Evaluative judgement – a practitioner's case in chemistry research projects

Abstract

Engaging students actively in assessment, using a range of formative activities, consistently over sustained periods is a common recommendation in the assessment for learning literature. Despite this, practice still lags...

10 Guiding principles for learning in the laboratory

“…Peerfeedback can be facilitated by tasking students to act as 'buddies', to check on each others' work (Musgrove, 2023). The intention of self-assessment rubrics are a means to allow students interact with the assessment criteria, so that they can make more meaningful relations between feedback and learning Including assessment of laboratory skills where appropriate (Hensiek et al, 2017;Seery et al, 2017;Hancock and Hollamby, 2020) Shared rubrics (Veale et al, 2020) as well as specification grading (Pullen et al, 2018;McKnelly et al, 2023) and engaging students in consideration of assessment processes (Bertram and Tomas, 2023) can all help in clarifying and aligning assessment processes Rubrics for critical thinking skills shared with students can help foster awareness of what is assessed in this aspect of laboratory work (Reynders et al, 2020) Include opportunities for self-and peer assessment (Taylor et al, 2009;Lau, 2020) to help make assessment approaches tangible Structure students' work in building capacity to write laboratory reports, including where intended the production of research project reports Include activities to help students learn and be assessed on particular aspects of laboratory work (Deiner et al, 2012;Capel et al, 2019) Support assessment of the broader generation and contribution to group-produced work through, for example, the use of a wiki (Lawrie et al, 2016) outcomes. Bertram and Tomas (2023) extended this idea to incorporate evaluative judgements in a large project-based course, resulting in a series of feedback reflection stages in curriculum delivery, where students compared their selfassessment with instructor feedback, with action planning for future work incorporated as a means to help students take actionable steps for how they would approach their next activity, or future work.…”

“…Include options for students to document their learning and skills in a manner that enables them to be showcased externally Offering students ability to record and share videos of them working in a professional environment (Seery et al, 2017) Sharing of explicit acknowledgement of skills (such as in the form of digital badges) help students express what skills and competencies they have gained as a result of laboratory work (Hill et al, 2022) Provide opportunity for reflection so that students can compile and outline their learning on their laboratory course Embedding assessment and other reflection activities for students to actively think about their progress in learning (Crawford and Kloepper, 2019;Burnham, 2020;Bertram and Tomas, 2023) This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2024 their feedback holistically, and plan future approaches, with prompting questions about recognising areas of strength from positive feedback, noting developmental comments, and thinking about actions to take in the future (Table 11).…”

“…These kinds of approaches naturally lead into supporting students for larger pieces of writing that they may engage in during undergraduate research activities (Seery et al, 2019b). Bertram has demonstrated the importance and value of engaging students in assessment processes in the context of more open-ended project activity (Bertram and Tomas, 2023).…”

“…Pract., 2024, 25, 383-402 | 395 outcomes. Bertram and Tomas (2023) extended this idea to incorporate evaluative judgements in a large project-based course, resulting in a series of feedback reflection stages in curriculum delivery, where students compared their selfassessment with instructor feedback, with action planning for future work incorporated as a means to help students take actionable steps for how they would approach their next activity, or future work. Approaches for prompting student engagement with formative feedback are summarised in Table 10.…”

“…Similar structures to promote planning for future were incorporated in a project-based module by Bertram and Tomas (2023). Sharing detailed guidance provided to students, this work advocates working with students so that they can build on Table 10 Actions to take to align with Guiding Principle 9 and associated exemplary practices from the literature…”