Students will be presented well designed classes to facilitate mastering of the materials identified as a core foundation in biology – Botany, Zoology and Cell Biology
Objective
Mastery Of Core Curriculum
Students will demonstrate a mastery of the core fields in biology: Botany, Zoology, Cell Biology, Microbiology, Genetics, Ecology and Evolution.
Indicator
Assessment Exam For Core Classes
All graduating seniors will take an exiting Biology Assessment Exam (BAE), written by the Biology Faculty. We will analyze the BAE scores from the following areas: botany, zoology, cell biology, microbiology, genetics, evolution & ecology to evaluate whether students have a significant level of understanding of each of these fields.
Criterion
BAE Analysis For Core Classes
All Biology majors will be expected to score significantly better than a failing grade in all core areas: botany, zoology, cell biology, microbiology, genetics, evolution and ecology.
Finding
BAE Analysis For Core Classes
Fifty (45%) graduating seniors took the Biology Assesment Exam. On average, students scored significantly greater than a failing grade (based a chi-square test against randomized answer choices) in all core areas. (Fig. 1). In general, questions with a high level of difficulty usually had a high frequency of incorrect answers. Questions of intermediate or low difficulty had a range of few wrong answer choices or a high number of incorrect answer choices (Fig. 2).
Action
Administer Exit Exam
All Graduating seniors will be contacted by email and asked to take a biology exit exam that will test their comprehension of material from the basic core classes in biological sciences
Objective
Understanding The Scientific Method And Develop Critical Thinking
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the general nature of scientific knowledge and how scientific knowledge is gained (the scientific method). They also will be able to critically evaluate scientific data to draw informed conclusions.
Indicator
BAE Analysis
All graduating seniors will take the Biology Assessment Exam (BAE). We will use BAE exam scores from analytical questions to evaluate a student’s understanding of the scientific method and critical thinking.
Criterion
BAE Analysis
All Biology majors will be expected to score significantly better than failing on analytical questions related to the scientific method and critical thinking.
Finding
BAE Results For Scientific Method And Critical Thinking
We examined the number of questions missed for questions that required critical thinking and graphical interpretation. Both are seated within principles of the scientific method. We found a difference between questiosn requiring graphical interpretation; and questions not requiring interpretation of graphical data. Specifically, students missed more questions that required interpretation of graphs. We found no difference between questions requiring analytical calculation and those not requiring calculations. See Fig. 3 for Specifics.
Action
Administer Exit Exam
All Graduating seniors will be contacted by email and asked to take a biology exit exam that will test their ability to use the scientific method and think critically.