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Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 1 Heather Schilling
STUDENT PERFORMANCE ON BIOLOGY ESSAY QUESTIONS THROUGH THE USE OF RUBRICS AND STUDENT-MADE QUESTIONS
Heather J. Schilling
A Seminar Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Master of Science in Education Curriculum and Instruction
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901
December 2007
Approval First Reader: __________________________________________ Date: _____________ Judith Hankes, Ph. D. Second Reader: ________________________________________ Date: _____________ Julie Mosher, Assistant Principal OWHS
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 2 Heather Schilling
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract 3 Study Sequence 4 Statement of the Problem 5 Situating the Problem 5 Review of Literature 7 Assessment in Science Rubrics in Science
Methodology 10 Participants Duration Data Sources Intervention Data Analysis and Findings 15 Pretest/Posttest Student Opinion Survey Conclusion 18 Future Plans 21 References 23 Appendix A 24 Appendix B 25 Appendix C 26
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 3 Heather Schilling
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the implementation of
teacher-made rubrics for assessing essay test questions helped biology students improve
their essay test scores and as well as whether the rubrics helped the instructor in assessing
student responses more accurately. The study also investigated whether students
performed better on essay tests if they participated in the development of test questions and
if they were given the opportunity to study examples of essay questions prior to the test.
Three biology short answer/essay tests were used to assess the effect of the
interventions described above on student learning. Each test was given at the end of a 1.5
week biology unit. All biology units were similar in structure and knowledge. The first
test served as the pretest where the students were not involved in the test question writing
and no rubric was used. For the second test, students were shown the rubric being used to
grade the essay questions and the essay questions were discussed briefly. Finally for the
third test, students helped in the essay question construction and were shown the rubric
being used to grade such questions.
The findings of this study indicate that when a rubric is discussed prior to the essay
exam and when it is provided to students ahead of time, student test scores increase. This
study also indicated that students will perform better on essay tests when they are given the
opportunity to help with the development of test questions. A combination of using
rubrics, showing examples of test questions, and allowing students to help with the
question making process impacts positively on student achievement as assessed by short
answer and essay test questions.
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 4 Heather Schilling
Study Sequence
September • Investigated classroom problems • Investigated potential research topics • Identified the classroom problem: essay questions • Developed Statement of the Problem • Began researching related literature • Wrote Situating the Problem
October
• Finalized Statement of the Problem • Continued researching related literature • Wrote Literature Review • Began writing Methodology: Participants, Duration, and Data Sources • Began biology unit 1 • Designed unit 1 test and student opinion survey • Gave unit 1 test and student opinion survey to students • Graded unit 1 test and analyzed student opinion survey • Discussed survey results with students • Began biology unit 2 • Discussed unit 2 test questions and teacher-made rubric with students • Gave unit 2 test • Graded unit 2 test • Began biology unit 3 • Students helped to construct essay test questions for unit 3 test
November
• Finished writing Methodology: Data Sources and Intervention • Began writing Data Analysis and Findings • Students were shown rubric for unit 3 test and essay test questions were
discussed • Gave unit 3 test and student opinion survey • Graded unit 3 test and analyzed student opinion survey • Compiled data from all three unit tests and from student opinion survey • Analyzed data from all three unit tests and from student opinion survey • Completed Data Analysis and Findings • Completed Conclusion and Future Plans • Second reader, Julie Mosher, read and revised final paper • Sent paper via e-mail to Judith Hankes for final revision/made revisions upon
response December
• Finalized and prepared paper to be turned in December 11, 2007
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 5 Heather Schilling
Statement of the Problem
Rubrics have made it easier for many science teachers, including myself, to grade
assignments such as projects, lab reports, and presentations. Although I find rubrics useful
for grading these types of assignments, I use them less frequently for grading essay tests
and quizzes. Essay and short answer questions can be difficult to grade without bias and
without a standard assessment measurement. Not only are they hard to grade, students
often have difficulty answering them with confidence. Recognizing this as a problem, I
conducted the study reported in this paper to determine whether implementation of teacher-
made rubrics for assessing essay test questions would help my biology students improve
their essay test scores and will help me assess their responses more accurately. I also
conducted the study reported in this paper to determine if students will perform better on
essay tests if they take part in the question making process and if they are shown examples
of essay questions prior to the test.
Key Term:
Rubric: Criterion-referenced evaluation and feedback tool where the student is graded
according to a set of criteria. A rubric can take many forms ranging from a checklist
appearance where students are given a check mark for the criteria they address to a table-
like appearance where students are rated on a numerical scale for each criteria.
