Biology DepartmentAssessment Pilot

Carla Hass cah19@psu.edu

Assessment Plan• Objective: To measure student learning on a

specific topic, meiosis, through the use of specific questions on exams

• Evidence: Performance on multiple choice questions related to this top placing them on:– a pretest– an exam during the semester– the final (use the most challenging questions)– a pretest for a course that has Bio 110 as a

prerequisite (we used Bio 240W)

Assessment Development• Met with a group of faculty from departments

that offer a degree in Biology (UP, Altoona, Behrend, Abington plus two other interested campuses)

• Initial meeting was seven people plus moderator• Decided as a group to focus on the single topic –

meiosis• Decided upon using exam questions due to class

sizes at UP with the hope of developing a tool that could be used at multiple campuses

• Set up an ANGEL group for assessment• Wrote the pretest for use in the fall semester and

sent it to the members of the group for their comment/use

• Specified learning goals/objectives during the semester

• Helpful strategies– Involving multiple campuses– Having a face-to-face meeting– Having an “outside” moderator

(Suzanne Weinstein)

• Barriers – Agreeing on questions to use – never reached

complete agreement so initial attempt may be of limited use across campuses

– Multiple faculty teaching separate sections of the same course at the same campus using different exams

Initial Data Collection AY 11/12• So far…… • Fall Bio 110

– Pretest – 44 questions – 7 on meiosis– Exams 2 and 4 – used 6 of these questions– Final exam – repeated two questions

• Spring Bio 110– Pretest – identical to Fall Bio 110

• Spring Bio 240W– Pretest – used 3 questions relevant to material

in that course (need to be able to ask during the semester)

Fall 2011Pretest Exam 2 Final Spring PretestN=694 N=311 N=703 N=314 N=297 N=279

Quest Answers Thomas Sparks OsmondThomas Sparks Sparks KernWhich one of these statements is true of both mitosis and meiosis at some point during each process?

Homologous chromosomes pair.22 24.1 20.1 20.4 12 23.3Crossing over takes place.28.5 23.5 1.4 1.6 2 30.5Non-homologous pairs of chromosomes show independent assortment.7.3 5.1 3.7 3.2 1 9The centromere splits and sister chromatids are separated. 41.9 47.3 74.1 74.8 85 37.3

Which of these places the meiotic events that can produce genetic variation among gametes in the correct order (earliest to latest during the process of meiosis)?DNA replication – homologous chromosomes pair - crossing over – independent assortment 37.9 36 74.7 76.1 84 32.3homologous chromosomes pair - crossing over – DNA replication – independent assortment23.3 25.1 5.3 4.1 2 25.1DNA replication – homologous chromosomes pair – independent assortment – crossing over25.4 24.1 17.4 18.2 13 24.7independent assortment – homologous chromosomes pair – DNA replication – crossing over12.8 14.5 2.1 1.6 1 17.9

Learning gains were made during the semester

The questions will be used on the Bio 230W pretest in Fall

2012

Fall 2011 Pretest Exam 2 Sp 2012 PretestN=694 N=311 N=703 N=314 N=279 N=571

Question Answers Thomas Sparks Thomas Sparks Bio 110 240WModerate learning gain - signficiant prior knowledgeYou are studying a species of organ pipe cactus in Utah and discover that the cells in the cactus stems have 22 chromosomes. How many chromosomes would be found in the pollen (sperm) of this species?

11 73.6 70.7 90.9 89.8 68.5 90.922 18.7 21.2 7.3 8.9 22.9 8.633 1.7 1.3 0.6 0.6 2.2 0.4

Only animals undergo sexual reproduction and produce gametes.5.9 6.8 0.7 0.6 6.5 0.2

Significant learning gain - moderate prior knowledgeDuring the human life cycle, the process of _______________ is responsible for producing sperm and eggs; the only ______________ cells are the gametes.

meiosis / diploid 24.8 27 3.6 8 30.5 6.5mitosis / diploid 15.7 15.4 2 0.6 17.2 4.6meiosis / haploid 48 49.2 87.5 85 35.1 80.7mitosis / haploid 11.5 8.4 6.4 6.4 17.2 8.2

Learning gains during the semester persisted into the next course

Fall 2011 Pretest Spring PretestN=694 N=311 N=279 N=571

Quest Answers Thomas Sparks Kern 240W-DIn humans, the meiotic division and subsequent modifications of cells produced during spermatogenesis and oogenesis ultimately result in:

four sperm cells and four egg cells. 14.7 11.3 11.5 23.6two sperm cells and two egg cells. 26.7 23.8 32.3 17.3four sperm cells and one egg cell. 35.2 37.6 28.7 44two sperm cells and one egg cell 23.3 27.3 27.6 15.1

Material not covered in Bio 110 showed little learning gain in

pretest for the next course in the sequence

This material is covered in Bio 240W and learning gains will be

assessed by including this question on an exam during the

semester