Designing a Curriculum-Aligned Assessment of Cumulative Learning about Marine Primary Production to Improve an Undergraduate Marine Sciences Program
We developed an assessment to track changes in understanding about marine primary production, a key concept taught across our undergraduate curriculum. Question content was informed by investigating student misunderstandings, conducting faculty interviews, and mapping primary production concepts to...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Society for Microbiology
2018-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education |
| Online Access: | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.v19i3.1396 |
| _version_ | 1818932239360065536 |
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| author | Ryan A. Weatherbee Sara M. Lindsay |
| author_facet | Ryan A. Weatherbee Sara M. Lindsay |
| author_sort | Ryan A. Weatherbee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We developed an assessment to track changes in understanding about marine primary production, a key concept taught across our undergraduate curriculum. Question content was informed by investigating student misunderstandings, conducting faculty interviews, and mapping primary production concepts to the curriculum. Content questions were paired with questions asking students how confident they were in their answers. Although students gained knowledge of marine primary production across educational levels, confidence data and item analysis indicated student misunderstandings on several concepts. Many students had difficulty on questions that required interpreting graphs or other higher-order thinking skills. The results set the stage for additional focused assessment and curriculum revision, and the questions may be useful in developing a large-scale, interdisciplinary marine sciences concept inventory. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T04:29:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a8ce48cf8df2449c8b67057a0f6936e3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1935-7877 1935-7885 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T04:29:19Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-a8ce48cf8df2449c8b67057a0f6936e32022-12-21T19:53:26ZengAmerican Society for MicrobiologyJournal of Microbiology & Biology Education1935-78771935-78852018-01-0119310.1128/jmbe.v19i3.1396Designing a Curriculum-Aligned Assessment of Cumulative Learning about Marine Primary Production to Improve an Undergraduate Marine Sciences ProgramRyan A. Weatherbee0Sara M. Lindsay1Husson University, Bangor, ME 04401School of Marine Sciences and Maine Center for Research in STEM Education, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5741We developed an assessment to track changes in understanding about marine primary production, a key concept taught across our undergraduate curriculum. Question content was informed by investigating student misunderstandings, conducting faculty interviews, and mapping primary production concepts to the curriculum. Content questions were paired with questions asking students how confident they were in their answers. Although students gained knowledge of marine primary production across educational levels, confidence data and item analysis indicated student misunderstandings on several concepts. Many students had difficulty on questions that required interpreting graphs or other higher-order thinking skills. The results set the stage for additional focused assessment and curriculum revision, and the questions may be useful in developing a large-scale, interdisciplinary marine sciences concept inventory.https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.v19i3.1396 |
| spellingShingle | Ryan A. Weatherbee Sara M. Lindsay Designing a Curriculum-Aligned Assessment of Cumulative Learning about Marine Primary Production to Improve an Undergraduate Marine Sciences Program Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education |
| title | Designing a Curriculum-Aligned Assessment of Cumulative Learning about Marine Primary Production to Improve an Undergraduate Marine Sciences Program |
| title_full | Designing a Curriculum-Aligned Assessment of Cumulative Learning about Marine Primary Production to Improve an Undergraduate Marine Sciences Program |
| title_fullStr | Designing a Curriculum-Aligned Assessment of Cumulative Learning about Marine Primary Production to Improve an Undergraduate Marine Sciences Program |
| title_full_unstemmed | Designing a Curriculum-Aligned Assessment of Cumulative Learning about Marine Primary Production to Improve an Undergraduate Marine Sciences Program |
| title_short | Designing a Curriculum-Aligned Assessment of Cumulative Learning about Marine Primary Production to Improve an Undergraduate Marine Sciences Program |
| title_sort | designing a curriculum aligned assessment of cumulative learning about marine primary production to improve an undergraduate marine sciences program |
| url | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.v19i3.1396 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ryanaweatherbee designingacurriculumalignedassessmentofcumulativelearningaboutmarineprimaryproductiontoimproveanundergraduatemarinesciencesprogram AT saramlindsay designingacurriculumalignedassessmentofcumulativelearningaboutmarineprimaryproductiontoimproveanundergraduatemarinesciencesprogram |