Situating the Problem
This study was conducted during my seventh year teaching freshman level physical
science and biology at Oshkosh West High School. Oshkosh West High School is one of
two high schools located in a city of 60,000 people and has around 2000 students enrolled.
Enrollment in my three physical science classes consisted of 69 freshmen and four
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 6 Heather Schilling
sophomores whereas my two biology classes consisted of 44 freshmen, ten sophomores,
one junior, and one senior. The year this study was conducted, I chose to incorporate essay
questions in my biology assessment and to implement the usage of rubrics for scoring
these assessments. In choosing to use essay questions to evaluate my students, I was
hoping to gain a better understanding of their science knowledge. By using rubrics, I was
also hoping my students would become better writers in science.
During my sixth year of teaching, I started to reevaluate the way I assess my
science students. I taught physical science and biology to mostly ninth grade students and
I wanted to integrate the use of essay test questions into my curriculum. For my biology
curriculum, I created a couple of short quizzes that were solely based on essay questions.
By using essay questions I had hoped to gain a better understanding of my students’
learning. Although I could separate those students who understood the topic from those
who didn’t, I had a difficult time separating the “A” student from the “B” student and so
on. I found myself going back and forth between student answers trying to find the “A”
answer to compare with a “B” answer to compare with a “C” answer. Although I did an
adequate job with grading the quizzes, I truly felt like there were gaps in my assessment of
my biology students.
Not only did I feel unsure about the grades I handed out for these biology quizzes,
some of my students seemed to have difficulty answering the questions with confidence. I
had many students approach me during these particular quizzes wondering what I was
looking for in an answer. This was not the first time I ran into this problem. With many
essay type questions, some students are unsure of what the answer should look like.
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 7 Heather Schilling
Because of these two problems I chose to implement the usage of scoring rubrics for
grading essay tests and quizzes.
Literature Review
Over the last few years rubrics have become a standard assessment tool in many
classrooms, including science classrooms. Rubrics have opened the doors for teachers to
truly gauge the performance and knowledge of their students by giving them a set of
criteria to grade. Some rubrics are created by the individual teacher whereas some have
been created by institutions such as National Communication Association which created a
rubric called The Competent Speaker (Denbar, Brooks, & Kubicka-Miller, 2006). The
Competent Speaker is a rubric used to assess communication disciplines at the college
level (Denbar, Brooks, & Kubicka-Miller, 2006). Although The Competent Speaker
assesses college level students taking communication courses, the idea of using a rubric
such as this one can be stretched across all curriculums. In science courses for example,
rubrics can be used for grading laboratory reports, science projects, reports, and
presentations. The Competent Speaker could be revised and used in a science course to
evaluate students on their communication skills during laboratory discussions and
presentations. Although the use of rubrics for grading science matter such as reports and
projects is relatively common, using a rubric for grading tests and quizzes is not. Oshkosh
biology teachers came together during the 2005-2006 school year to address this problem.
Because of the need to address student science knowledge across the entire city of
Oshkosh, biology teachers at Oshkosh West and North High School created a common
assessment that uses a rubric for scoring purposes. This assessment gauged students’
knowledge of genetics and included 4 short answer/essay questions. The teacher-made
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 8 Heather Schilling
rubric addressed each question on a four point scale. This particular rubric was extremely
helpful in separating the students into the “A” category, the “B” category, and so on. The
use of rubrics for assessing essay questions is slowly making its way into the Oshkosh high
school science curriculum.
Assessment in Science
Using rubrics as part of an assessment tool can help both the teacher and students
with answering test questions such as essay questions, but the essay question itself can
pose both advantageous and disadvantageous issues. Although essay questions are not a
new phenomenon, assessment of science knowledge over the last few decades has typically
included multiple choice, true/false, and fill-in-the-blank questions. These objective
questions don’t necessarily give the teacher a definitive outlook on how their students are
learning or how much their students are learning. A study done by Sundberg in 2006 has
outlined the importance of essay questions in high school curriculums. Sundberg (2006)
“compared the learning outcomes in sections of a course in which only objective questions
were used, with the learning outcomes in sections of the same course that used essay
questions on all exams” (p. 61). Both sections were given the same pretest and posttest.
The results of the study indicated that essay questions had a positive effect on student
learning (Sundberg 2006). Students who took the essay exam scored higher on the posttest
than students who took the objective exam. Even though this study was conducted in a
history classroom, the idea can be taken across all curriculums.
