，以满足国家的需求。虽然存在多种广谱遗传学概念测试，但本项目的智力价值在于开发几个新的概念清单，集中于一系列子主题。该项目将包括来自全国各地的社区学院、R1、区域和小型私立学校的教师和学生。第一阶段将收集学生对开放式问题的回答，这些问题需要深入了解突变，谱系，上位性，表观遗传学和多基因遗传。第二阶段是制定多项选择评估，其中包括学生的误解，这些误解在开放式回答中被确定为可能的答案。第三阶段将在全国多个教室管理概念清单，以确定概念清单是否符合规定的课程学习目标，在不同的环境中表现相似，并可以区分高和低表现的学生。完成的概念清单将使教师能够更容易地制定和评估具体的教学策略，并准确地解决每个教室内的误解。该项目有可能积极影响数百名教师如何教授遗传学，并在未来几年提高数千名学生对遗传学的理解。该项目由生物科学理事会遗传机制方案、分子和细胞生物科学司以及本科教育司教育和人力资源理事会共同资助，作为其应对本科生物学教育中的愿景和变革所带来挑战的努力的一部分：行动呼吁（http：//visionandchange.org/finalreport/）。

Genetics is one of the key foundational subjects for all biology majors and also one of the most challenging for students to learn. A deep understanding of genetics requires students to understand processes that are invisible to the naked eye, master technical jargon, and think mathematically. Many recent national reports have challenged science educators to develop courses that promote a deeper understanding of core biological concepts by adopting teaching approaches that are evidence-based and student-centered instead of asking students to memorize isolated facts. As teaching techniques in genetics classrooms change, college instructors often struggle to determine if their changes lead to increased student learning. This project, when completed, will provide tools, called concept inventories (CI), needed for educators to determine the level of student understanding and misunderstanding of several core genetics concepts, such as the nature of mutations and how genes interact in a living system. These tools can be used by faculty to determine the teaching methods and classroom practices that best suit the needs of their students. This project aims to improve how biological sciences are learned and taught in college to meet the nation?s need for more and better educated graduates in the biological sciences.Although multiple broad-spectrum genetics concept tests exist, the intellectual merit of this project is to develop several new concept inventories focused on a range of sub-topics. The project will include faculty and students from community colleges, R1, regional, and small private schools across the country. The first stage will be to gather student responses to open ended questions that require deep understanding of mutations, pedigrees, epistasis, epigenetics, and polygenic inheritance. The second stage will be to develop multiple choice assessments that include student misconceptions that were identified as possible answers in the open-ended responses. The third stage will administer the concept inventories in multiple classrooms across the country to determine whether the concept inventories address the stated course learning objectives, perform similarly in different settings, and can distinguish between high and low performing students. The completed concept inventories will enable instructors to more easily develop and evaluate specific teaching strategies and precisely address misconceptions within each classroom. This project has the potential to positively affect how hundreds of instructors teach genetics and to improve the genetics understanding of thousands of students for years to come. This project is being jointly funded by the Genetic Mechanisms Program in the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/).