{"title":"Grading for Growth: Using Sliding Scale Rubrics to Motivate Struggling Learners","authors":"D. Mahmood, Hugo Jacobo","doi":"10.7771/1541-5015.1844","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1844","url":null,"abstract":"In an effort to adopt more equitable and humanizing grading practices, this teacher inquiry explores how educators attempted to improve students’ views of learning and assessments by utilizing rubrics on a sliding scale. Using the sliding scale rubric approach to grading provided an opportunity for students and educators to rethink how learning is evaluated. The authors found that the logistics of using sliding scale rubrics as a grading tool does need to be refined and further evaluated; however, the belief that a student can receive a grade based on her or his individual starting point did have some positive implications for students and educators. Grading for growth by using sliding scale rubrics motivated students to read the rubric more closely and ask more questions about key indicators on the rubric. Once students were able to focus on their target area, they understood the expectations for what they needed to demonstrate. Students who previously appeared unmotivated requested feedback from peers and teachers. This article questions the commonly held beliefs educators can hold about grading and assessment practices and invites educators to rethink the inequitable grading practices that exist in schools.","PeriodicalId":46380,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44174007","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“We’re doing things that are meaningful”: Student Perspectives of Project-based Learning Across the Disciplines","authors":"Emily E. Virtue, B. Hinnant-Crawford","doi":"10.7771/1541-5015.1809","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1809","url":null,"abstract":"Supporters of project-based learning (PBL) argue that outcomes from the model include better performance in academic (Bell, 2010; Thomas, 2000) and non-academic outcomes (Saunders-Steward, Gyles, & Shore, 2010). The New Tech Network (NTN) is a school improvement network that provides training and development for high school faculty who commit to using project and/or problem-based learning as the primary instruction methodology (New Tech Network, 2017). This study uses qualitative data to investigate student perspectives of PBL across multiple disciplines at the high school level in NTN schools. Results suggest that students find value in the “hard work” they engaged in whilst completing PBL tasks. Moreover, students can articulate the value of their work and its applicability to a “real-world” setting. We argue that for PBL to work effectively, approaches to PBL from an interdisciplinary perspective must be balanced.","PeriodicalId":46380,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2019-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47782121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Call for Manuscripts: “PBLing the unPBLable”: Exploring the Power of PBL Implementations for Organizational Learning","authors":"Krista D. Glazewski","doi":"10.7771/1541-5015.1928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1928","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46380,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2019-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43307349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Triple Jump in Problem-Based Learning: Unpacking Principles and Practices in Designing Assessment for Curriculum Alignment","authors":"M. Chian, Susan M. Bridges, E. Lo","doi":"10.7771/1541-5015.1813","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1813","url":null,"abstract":"Assessment validity, reliability, and constructive alignment to planned learning outcomes are less understood in the context of integrated, problem-based curricula. This conceptual paper examines a Triple Jump Assessment (TJA) employed as a formative and summative assessment system in the first year of an undergraduate dental program. Specifically, we deconstructed this instantiation of a TJA in terms of management and co-ordination; assessment design and item development; assessment administration; and assessment review, refinement and modification. Four core principles of TJA design for constructive alignment in an integrated, problem-based curriculum were identified as: (a) viewing the assessment design process as a collaborative and collective faculty endeavor; (b) recognizing the assessment design process as dependent on faculty and students’ shared understandings of learning, teaching, and assessment; (c) highlighting the centrality of ongoing review and monitoring to ensure validity and reliability; and (d) prioritizing student learning in the development of the TJA as an assessment system.","PeriodicalId":46380,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2019-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48986775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Performance Assessment Practice as Professional Learning","authors":"Vanessa Svihla, Tim Kubik, Tori Stevens-Shauger","doi":"10.7771/1541-5015.1812","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1812","url":null,"abstract":"While performance assessment (PA) is well aligned to project-based learning (PjBL), teachers find it challenging to design and implement PA that is faithful to the authentic context of their projects and viewed externally as rigorous. In contrast to standardizing PA tasks — thereby diminishing authenticity — we formed a research-practice partnership (Coburn, Penuel, & Geil, 2013) that developed and used a “shell” to guide teachers in planning, implementing, and engaging in rigorous dialogues that evaluate and elevate PA practice across four PjBL schools. Drawing from analysis of artifacts and audio-recorded professional development sessions, we highlight how the effort to standardize PA practice while maintaining fidelity to authentic context provided rich opportunities for teacher learning and fostered higher levels of teacher responsibility for assessment.","PeriodicalId":46380,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2019-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42075841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Shuster, J. Curtiss, T. Wright, Camilla Champion, Maryam Sharifi, Judith Bosland