Although objective test questions are important for students to experience due to
the format of high stakes testing, essay questions should not be ignored. Many high school
science teachers are choosing this alternative form of assessment. Essay questions are
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 9 Heather Schilling
useful for the teacher to get a glimpse of what their students really know and understand
about science. Sadler and Good (2006) found the following:
Items that measure sophisticated understandings require longer, more
complex student responses. When given the opportunity, students write
extensively, draw diagrams, create graphs, and provide examples from real
life experiences in their tests and quizzes. In turn, responses that are more
open-ended call for more time and effort on the teacher’s part to read,
correct, provide feedback, and grade fairly. (p. 2)
As Sadler and Good point out, essay questions are useful for measuring student knowledge
but the effort a teacher has to put in to grading those assessments can be time consuming.
Rubrics in Science
Rubrics can be a useful tool for teachers to raise their standards of essay test
answers and to cut down on the time utilized for grading such tests. Not only do rubrics
cut down on time used for grading test questions, students also benefit from receiving the
rubric ahead of time. For a rubric to be most useful, a student must have a copy of it prior
to the project, report, or test. In doing so, the student is aware of how he or she will be
graded on a particular assessment and it increases the chances that students will produce
quality work (Montgomery, 2000). Not only is it helpful to the student to receive the
rubric ahead of time, it is particularly helpful if the student is able to take part in the essay
and rubric making process. In the Sundberg (2006) study outlined above, students were
given sample essay questions ahead of time in hopes to encourage students to analyze
information they learned in class.
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 10 Heather Schilling
Although rubrics can be useful to both the student and teacher, there are some
disadvantages when using them in the classroom. Rubrics can be lengthy and detailed
making it difficult for students to understand and/or read (Rutherford, 2007). Many
teachers have made the mistake of using “teacher language” when creating a rubric.
Depending on the age of the student, they may not be able to understand what the teacher
is looking for. Not only do teachers use this type of language in their rubrics, some tend to
make the rubrics quite lengthy. When students are given a lengthy rubric to read over,
more often than not, they ignore the rubric entirely. To avoid these problems teachers have
made rubrics more “student friendly” by using terms familiar with students and by keeping
the rubric relatively short (Rutherford, 2007).
Methodology
Review of problems: 1) Does the implementation of teacher-made rubrics for
assessing essay test questions help biology students improve their essay test scores? 2)
Does allowing students to view essay questions prior to the test improve their essay test
scores? 3) Does allowing student to create their own essay questions improve their essay
test scores? 4) Does the implementation of teacher-made rubrics help the instructor assess
their responses more accurately?
Participants
Fifty-six high school biology students, 27 females and 29 males, participated in this
study. Forty-four of these students were “fast track” freshmen. These freshmen took an
accelerated science course their eighth grade year in order to test out of the ninth grade
physical science course. Typically, these students have a 3.0 GPA or better and will
qualify to take chemistry and other advanced science courses their sophomore, junior, and
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 11 Heather Schilling
senior years. Along with the 44 freshmen, ten sophomores, one junior, and one senior also
participated in this study.
Duration
This study was conducted during the 2007-2008 school year from October to
November and took approximately five weeks. Three biology units were discussed and
three essay tests were given to the biology students over the span of the five weeks. Each
test took approximately 20-30 minutes. Two student opinion surveys were also given; one
in the beginning of the intervention and one at the end of the intervention.
Data Sources
Two quantitative approaches were used to determine the answers to the above
problems. One quantitative approach involved giving a series of three similar tests to the
students. This approach was used to gather data on how student scores may change over
the course of the intervention. The other approach involved surveying the students’
opinions in the beginning of the intervention and at the end of the intervention.
The pretest/posttest approach taken to gather student scores involved first giving
the students an essay test (pretest) where there was no student preparation from the teacher.
The students went into this pretest unknowing about how the test questions were written
and how the teacher would grade the test questions. The next two essay tests (posttests)
given were discussed as a class and involved the use of a rubric, student/teacher
questioning, and student preparation. Table 1.0 outlines the pretest/posttest approach taken
in this study. See appendixes A – C for test samples.
