SIMIODE Director's Blog - Assessment Issues
Today I met with a small group of participants from MAA ONLINE MATH SIMIODE Workshops we held in the summers of 2022 and 2023 and it became clear that we need to offer more discussion opportunities and examples of assessment approaches and rationale.
In SIMIODE we need to have a place for members of our Community of Practice to share information and illustrations on how we assess student learning in a modeling based differential equations course. For if the course is different then methods of assessment should be different in a way that responds to the modeling content and not just the technique content. But in what way? Can colleagues share their approaches with feedback on how it works with some rationale and student feedback?
For me personally, in modeling courses and in a differential equations course with modeling as a central focus I have developed some guide lines on assessments. Incidentally, all of these issues can be overcome in more extended writing assignments and project write-ups which are to be completed in the student’s own time and space, and Not under exam pressure.
- I NEVER give a single student on a timed exam a start to finish modeling activity. It is too much to ask in a timed situation. If you want to use an entire modeling effort for assessment then start the examination period with students in small groups \to generate ideas and assumptions, permitting all to take notes. Then have them work individually on the rest of the exam time period on some aspect of a model that the group developed so they can demonstrate their understanding of the modeling process without the strain of “inventing” and building a model from scratch.
- Give a partial model development or a total model and ask the students some direct (simple?) questions such as, define the units of a certain term; what does the model say in a situation such as none of the population or material x is present – does it make sense; how would you improve on a term (one which you purposely put incorrect in a posed model); does the model settle down or go to an equilibrium value and is it stable, etc.
- NEVER give students two steps of a modeling situation in which they develop an answer or expression in a first part and then have to use it in a second part to address an issue in the model. For, if they really err in the first part they will have no chance of success in the second part.
- Ask them short questions, even multiple-choice questions, to find out if they understand simple concepts or modeling steps.
- Use visuals, e.g., graphs, to see if they understand what a model might offer.
These are just a few guiding principles on assessing modeling during in class exams. We welcome your ideas and experiences. In response to this Blog and other opportunities in SIMIODE we encourage colleagues to post their thoughts and assessment examples.
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