{"title":"Implementing and Evaluating a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) at a Hispanic-Serving Institution","authors":"M. Shuster, J. Curtiss, T. Wright, Camilla Champion, Maryam Sharifi, Judith Bosland","doi":"10.7771/1541-5015.1806","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1806","url":null,"abstract":"We are examining the impact of a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) at a land-grant, Hispanicserving institution in the southwestern United States. Students in our CURE completed one or two extended research projects over a single semester. Our CURE enrolled a high proportion of underrepresented minority students (70.3%), including 60.2% Hispanic students. One year after CURE completion, 31.5% of CURE students had graduated with a STEM degree, and 54.3% were enrolled in a STEM major. Preand postcourse surveys of indicators of persistence including scientific selfefficacy, scientific identity, valuing scientific community objectives, and intention to persist showed positive shifts. Impacts on STEM persistence have implications for the role of our CURE in diversifying the STEM pipeline, particularly for students historically underrepresented in STEM.","PeriodicalId":46380,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2019-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46723017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kristi Kelley, Julaine Fowlin, A. Tawfik, Max C. Anderson
{"title":"The Role of Using Formative Assessments in Problem-based Learning: A Health Sciences Education Perspective","authors":"Kristi Kelley, Julaine Fowlin, A. Tawfik, Max C. Anderson","doi":"10.7771/1541-5015.1814","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1814","url":null,"abstract":"Practitioners in the field of pharmacy are often confronted with ill-structured problems. Specifically, pharmacists are tasked with making patient-specific recommendations that are both safe and effective, which requires combining knowledge from the biomedical, behavioral, and pharmaceutical sciences. Given the dynamic nature of pharmacy as a profession, the field has begun to explore learning strategies that go beyond mere content coverage to strategies that better support higher-order learning outcomes. One of these approaches is problem-based learning (PBL). While studies have focused on how to support PBL to improve learning outcomes, the role of assessment is often overlooked. Further exploration is thus needed since assessment plays a pivotal role in teaching and learning. This Voices paper will explore this idea within a larger context; we will also share the experience of how a subject matter expert (SME) worked with a team of instructional designers (IDs) to revise an existing course to more explicitly employ PBL and thus adopt an inquiry-based mindset needed for complex clinical decision making. Given the inherent challenges of assessment in PBL, further discussion will be focused on how to (a) design ill-structured problems, (b) align assessments to the PBL curriculum, and (c) how to hold students accountable in cases where a traditional grade is not attached.","PeriodicalId":46380,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2019-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47397204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Impact of PBL as a STEM School Reform Model","authors":"M. Odell, T. Kennedy, E. Stocks","doi":"10.7771/1541-5015.1846","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1846","url":null,"abstract":"Project/problem-based learning (PBL) can provide an effective model for school reform when implemented with fidelity. In the report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm, it was recommended that if the U.S. is to remain competitive in the 21st-century economy, there must be a serious effort to “enlarge the pipeline of students who are prepared to enter college and graduate with a degree in STEM” (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, & Institute of Medicine, 2007, p. 6). The report included the recommendation that states develop statewide specialty STEM high schools (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, & Institute of Medicine, 2007, p. 6). In 2010, the Texas Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Academy (T-STEM) initiative was implemented to develop specialty STEM schools similar to those described in Rising Above the Gathering Storm. The primary instructional strategy of T-STEM academies is problemand project-based learning. In the STEM context, PBL is well suited as a primary pedagogy for STEM learning. This paper examines the following questions: What outcomes occur when PBL is implemented in a low performing school district? What is the role of PBL in school improvement? What are the challenges to implementing PBL with high fidelity?","PeriodicalId":46380,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2019-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48178078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Extending the Challenge of Problem-Based Learning","authors":"Jessica Sullivan","doi":"10.7771/1541-5015.1861","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1861","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46380,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2019-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46633661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Problem-Based Learning in Teacher Education","authors":"Susan M. Bridges","doi":"10.7771/1541-5015.1866","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1866","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46380,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2019-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48584006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}