Department of Chemistry and Center for Improvement of Teaching and Research on Undergraduate STEM, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620.
Department of Chemistry, Seattle University, Seattle, WA 98122
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2017 Spring;16(1). doi: 10.1187/cbe.16-06-0191.
Multiple-choice assessments provide a straightforward way for instructors of large classes to collect data related to student understanding of key concepts at the beginning and end of a course. By tracking student performance over time, instructors receive formative feedback about their teaching and can assess the impact of instructional changes. The evidence of instructional effectiveness can in turn inform future instruction, and vice versa. In this study, we analyzed student responses on an optimized pretest and posttest administered during four different quarters in a large-enrollment biochemistry course. Student performance and the effect of instructional interventions related to three fundamental concepts-hydrogen bonding, bond energy, and pK-were analyzed. After instructional interventions, a larger proportion of students demonstrated knowledge of these concepts compared with data collected before instructional interventions. Student responses trended from inconsistent to consistent and from incorrect to correct. The instructional effect was particularly remarkable for the later three quarters related to hydrogen bonding and bond energy. This study supports the use of multiple-choice instruments to assess the effectiveness of instructional interventions, especially in large classes, by providing instructors with quick and reliable feedback on student knowledge of each specific fundamental concept.
多项选择题评估为大班教师提供了一种直接的方法，可在课程开始和结束时收集与学生对关键概念理解相关的数据。通过跟踪学生的学习表现，教师可以获得有关教学的形成性反馈，并评估教学变革的影响。教学效果的证据反过来又可以为未来的教学提供信息，反之亦然。在这项研究中，我们分析了在一门大型生物化学课程的四个不同学季中进行的优化预测试和后测试中学生的反应。分析了与三个基本概念（氢键、键能和 pK 值）相关的学生表现和教学干预措施的效果。在教学干预措施之后，与干预前收集的数据相比，更多的学生表现出对这些概念的了解。学生的反应从不一致到一致，从不正确到正确。与氢键和键能相关的后三个学季的教学效果尤为显著。这项研究支持使用多项选择题工具来评估教学干预措施的效果，特别是在大班教学中，为教师提供有关每个具体基本概念的学生知识的快速可靠反馈。
