<br/>Assessments give instructors feedback on student understanding. In addition, assessments direct students’ efforts on how to study. In this study, two different types of assessments are implemented in Introductory Chemistry course. The course is taught using active learning approach, where the instructor lecture half of the class time and the other half of the time students work on activities in groups. Students are assigned and asked to rotate roles (manager, recorder and communicator) in the group activities. In one section, only closed-ended types of assessment are used in group activities and exams, while the other section employ open-ended types of assessment. The closed-ended assessments include multiple-choice questions, true-false questions, and short answer questions. The open-ended assessments implemented are named Creative Exercises (CEs). In CEs, students are given a single prompt in chemistry and asked to write as many statements as they can that are distinct, correct, and relevant to the prompt. CEs require students to actively make connections among content they learned throughout the course. The purpose of this study is to investigate how different types of assessments (closed-ended verse open-ended) affect student learning and performance in gateway chemistry course. Student responses to different types of assessments and academic performance are compared. Implication for assessment strategies in teaching and future research to potentially offer paths for improving student success in the chemistry gateway course will be discussed.

Are they the same or not the same? Close-ended versus open-ended assessments for student learning in chemistry

255th National Meeting (2018)

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