Unified Studies Natural Science Assessment Goals

Philosophy and Mechanisms of Assessment

Assessment in science education must connect with the central purpose of education, which is to help students develop the ability to think and communicate, rather than to impart to them a certain body of knowledge. Because science is best defined as the quest for explanatory knowledge of nature, not the knowledge itself, science education may proceed in a way that is consistent both with the central purpose of education as well as the knowledge-seeking nature of science. Although written assignments and examinations have high assessment value in science education, this approach is currently impractical in the OBU Unified Studies Natural Science courses because of the large class sizes and expanded duties (e.g., planetarium) of the one full-time assistant professor of Natural Science.

In light of this situation, I have developed three basic means of assessment: scantron examinations and unannounced quizzes, class discussion, and interactive laboratory experiences. The first method provides scantron-format questions of four types: information-recall, interpretation, skill-application, and attitude-identification. Considerable thought and constant revision is required to develop scantron-format tests that adequately address the levels beyond mere information recall. Class discussion is sharpened by study guides that are in the students' reading packets. Each study guide is designed to help students study their readings and to integrate them into the classroom experience through class discussion. Classroom discussion of this kind provides me immediate and ongoing assessment of student comprehension of course materials.

My last major assessment tool draws from an important trend in science education. Natural Science laboratories consist primarily of realistic, discovery-oriented experiments, rather than highly-contrived procedures. The "learning cycle" approach of my labs integrates laboratories with group discussion and individual assessment. Students are given a minimum of initial guidelines and are strategically coached through the laboratory experience by carefully worded questions and hints provided by myself and my paid student workers. This provides Natural Science students the experience of "discovery" in the laboratory, rather than simply the exercise of "verifying" what they "were supposed to get." The former approach is highly motivating and intellectually challenging; the later can have a dulling effect. The assessment component of these labs is substantial. My interaction with students as I roam from table to table gives me penetrating assessment capability that I am able to link to numerous personalized corrective measures each week. In short, Natural Science students enjoy immediate and ongoing feedback from my paid student works and me in response to innumerable assessment transactions in the laboratory.

To the extent that it is possible, I assess all course skills, knowledge, and attitudes by means of the three assessment methods just outlined. Specific assessment comments below are to be understood in light of my general assessment philosophy.

Basic Course Skills

1. The ability to reason from a historical and contemporary scientific knowledge base
2. The ability to communicate the wonder and curiosity of nature in light of scientific knowledge
3. The ability to manipulate basic laboratory equipment in ways that further cognitive goals
4. The ability to communicate with others using precise language
5. The ability to use axiomatic-deductive as well as inductive-inferential reasoning

   I assess the above skills most directly by observing and interacting with students in labs as they participate in small groups and interact and compete with each other.

Advanced Course Skills

1. To learn how to ask interesting questions of nature outside the laboratory context
2. To learn how to evaluate conflicting scientific interpretations with their associated worldviews
3. To learn how to think about various topics by alternating among the historical, philosophical, theological, and scientific modes of analysis.
4. To be able to perform thought experiments and actual experiments and to learn the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches to science (and their complementarity)
5. To be able to examine "alternative scientific evidence and ideas to test, modify, verify or refute scientific theories"
6. To learn how mathematics contributes to clear human thinking and communication in science and in society in general
7. To exercise and develop creative powers (imagination) within rational boundaries
8. To think in ways that are unrestricted by traditional disciplinary boundaries

Basic Course Knowledge

1. Acquire a basic understanding of historical and contemporary scientific knowledge
2. To understand how past discovery, deliberation, and culture has translated into the current features of our modern, scientific, technological, pluralistic, global community
3. To understand the short-sightedness of the policy of officially sanctifying a particular scientific theory as "Christian" because it might appear obsolete and foolish to scientists tomorrow

Advanced Course Knowledge

1. Understand the content, cultural setting, and logical structure, of some of the more significant inferential scientific steps of the human mind from antiquity to the present
2. Understand the variety of ways in which scientific inferences can be made about the origin and development of the universe and life; and to know the main presuppositions which undergird these kinds of inferences
3. (For education majors especially) to understand some of the pedagogical riches inherent in the study and teaching of history of science, which include a culturally sensitive understanding of Socratic method, Platonic dialog, Aristotelian logic, scholastic disputation, and the modern methods of experiment and hypothesis.

Course Attitudes

1. To develop more caring and inquisitive attitudes toward nature
2. To develop a greater sense of our high calling as God's stewards over that part of the universe that is a accessible to us
3. To acquire the attitude that a "liberal" arts education is not necessarily "liberal" or "conservative" in the political or theological meanings of these terms (the sense of "liberal" intended here is the process of "liberating" the mind from ignorance&emdash;such an education entails gaining a critical understanding of views along the whole spectrum of human opinion, including both liberal and conservative positions)
4. To find peace in the knowledge of God's absolute truth in contrast to human knowledge (including science) and society which are continually changing
5. To overcome the barriers of the so called dichotomy between the "two cultures" of the sciences and humanities by an understanding of the history and philosophy of science
6. A new appreciation for public debate, critical reading and commentary on the work of experts, respect for primary sources, and the framing of arguments in light of the "great books" of various cultural traditions
7. To believe that no education is complete until a student understands who God is, how to relate to him through Jesus Christ, and the implications of the Scriptures to the whole of life
8. To believe that all truth should be pursued with at least four foundational Christian doctrines: the doctrine of a Creator, divine freedom, the Fall, and Redemption
9. To embrace a Christian liberal arts perspective that sees no dichotomy in truth and affirms that biblical revelation and human inquiry can be complementary rather than contradictory
10. To desire to humbly strive after truth in every discipline of knowledge and thereby model the fruitfulness of a Christian world view
11. To appreciate the variety of Christian traditions with their various interpretations on matters such as the origin of life and human beings
12. To desire a full integration of faith, learning, and culture&emdash;with the foundational commitment to the Bible which has "God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error for its matter" (The Baptist Faith and Message, 1963)
13. To desire to be personally committed to Jesus Christ and express this commitment by cultivating excellent relationships within biblical guidelines at all levels of college life
14. To desire faith and learning integration in the heart, will, and mind

    Attitudinal changes in students are difficult to assess. I never intend to grade students based on the attitudes they do or do not embrace. This is a decision they must make for themselves. However, recognizing that no education can be value-free, I make no apology for promoting the attitudes listed. I am confident that many of these attitudes will be "caught" rather than "taught" as students observe my life and master the skills and knowledge content of the Natural Science courses.

    Based on office visits and other talks with individual students, I foresee that most of my evaluation of changes in student attitudes will be of this informal kind. Ultimately I rely on God as the final attitude evaluator as well as the impetus and goal behind lasting change for the good in any human attitude.

©1998

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