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 12 Heather Schilling
Table 1.0 Test 1 Test 2 Test 3
Duration Approximately 25 minutes
Approximately 25 minutes
Approximately 25 minutes
(approximately 1.5 - 2 weeks of instruction was given in between each test) Type of Test 22 point biology test
with one essay question and two short answer questions
22 point biology test with two essay questions
22 point biology test with two essay questions
Type of Rubric No rubric was used A teacher-made rubric was shown prior to the test
A teacher-made rubric was shown prior to the test
Test Questions Teacher-made test questions were not reviewed
Teacher-made test questions were reviewed 3 days prior to the test
Student-made test questions were created and reviewed 4 days prior to the test
The student opinion survey was utilized to gather the thoughts of the students after
the pretest and again after the second posttest. This survey was anonymous and included
the following questions:
1. How much did you study for today’s test?
0 hours 0-1 hour 1-2 hours 3 or more hours
2. If you studied, how did you study for today’s test?
3. How comfortable did you feel with preparing for today’s test?
1 2 3 4 not comfortable somewhat comfortable very comfortable at all comfortable
4. How confident did you feel with answering the essay and short answer questions?
1 2 3 4 not confident somewhat confident very confident at all confident
5. What would help you when preparing for the next essay and short answer test?
6. Other than using your notes, what might help you while taking future tests?
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 13 Heather Schilling
Intervention
The three units covered in the biology class over the course of this intervention
included the following:
• Unit 1: plant cells, plant organelles (structure and function), and photosynthesis
• Unit 2: animal cells and animal organelles (structure and function)
• Unit 3: organelle called mitochondria, food compounds, and cellular respiration
These three units were chosen due to the similarities among them and the similar kinds of
questions that could be created for each of the three tests. Although the units are
structurally similar, unit 3 tends to be more difficult for the students due to unfamiliar
terms and processes. Each unit took approximately 1.5 – 2 weeks for instruction,
activities, and labs.
Unit 1: Unit 1 was delivered to the students in the beginning of the intervention and
was supplemented by notes, activities, and labs. Students were told three days before the
test that they would have to study for a short answer/essay test. They were informed that
the test would be short (20 – 25 points) and would include at least one essay question. The
test was not discussed in any more detail. On the day of the test students were asked to
clear their tables and take out a pencil. The test was handed out and students were given
approximately 25 minutes to finish. Once finished, students brought the test to the teacher
and picked up a student opinion survey. Students were told to answer the opinion survey
honestly and anonymously. They brought the opinion survey to the teacher when
completed and data from these surveys was collected. Approximately 1 – 2 minutes was
used to grade each test and all tests were graded in two days. The graded tests were
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 14 Heather Schilling
handed out and student opinions were discussed. They were told their suggestions would
play a role in the next unit.
Unit 2: This unit on animal cells and organelles was delivered to the students in the
same way as unit 1 and took approximately 1.5 – 2 weeks. Students were told of the
animal cell test three days prior to the assessment being given. Students were also shown
the teacher-made rubric that would be used to grade the test. Due to the nature of the
rubric, students were also made aware of the two essay test questions. The rubric on the
actual test document was shown via the computer and classroom projector. Students asked
clarifying questions for about seven minutes. On the day of the test students were asked to
clear their tables and to take out a pencil. The test was handed out and students were given
approximately 25 minutes to finish. Once finished, students brought the test to the teacher.
A student opinion survey was not used at this time. Approximately one minute was used
to grade each test and all tests were graded in two days.
Unit 3: Although this unit is typically a harder unit for students, it was delivered in
the same way as unit 1 and unit 2, and was supplemented by notes, activities, and labs.
Unit 3 took approximately 1.5 – 2 weeks to complete and the students were given four
days notice before the test. Four days into unit 3, students were given the opportunity to
look over their notes and create one essay question. Students were put into groups of four
and were told that this essay question could possibly be used on the future test. Five
minutes was given to construct the essay question and all questions were collected by the
teacher. Out of 14 essay questions two were chosen as possible test questions. Four days
prior to the test these two questions were shown to the students via the computer and
classroom projector. Not only did students view and write down these questions, they also
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 15 Heather Schilling
had the opportunity to create four more essay questions using their notes. These four
additional questions were constructed by the class and were typed onto the computer by a
volunteer student. Six essay questions in all were discussed and edited by the class.
Students were informed that these questions could be used on the test and may require
editing by the teacher. Even though editing did occur the overall question did not change.
One day prior to the unit 3 test students were also shown the teacher-made rubric
that would be used for grading the essay questions. The rubric was discussed for
approximately seven minutes. On the day of the test the students were asked to clear their
tables and take out a pencil. The test was handed out to each student and they were told to
bring the test to the teacher when completed. Once completed the students also filled out
the student opinion survey; the same survey that was given in the beginning of this
intervention. Students were asked to remain anonymous and to be honest with answering
the opinion survey questions. Each test took approximately one minute to grade and all
tests were graded in two days. Data from student opinion surveys was collected as well.
