Supporting physics teaching with research-based resources

Exams: including take-home, and oral exams

Sets of questions that assess students’ knowledge and skills, usually for summative purposes. Exams can be written, oral, open-book, closed-book, individual or group. Oral exams typically are usually in-person with the instructor asking questions in real-time.

Final project

Students explore a topic in depth and create an artifact to demonstrate their learning; for example, a paper, poster, or presentation. Often involves synthesizing multiple sources or ideas to create something new. Can be done individually or in groups.

Group or two-stage exam

Students first complete and turn in the exam individually and then, working in small groups, answer the exam questions again. This makes the exam a more valuable learning experience.

Group work assessment

While not a specific method of assessment, we list group work assessments here to highlight that it is important to assess the outcomes of group work. Individual learning from group work can be measured through individual work after the activity, such as a poll or quiz question. The group can also submit a single report or worksheet for a grade.

Lab report

A formal summary of a lab experiment written by a student or lab group. Lab reports often contain sections on hypotheses, background, materials, experimental procedure, results and data analysis, and conclusions.

Peer assessment

Students in the class evaluate one another's work. This might be done by randomly distributing papers or problem sets with a rubric for grading.

Research-based inventory

A standardized assessment that has been rigorously developed and tested. These assessments are intended to measure the learning of the class as a whole (rather than individual students). Inventories can measure concepts, skills, student attitudes, or beliefs. See physport.org.

Rubric

A document that identifies criteria for performance and different levels of performance or understanding within each of those criteria, usually in a grid-like structure. Rubrics of student performance outline the levels of performance criteria (from novice to advanced) for different aspects of an assignment. Can be used with student peer- or self-assessment.

Self-assessment

Students assess their own learning and performance, possibly assigning themselves a grade prior to the instructor’s grade assignment.

Student portfolio

A compilation of materials to provide evidence of student achievement of course or program-level student learning outcomes. Students can often choose what goes into a portfolio to highlight their best work or how their skill development progressed.

Student presentation

Students give short presentations to their peers, on a topic of their choice or assigned by the instructor, individually or in groups.

Writing assignment

Students write an essay on a particular topic, either assigned by the instructor or chosen by the student, to synthesize and demonstrate their understanding. These are usually written individually, although students can work on papers in groups as well. Papers can be used for metacognitive reflection when paired with reflective prompts. Low-stakes writing assignments will prepare students to do well on high-stakes assignments. High-stakes writing assignments might be paired with a grading rubric. Consider “middle stakes” writing assignments that give some credit for the work but not as much as the final essay or paper.