Assessment

Assessment is a central component of effective teaching and learning. The implementation of effective formative assessments (designed to evaluate prior understanding) and summative assessments (designed to evaluate effectiveness of lessons) enables instructors and students to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational experience as well as to monitor their own performance in the context of that experience. These resources address some of the many approaches to assessment and its use as a tool for improving teaching and learning in STEM.

• The book, Assessment in the College Science Classroom, by Dirks et al, provides an introduction to assessment techniques (formative and summative), including their application in the classroom. Guidance is given for using assessment tools (Backward Design, Bloom’s taxonomy, etc.) to guide effective teaching and learning. Available by interlibrary loan via the library at Scripps Research; Full text in Graduate Office Resource Library.
• The article, Biology in Bloom by Crowe et al, presents an approach to assessment based upon Bloom’s Taxonomy and provides a fully developed sample set of rubrics and assessment tools for assessment of student performance in quantitative molecular biology and genetics.
• This article by Allen and Tanner discusses the elements of Bloom’s Taxonomy and provides applied examples of its application to the assessment of performance in the context of Cell Biology.