ENHANCING ASSESSMENT IN THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
CURRICULUM MATTERS
- About this project
- Learning outcomes in the biological sciences
- Principles of assessment
- Assessment types
- Key issues
- Curriculum matters
- Examples of Practice
Relevant Examples
- Abbott: Small group analysis of journal articles
- Burke: Assessment used to drive understanding
- Fairweather 2: Self, peer and staff assessment of critical reading task
- Hancock 1: Assessing a practical task and peer evaluation of that task
- Hargreaves 2: Small group research project
- Mulder 1: Peer review of research reports
- Macaulay: Criterion based assessment of small group research and presentations
- Oldroyd: Use of debating for assessing learning
- Peat 2: Use of reflective journals in science
- Postgrads 1: Individual plant research project and presentation
- Taylor 4: Incorporating students into a research program as part of the first year biology curriculum
- Vanniasinkam: Incorporating current developments in the field into teaching material
- Walker 2: Group discussion, individual essay and group poster
- Wilson 1: Self reflection on a critique of a scientific paper
- Wilson 2: Field trip integrated with theory lectures
- Wood 2: Redesigning first year biology
Teaching-research nexus
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Introduction and context
Many academic staff think of research-led teaching, assessment and curriculum design as something that happens in the later years of the undergraduate degree, particularly in research-led universities. Our interviews demonstrated that many academics in the biological sciences share this view.
One interviewee commented:
... at the Honours level it's very much trying to support their research projects because it's the first time that they've been involved with research themselves. And so we have things to do with writing full research, writing up your research, presenting it both orally and in written form, how do you do thing like graphs and tables, and lots of basic stuff that sometimes gets overlooked in the hurly burly of undergraduate years.[academic]
And another:
First year tends to be very guided. Lecturers tend to point students to the right answer. But final year students are expected to research to come to conclusions for themselves. [academic]
Increasingly, however, we are being challenged to think about the many ways in which our teaching, curriculum design and assessment practices may be infused by disciplinary research principles from the first year and across all university types.
Strategies for connecting teaching and research
Baldwin (2005) proposes nine strategies for establishing links between research, learning and teaching. These strategies, listed below, are exemplified in many assessment tasks identified in this study across the undergraduate year levels in the biological sciences. They are:
- draw on personal research in designing and teaching courses
- place the latest research in the field with its historical context in classroom teaching
- design learning and assessment activities around contemporary research issues
- teach and assess research methods, techniques and skills explicitly within subjects
- build small-scale research activities into undergraduate assignments
- involve students in departmental research projects
- encourage students to feel part of the research culture of departments
- infuse teaching with the values of researchers
- conduct and draw on research into student learning to make evidence-based decisions about teaching.
[Source: Baldwin, G. The Teaching-Research Nexus (2005)]
[see also: Research projects]
Views from the field: The teaching-research nexus in the Biological Sciences
Many of the biologists we interviewed stressed the importance of introducing students to the research methods used in the biological sciences.
Assessment is important because we're trying to get them into the study habits and the ways of researching key issues, rather than have them regurgitate lots and lots of facts. [academic]
In Pharmacy, students are expected to access research journals and analyse the research and key issues. [academic]
I prefer assignments over exams because for assignments students go through the research process - it is an important part of their learning and they are more likely to retain what they learn through this process than by studying for exams . . . the process of researching information is useful. [academic]
We expect our graduates to have research skills - they need the ability to write and read scientific reports - through literature reviews and reports. [academic]
I believe that we should teach students how to do research, read and analyse a topic to get themselves ready for work, rather than simply remembering and regurgitating theories. [academic]
Examples: Research-infused learning, teaching and assessment in the biological sciences
We collected many examples of ways in which academic staff in the biological sciences have infused their assessment practices with research principles across year levels and in a range of contexts [see Relevant Examples in right hand column].
To reference material from this site, please use:
Harris, K-L., Krause, K., Gleeson, D., Peat, M., Taylor, C. & Garnett, R. (2007). Enhancing Assessment in the Biological Sciences: Ideas and resources for university educators. Available at: www.bioassess.edu.au