Evaluation of student performance in authentic research experiences

CHED 1712

William R. Robinson, wrrobin@purdue.edu, Cianán B Russell, cianan@purdue.edu, and Gabriela C. Weaver, gweaver@purdue.edu. Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, 560 Oval Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907
Some programs that provide research experiences to first and second year undergraduate science students replace traditional introductory chemistry laboratory programs with multi-week projects, normally, one or two per semester. These research experiences focus on the processes of critical thinking and problem solving so assessment of student research projects cannot be based on how closely the student comes to a known answer. Consequently, student assessment will involve evaluation of the students laboratory records and project development as well as their end of project reports. In this presentation we will describe the rubrics for evaluating laboratory notebooks, research progress, and research reports and describe how such rubrics are developed.