Chapter 8 Rubrics

Experimental designcraft assessment framework

There are at least two primary modes of assessment (Kennedy et al. 2008). Formative assessment can happen during the learning process (Bennett 2011). This active process of engagement with content and doing experiments is critical to becoming an effective life-long learner and successful scientist. In practicing experimental design and doing experiments professionally, this can take the of form of notes, sketches, photographs of the process or experiment at different steps, flowcharts, field and lab notebooks, code, and discussion with collaborators. This process of learning can include feedback from the team (in this course the teaching assistant, the instructor, or peers examining the same challenge). It can be enabled by testing how well one has advanced in achieving specific outcomes. For instance, share your meta-data with a peer and explore whether the individual can understand the meaning of the data and the process of experimentation that supported the collection or reuse of data. Summative assessment can happen at the end of key benchmarks in a learning cycle or at the completion of logical stopping points within the learning process that generated concrete products for review and grading (Taras 2005). In this designcraft process of actively exploring experimental design, this can include production of data with meta-data, a lab report describing the deeper dive for one of the field experiments, and a lab report describing the design process of data reuse from one the examples provided. The process of formative asessment (steps along the way) and summative assessment (final products) should support one another to consolidate learning (Harlen and James 1997).

A rubric is a scoring tool that enables fair, transparent and replicable grading in summative evaluation (Timmerman et al. 2011). Checklists are useful for formative self or peer assessment in the steps along the way to final products. In designcraft for experiments, this applies to the published data with meta-data and lab reports. In the formal offering of these labs for the course ‘SC/BIOL 3250 4.00 Experimental design for environmental and evolutionary biology’ at York University, the lab component is worth 50% of the final grade.

Rubrics

Formative = checklist for you to mentally tick of as you do work.
Summative = graded by educator to assess work and provide marks.

Summative marking key for published datasets

This is the marking key you are looking for. This same key is used for both the pilot and field datasets to ensure that you can improve and learn from the process.

item	description	criteria	score
1	data	tidy, clear labels, no errors	1
2	data	observations meaningful, accuracy, sufficient	1
3	meta-data	every variable or column clearly described	1
4	meta-data	description ensures the process of observation be repeated by another	1
5	open science	published data with meta-data, ensure clear title, location, and details sufficient	1

Summative assessment marking key for field lab report

This is the marking key for the field lab report. Single spaced, 12 point font, at least 1 inch margins (the default). PDF format only. Lab reports must also be submitted to turnitin.com .

Facets journal is Canada’s first and only multidisciplinary open access science journal. Follow the instructions proposed for a research article for this journal. Please keep the length of your article between 2000 to 5000 words.

page	concept	description	value
1	Title & abstract	Title of experiment, your name, contact details, abstract that describes experiment	5
2-3	Introduction	Sets the context, explains why study needs to be done, state hypothesis and predictions	5
4	Methods	Decribed well enough for someone else to replicate design	5
5	Results	Clear text should be able to stand alone including description of statistics	5
6-7	Discussion	Restate findings in brief and then propose significance of the work	5
8	Literature cited	At least 5 recent papers on topic and 2 on design decisions	0
9	Figure legend	Figure legend describing what the figure shows.	2
10	Figure	Figure on a single page	3

Summative assessment marking key for data-design lab report

This is the marking key for the data-design short report. Single spaced, 12 point font, at least 1 inch margins (the default). PDF format only. Lab reports must also be submitted to turnitin.com.

Facets journal is Canada’s first and only multidisciplinary open access science journal. Follow the instructions proposed for a note for this journal. Please keep article at 1400 words or less.

page	concept	description	value
1	Title	Title of experiment, your name, contact details	0
2	Introduction	Single paragraph stating background, hypothesis, and your prediction(s)	3
3	Results	Single brief paragraph stating findings and single figure with legend	5
4	Conclusions	Single paragraph stating conclusion and implications	2
5	Lit cited	A total of 3 references	0