Data Analysis and Findings
The three unit tests were graded by the teacher and the students overall score on the
tests was collected. The raw scores for each unit test and for each student are listed in
table 2.0. Once the raw scores were recorded the student letter grades (A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s,
and F’s) were also grouped and percentages were calculated. See table 2.1 for the
individual letter grades and the percentage breakdown of letter grades. Finally, the change
in letter grade percentages between the three unit tests was calculated. See table 2.2 for
letter grade percentage increase/decrease between the unit tests.
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 16 Heather Schilling
Table 2.0 Biology Student Test Scores
Unit 1 Test: Raw Score out of 22 points
(56 test scores)
Unit 2 Test: Raw Score out of 22 points
(56 test scores)
Unit 3 Test: Raw Score out of 22 points
(54 test scores)* 22 22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22 22, 22, 22, 22, 22 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21,
21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21
20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20 19, 19 19, 19, 19 19, 19, 19, 19 18, 18, 18, 18, 18 18, 18, 18, 18, 18 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18 17, 17 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17 17, 17 16, 16, 16 16, 16 16, 16 15 15, 15, 15, 15 15, 15, 15, 15 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14 14 13, 13, 13 13 12 11, 11, 11, 11, 11 11 11, 11 10, 10, 9, 9, 9, 7, 6, 5, 5, 3, 2, 0 10, 9, 6 9, 9, 8, 8, 8, 7, 6, 5 * Unit 3 test: 9 students absent for review day prior to test and 11 sophomores absent the day of the test due to WKCE testing Table 2.1
Student Letter Grades: Number of A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s, and F’s Letter Grades Unit 1 Test
22 points possible Unit 2 Test
22 points possible Unit 3 Test
22 points possible A = 90% - 100% Score of 20/22 - 22/22
15 A’s = 26.8% 30 A’s = 53.6% 24 A’s = 44.4%
B = 80% - 89.9% Score of 18/22 - 19/22
7 B’s = 12.5% 8 B’s = 14.3% 11 B’s = 20.4%
C = 70% - 79.9% Score of 16/22 - 17/22
5 C’s = 8.9% 9 C’s = 16.1% 4 C’s = 7.4%
D = 60% - 69.9% Score of 14/22 - 15/22
8 D’s = 14.3% 5 D’s = 8.9% 4 D’s = 7.4%
F = 0% - 59.9% Score of 0/22 - 13/22
20 F’s = 35.7% 4 F’s = 7.1% 11 F’s = 20.4%
Average Test Percentage
Table 2.2
Test Percent Changes Percent Change from Unit Test
1 to Unit Test 2 Percent Change from Unit Test
1 to Unit Test 3 Percent Change from Unit Test
2 to Unit Test 3 A’s = + 26.8% A’s = + 17.6% A’s = - 9.2% B’s = + 1.8% B’s = + 7.9% B’s = + 6.1% C’s = + 7.2% C’s = - 1.5% C’s = - 8.7% D’s = - 5.4% D’s = - 6.9 % D’s = - 1.5% F’s = - 28.6% F’s = - 15.3% F’s = + 13.3%
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 17 Heather Schilling
Data from student opinion surveys was also collected and analyzed. The pretest
survey was given after the unit 1 test and the posttest survey was given after the unit 3 test.
See table 3.0 for the raw data collected and the percent analysis from the two opinion
surveys.
Table 3.0 Raw Data and Percent Analysis of the Two Student Opinion Surveys
1. Unit 1 Pretest Survey: 56 surveys completed 2. Unit 3 Posttest Survey: 53 surveys completed
Hours of Study 0 0 – 1 1 – 2 3 or more Pretest Survey 15: 26.8% 28: 50.0% 12: 21.4% 1: 1.7% Posttest Survey 8: 15.1% 27: 50.1% 17: 32.1% 1: 1.9%
Comfort in Preparation
1 Not comfortable at
all
2 Somewhat
comfortable
3 Comfortable
4 Very comfortable
Pretest Survey 14: 25.0% 20: 35.7% 19: 33.9% 3: 5.3% Posttest Survey 7: 13.2% 15: 28.3% 20: 37.7% 11: 20.8% Percent Change - 11.8% - 7.4% + 3.8% + 15.5%
Confidence with Answers
1 Not confident at all
2 Somewhat confident
3 Confident
4 Very confident
Pretest Survey 8: 14.3% 24: 42.9% 20: 35.7% 4: 7.1% Posttest Survey 7: 13.2% 19: 35.8% 14: 26.4% 13: 24.5% Percent Change - 1.1% - 7.1% - 9.3% + 17.4%
How the Student Studied
Looked over notes
Were “quizzed” by
parents
Flash Cards Did not study No response Practiced answering
essay questions
Pretest Survey: 63 responses
39 8 2 2 12 0
Posttest Survey: 60 responses
42 6 3 0 9 12
What would help the student prepare for future tests?
