“The influence of question and course context in revealing student thinking about structure and function”

Formative assessments allow students to share their learning and receive feedback during the learning process. Constructed-response formative assessments, such as short-answer or open-ended questions, have been shown to capture more of the diversity of ideas, both normative and non-normative, that students hold compared to selected-choice formats. Additionally, short answer assessments enable students to demonstrate the practice of constructing scientific explanations. However, question design may play an important role in influencing which ideas students share when responding to short answer questions.

For each study, we designed a series of short-answer questions with varied prompts to capture student-written explanations. First, we examined whether conceptual priming occurs with the use of different question orders. We then investigated how the inclusion of a scenario may influence how student link structure and function in their responses. Finally, the Essential Epistemic Heuristics for Mechanistic Reasoning Framework (EEHMR) was used to capture how students identify and link structures and functions at different levels of organization across two contexts: physiology and ecology. For each question set, we used an analytical coding rubric to identify structures, properties, functions, behaviors, and linkages present in student responses. Our findings suggest that varying question design can provide a robust assessment of student explanations of the core concept of structure and function. 

In-person event with light refreshments provided.

Registration Required for Zoom.

Speaker presentations will be recorded and and made available on the CREATE for STEM Institute YouTube channel and Community website.

Luanna Prevost, Associate Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida

Prevost is a biology education researcher with a background in plant ecology. Her research focuses on the assessment of student learning, faculty professional development, and institutional change in STEM education. Prevost is also interested in improving ecology education through multidimensional instruction and assessment and by creating spaces where students from diverse populations can feel like they belong in ecology. She serves as Chair of the 4DEE Subcommittee of the Ecological Society of America and is a member of the Steering Committee of the NSF RCN-UBE on Transforming Ecology Education to 4D. Prevost earned a B.S. in Biology & Environmental Science, Tuskegee University, 2002; an M.S. in Plant and Environmental Science, Clemson University, 2005: a Ph.D. in Plant Biology at the University of Georgia, 2011; and completed her postdoctoral work at Michigan State University.