Process skills such as communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and problem solving are frequently cited as critical outcomes for STEM degree programs. Therefore, assessing development of process skills and providing feedback to students and instructors is an important component for students’ becoming more proficient in these areas. Building off the work done by an instructor who developed rubrics to assess student interactions during in-class group work, the ELIPSS team continues to modify and develop additional rubrics for assessing process skills in a variety of STEM classrooms These rubrics have been tested and validated in multiple STEM disciplines at eleven different institutions across all levels of undergraduate active learning courses in active learning. It was found that the rubrics can be implemented in a variety of ways to provide both instructors and students with meaningful feedback on the development of their process skills. This work has found that poor performance may be closely linked to a deficiency in information processing and critical thinking skills rather than a student’s lack of preparation or content knowledge. As a result of using these rubrics instructors have become more cognizant of the role process skills play in learning and have changed how they teach their courses.

Enhancing Learning by Improving Process Skills in STEM (ELIPSS): Development and implementation of interaction rubrics

254th National Meeting (2017)

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