Pretest Survey:
62 responses Posttest
Survey: 65 responses
Study more for the test 21 19 Review/repetition in class 20 10 Study guide 6 7 Knowing what’s on the test 6 0 More reminders 3 0 More time to study 2 0 Shorter tests 1 0 Satisfied with everything done in class 0 13 Practice writing the answers to the essay questions 0 3 No response 3 4 Missed the review day prior to Unit 3 test 0 9
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 18 Heather Schilling
Conclusion and Future Plans
In review, this study was conducted to answer the following questions: 1) Does the
implementation of teacher-made rubrics for assessing essay test questions help biology
students improve their essay test scores? 2) Does allowing students to view essay
questions prior to the test improve their essay test scores? 3) Does allowing student to
create their own essay questions improve their essay test scores? 4) Does the
implementation of teacher-made rubrics help the instructor assess their responses more
accurately? The data analysis from the three unit tests and the student opinion surveys
indicated a possible solution to the above problems. The following four sections will
analyze and draw conclusions for each of the four problems.
Does the implementation of teacher-made rubrics for assessing essay test questions
help biology students improve their essay test scores? A teacher made rubric was used on
the unit 2 and unit 3 test and was shown to the students prior to the test. See appendix B
and C for the rubric examples. These two rubrics gave a clear explanation to the students
as to what was expected of them when answering the essay questions. As Mongomery
(2000) points out in her article, Classroom Rubrics: Systematizing What Teachers Do
Naturally, rubrics are most beneficial when shown to the students ahead of time. Data
seen in Table 2.1 also shows this beneficial aspect. Unit 2 and unit 3 test scores showed
significantly higher amounts of A’s than the unit 1 test in which no rubric was used. In
addition to higher amounts of A’s, unit 2 and unit 3 test scores also showed a lower
amount of F’s. According to Table 2.2 the most significant gain was seen between the unit
1 test and the unit 2 test where the amount of A’s rose 26.8%. B and C grades were also
up slightly, D grades were down slightly, and F grades were down significantly (-28.6%).
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 19 Heather Schilling
This data suggests that when shown a rubric ahead of time, students are better prepared for
the test and will improve their test scores.
In comparing test grades between unit 1 and unit 3, A’s and B’s were up slightly
and C’s, D’s, and F’s were down slightly. Unit 3 is typically a more difficult topic for
students to grasp and therefore the percent gains and percent losses were not quite as
drastic as percent changes between unit 1 and unit 2. Another factor that may have played
a role in the lower grades for unit 3 is the fact that nine students were absent for the review
prior to the test and eleven sophomores were absent the day of the test because of WKCE
testing. Again, student test grades improved with the use of a rubric.
Does allowing students to view essay questions prior to the test improve their essay
test scores? Although the actual essay questions were not shown for the unit 2 test, they
were implicated in the rubric. Because the rubric was shown prior to the unit 2 test,
students had a somewhat clear idea of what the essay questions would look like. For the
unit 3 test, students were not only shown the rubric, they were also shown the actual essay
questions. Again the data shown in Table 2.1 and 2.2 clearly shows an increase in test
scores on these two posttests when compared to the unit 1 pretest. It is unclear that the use
of a rubric or the showing of test questions prior to the test caused the test score increases,
but a combination of the two interventions probably played a role in the test score
increases.
Does allowing student to create their own essay questions improve their essay test
scores? As was reported above, test scores generally increased as students were more and
more aware of the test questions. For the unit 3 test, students were given the opportunity to
create and edit their own essay test questions. Two of these student-created essay
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 20 Heather Schilling
questions were used on the test and a teacher-made rubric was also used. As test scores
did increase from the unit 1 pretest to the unit 3 posttest, it is still unclear whether or not it
was the use of a rubric or the student-created test questions that lead to this increase.
Again, a combination of the two interventions probably led to the increased test scores.
