Formative Assessment of Student Understanding in Large Introductory Biology Lectures Scott Cooper William Cerbin Deborah Hanmer University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

Formative Assessment Assess students while they are learning material. Give quick feedback which is not graded. Avoid the standard “Are there any questions?” Use in large lectures was pioneered in Physics courses using multiple choice questions. Case studies and problem-based learning often incorporate formative assessment. This method is a challenge in large lectures with more open-ended or complex problems to solve.

UW-System Curricular Redesign Grant 15 instructors and a cognitive psychologist 5 campuses –UW-La Crosse, Stout, Stevens Point, Milwaukee, and River Falls Develop and test formative assessment modules for large introductory biology lectures Measure effectiveness with summative assessment tools Submitted a 3 year NSF-ASA proposal

time Lecture on Phylogenetic Trees (Students are shown three examples by the instructor)

Students make trees based upon three lines of evidence. Observations of habitat and traits Observations of skeletons Observations of gene sequences After each observation the students modify their trees

Black bear (Ursus americanus) Terrestrial Omnivore Harp Seal (Phoca groenlandica) Aquatic/Terrestrial, Carnivore Hippopotamus amphibius Terrestrial/Aquatic, Herbivore Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) Aquatic, Carnivore

King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) Aquatic/Terrestrial, Carnivore Harbor Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) Aquatic, Carnivore Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) Aquatic, Omnivore

Now draw a tree similar to this example

Homologous structures Vestigial structures Analogous structures

King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) Cave Bear (Ursus spelaeus) Harp Seal (Phoca groenlandica) Hippopotamus antiquus (Extinct) Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris)

Harbor Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)

Modify your tree with skeletal evidence

Figure Molecular data and the evolutionary relationships of vertebrates

A portion of the aligned sequences

Part of the aligned DNA sequences

Modify your tree with molecular evidence

Proto-whale skeleton

Current best tree

Assessment Formative Assessment Summative Assessment –Pre and post-tests –Short answer and multiple choice Student evaluations Instructor evaluations Video taping

Rubric for Formative Assessment Round ARound BRound C Ancestry “common, non- modern ancestor” 0 or 1 Grouping “followed logical scheme” 0 or 1 Feeding or Habitat 0 or 1 Presence of Pelvis 0 or 1 DNA Sequence Accuracy0, 0.5 or 1

Round ARound BRound C Ancestry001 Grouping0 Feeding or Habitat 0 Presence of Pelvis 1 DNA Sequence Accuracy001

Round A Round B Round C Ancestry111 Grouping1 Feeding or Habitat 1 Presence of Pelvis 1 DNA Sequence Accuracy10.51

Formative Assessment (n = 127 groups) * * * * * Significant difference

Control Experiment: Do formative assessment and instructor feedback affect student learning? Used the same materials as a lecture without the in-class problem solving and formative assessment.

Fifty million years ago an ancestor to modern horses, Hyracotherium, roamed much of North America. These ancestors to the modern horse were the size of a small dog and lived primarily in forests and scrub. As the climate became warmer and drier the forests were replaced with grasslands. The impact of this climate change on horse evolution can be seen in fossils of Merychippus, a longer legged ancestor of modern horses that roamed grasslands fifteen million years ago. Equus is the only surviving genus in the once diverse family of horses. Species of Equus lived from 5 million years ago until the present. Living species include horses, asses, and zebras. Diagram an evolutionary tree that includes all five species mentioned in the passage above. present 5 million years ago 15 million years ago Hyracotherium Merychippus Equus horses asses zebras

CriteriaTimingAncestry 5 pointsAll species present during the times indicated in the question. Correct common ancestors correctly indicated at branch points 3 points1 species not present during the times indicated in the question. Correct common ancestors not indicated at branch points. 1 point2 or more species not present during the times indicated in the question. No branch points, or modern species appear where ancestral species should appear. Rubric for Summative Assessment

Summative Assessment: Short Answer Problem * * * * Significant difference

Pre-test results were significantly higher in majors. * Significant difference

Summative Assessment: Multiple Choice Problems (n = 366)(n = 512) * * Significant difference

Multiple Choice (lecture material) 1.If we took a modern horse and tried to breed it with Merychippus they could not produce viable offspring. Merychippus and modern horses 1.Do not have a common ancestor 2.Are different species 3.Would look the same 4.Would be adapted to similar environments 5.Are both extinct 2.If Equus is the only surviving genus in the once diverse family of horses, what happened to the other genuses? 1.They became horses 2.There were no other genuses 3.They became extinct 4.They wouldn’t fit on Noah’s Ark

MC Q1: Speciation (lecture) * * * * * Significant difference

MC Q2: Extinction (lecture) * * Significant difference

Multiple Choice (module material) 3.Horses and frogs both have front legs, while fish do not. This can be explained by 1.Frogs and horses can’t swim 2.Horses and frogs have a more recent common ancestor 3.Horses and frogs are adapted to the same environment 4.Horses evolved from frogs 4.A branch point in an evolutionary tree represents 1.A modern species that gave rise to a new species 2.An extinct common ancestor to species found on the branches 3.An extinct ancestor to just one of the species found on the branches 4.A specific mating between two different species 5.A time when natural selection did not occur

MC Q3: Grouping (module) * * * * Significant difference

MC Q4: Ancestry (module) * * * * Significant difference

Student Evaluation of Module (5=Strongly Agree, 4=Agree, 3=Neutral, 2=Disagree 1=Strongly Disagree) n = 38 n = 131

Conclusions Formative Assessment can be effectively used with complex problem-solving in large lecture settings. Student performance, especially that of non- majors, is improved by active-learning and formative assessment.

Any Questions? (Assessment Humor)