Prof. Marilyne Stains
Host: Odeleye
Professor of Chemistry
Department of Chemistry
University of Virginia
Instructional
innovations and reforms over the last decades have been mostly focused on
practices to engage students with the materials in the classrooms. One aspect
of instruction that plays a key role in learning but that has been overlooked
in these reform efforts is assessment. Students use their instructor’s
assessment practices to identify what their instructor values and therefore to
prioritize their studying. Recognizing the influence that assessment plays in
student learning, chemistry-based education researchers have been advocating
for the implementation of new assessment approaches that can support the
development of students’ content knowledge and scientific practices. In
order to help
the propagation of these new approaches, we first need to understand chemistry
instructors’ thinking about assessment practices. In this study, we explored 19
general chemistry instructors’ rationales for their assessment practices. These
instructors come from 14 different institutions across the United States of
America. We describe their assessment practices, their views on the purpose of
assessment, and the alignment between this purpose and their practices.
Finally, we also explore external influencers that affect their assessment
practices.