Along with test score increases, it appears that when given more open-ended test
questions, students could show what they know and understand about a particular biology
topic. Sadler and Good (2006) point out that, “Items that measure sophisticated
understandings require longer, more complex student responses. When given the
opportunity, students write extensively, draw diagrams, create graph, and provide
examples from real life experiences in their tests and quizzes” (p. 2). This was seen in
many of the essay responses throughout this study. Many students wrote long, complex
responses and included examples and diagrams from class. It was clear that these students
truly had an understanding of the biology topics in units 1, 2, and 3.
Does the implementation of teacher-made rubrics help the instructor assess their
responses more accurately? Grading essay responses can be time consuming and can
create an inequality in grading (Sadler & Good, 2006). As a rubric was used on the unit 2
and unit 3 tests, time spent on grading each test dropped at least 30 seconds for each test.
Not only did the time spent on grading each test go down, the simplicity of grading each
essay response was also realized. The rubrics broke down the essays into smaller segments
where each segment was graded on a numerical value between 1 and 3. This made it
extremely helpful in choosing the right numerical value for each segment of the essay
responses. The rubrics also included key terms that the student was to write about. This
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 21 Heather Schilling
also made it very easy to grade the essay responses and to grade them fairly because
certain key terms must have been addressed in the responses to get a high score.
Although student test scores played a significant role in answering the four
questions in this study, student opinion survey also gave a clear answer to the use of
rubrics and student-made essay questions. Student reported that their comfort in preparing
for essay tests went up as they were more informed about the rubric and essay test
questions. Not only did their comfort level go up, their confidence in answering essay
questions also rose. Students’ response to being “very confident” rose 17.4% from the unit
1 pretest to the unit 3 posttest. Another report to mention is the way students studied for
the pretest and posttest. Twelve students reported that they practiced answering the essay
questions for the unit 3 posttest, whereas no students reported this on the pretest survey.
This way of studying further supports the fact that students who see the essay questions
ahead of time will not only prepare better for the test, but will be more successful as well.
Another response to report relates to the survey question, “What would help you prepare
for future tests?” Zero students reported that they were fully satisfied with what was done
in class on the pretest survey, whereas on the posttest survey, 13 students said they were
satisfied with everything done in class. This also supports the use of time spent in class to
go over rubrics and essay test questions.
In conclusion it is clear that when students are given the opportunity to view and
use a rubric on essay questions, their test scores improve. Often students are intimidated
and have low confidence when faced with essay questions. Giving students the
opportunity to play a bigger role in the question making process and showing them how
they will be graded on such questions plays a big role in their success at taking essay tests.
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 22 Heather Schilling
Future plans would include developing more essay questions to be used on biology
and physical science tests. When creating these tests, class time will be well spent on
rubric and essay question development. An increase in student test scores and positive
responses on the unit 3 posttest student opinion surveys clearly indicate a need for the use
of essay questions and a need for class time preparing these questions. Not only will
rubrics for essay questions become more common in class, but student-created rubrics for
projects and lab reports may also be utilized.
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 23 Heather Schilling
References
Dunbar, N. E., Brooks, C. F., & Kubicka-Miller, T. (2006). Oral Communication Skills in Higher Education: Using a Performance-Based Evaluation Rubric to Assess Communication Skills. Innovative Higher Education, 31, 115-128.
Montgomery, K. (2000). Classroom Rubrics: Systematizing What Teachers Do Naturally.
The Clearing House, 73, 324-328. Rutherford, S. (2007). Using a Laboratory Conclusion Rubric. Science Activities, 43, 9-14. Sadler, P. M., Good, E. (2006). The Impact of Self- and Peer-Grading on Student
Learning. Educational Assessment, 11, 1-31. Sundberg, S. B., (2006). An Investigation of the Effects of Exam Essay Questions On
Student Learning in United States History Survey Classes. The History Teacher, 40, 59-68.
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 24 Heather Schilling
Appendix A
CELL INTRODUCTION/PLANT CELL TEST: 22 pts
(Page 1)Cell Introduction:
1. 1 pt: ___________________ was the first to observe nonliving cells and coined the word “cell”.
2. 2 pts: Cells are organized into ______________________, which are organized into organs, which are organized into _____________________, which are organized in the organism.
3. 1 pt: List the following cells from smallest to biggest: animal cells, plant cell, bacteria cells
4. 5 pts: In the following diagram list 2 characteristics of each type of cell and 1 characteristic that
is similar between them.
Prokaryotes Eukaryotes
Both (Page 2)Plant Cell Organelles/Photosynthesis: With any answer you may use words or drawings.
