Assessment Design
Assessment design usually includes these core components:
a. Biological Context:
Identify a biological system that performs the function(s) you are targeting. It will provide a story line and the background for students to reason. Develop a narrative to describe the system, and make sure you are including all the information (terms, figures, data if applicable) students need to reason about the system's function.
b. Tasks: Craft your questions (assessment items).
What should students know and be able to do? What are your learning objectives? Think about the concepts and skills you are targeting.
How will students demonstrate their reasoning?
Think in verbs: students will identify, label, connect, explain, model, write, draw, predict, interpret, analyze, etc.
c. Implementation Plan: This is often not spelled out in daily practice, but it is very important to make some implementation decisions upfront:
is the assessment going to be formative or summative? low-stakes or high-stakes? a practice activity or part of an exam?
how will you evaluate each task? (e.g., for completion or accuracy; with points or qualitative statements; etc.)
how will you communicate expectations to students?
how will you provide feedback?
💡 Excellent sources of ideas for biological systems and case studies are linked here.
See examples of biological systems with associated assessment questions below.