1. 6 pts: What three organelles found in plant cells are not found in animal cells? Describe the
function and structure of each plant organelle. 2. 5 pts: Photosynthesis takes place in the organelle called the ___________________________.
a. Write the photosynthesis equation below.
b. Describe the equation in words. For example, what do plants need…what do plants make?
3. 2 pts: Besides the photosynthetic plastid you listed above, what are two other plastids found in plant cells?
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 25 Heather Schilling
Appendix B
ANIMAL CELL TEST: 22 points
(Page 1)Fill in the blanks:
1. 1 pt: All cells have mini “organs” called __________________________ which carry out many functions within the cell.
2. 1 pt: All cells, including bacteria, plant, and animal, have a _________________________ which
gives the cell a shape and allows materials to enter and exit.
3. 1 pt: Most chemical reactions in the cell take place in the _________________________.
4. 1pt: ________________________ is the large molecule within the cell that controls all functions of the cell and is responsible for our genetics.
Fill in the chart: 6 pts: List the most obvious characteristic for each cell part and tell what it moves, makes, or stores.
Characteristics: Moves something Makes something Stores something
Cell Part Characteristic What does it move, make, or store? Mitochondria
Endoplasmic Reticulum
Nucleus
(Page 2)Essay Questions:
1. List 3 organelles that are present in both plant and animal cells. Explain the function of each organelle.
2. List 2 organelles that are present in animal cells but not in plant cells. Explain the function of each
organelle.
1 point 2 points 3 points 3 organelles are listed but functions are incorrect OR organelles are incorrect
3 organelles are listed but the functions are incorrect or unclear
3 organelles are listed and the functions are clearly defined
Essay Question 1
Student does not have a clear understanding of similarities between plant and animal cells
Student has a somewhat clear understanding of similarities between plant and animal cells
Student has a very clear understanding of similarities between plant and animal cells
2 organelles are listed but functions are incorrect OR organelles are incorrect
2 organelles are listed but the functions are incorrect or unclear
2 organelles are listed and the functions are clearly defined
Essay Question 2 Student does not have a clear
understanding of differences between plant and animal cells
Student has a somewhat clear understanding of differences between plant and animal cells
Student has a very clear understanding of differences between plant and animal cells
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 26 Heather Schilling
Appendix C
Carbon Compounds and Cellular Respiration Test: 22 points Schilling
(Page 1) Fill in the blanks (3 points):
1. A single large carbon molecule called a ______________________ can be put together with other _______________________ to create a larger carbon molecule called a polymer.
2. A monosaccharide can have these two ring shapes: _____________________ and
____________________. When two monosaccharides are put together we create a ____________________________.
3. The energy molecule found in all cells is called ______________________.
Diagrams:
1. (1 point) What does the diagram below represent? _______________________
2. (2 points) Using the above diagram, show how energy is created. Please explain your answer or diagram.
3. In the diagram below, fill in the four blanks.
____________ (Page 2) Essay Questions (12 points):
_______(food) enters cell
Glycolysis occurs in________________
Aerobic Respiration
Anaerobic Respiration ____
1. Aerobic respiration begins when glucose enters the cell. Explain the next few steps in aerobic
respiration. You may use diagrams to back up your answer.
a. Write the overall aerobic respiration equation. ______________ + ______________ _______________ + ______________ + ___________
2. List the two kinds of anaerobic respiration and write one similarity among them and one difference between them.
a. Write the overall anaerobic respiration equation. Pick one to write.
______________ + ______________ _______________ + ______________ + ___________
Student Performance on Biology Essay Questions Using Rubrics 27 Heather Schilling
1 point 2 points 3 points Some terms are mentioned but not all are used correctly. The student does not have a clear idea of aerobic respiration.
Most terms are mentioned but not all are used correctly. The student has a somewhat clear idea of aerobic respiration.
The following terms are mentioned and used correctly: mitochondria, pyruvic acid, oxygen, ATP, carbon dioxide, water, cytoplasm, glycolysis
Essay Question 1
The equation is missing most parts and/or the parts are in the wrong spot
The equation is missing one or two parts and/or the parts are in the wrong spot
The equation has all parts and all are in the correct spot
The student does not have a clear idea of similarities and differences between the two anaerobic respirations
The student has a somewhat clear idea of similarities and/or differences between the two anaerobic respirations
The student has a very clear understanding of similarities and differences between the two anaerobic respirations
Essay Question 2
The equation is missing most parts and/or the parts are in the wrong spot
The equation is missing one or two parts and/or the parts are in the wrong spot
The equation has all parts and all are in the correct spot