- SUBJECT: Lab grades in multi-section course
- DATE: 5/97
-
-
- Hello all.
-
- At the end of last semester I found myself in a discussion about the
- number (overall percentage) of A's that are being given in my Introductory
- Biolgoy Laboratory Course. I would like to ask several questions of
those
- of you who supervise or coordinate Introductory Biology Labs with many
- (20+ ??) sections. This past fall we ran 45 sections of the first
- course in the sequence and this spring we ran 39 sections of the second
- course. I supervise a staff of 14-18 graduate students TAs, part-time
- faculty, and full-time faculty (depending on the semester). Our lab
- course is a separate, free-standing one credit course; its grade does
- not contribute to the student's lecture grade.
-
- For those of you in similar situations:
-
- 1. How do you evaluate your students? We currently use a combination
of
- lab assignments, a formal lab report, brief lab quizzes (2), weekly
- pre-lab protocols and participation ("gimmee points"
if the students
- attend lab), and a final practical examination worth 25% of the
final
- grade.
-
- We use standard answer keys and point distributions so I feel that
we
- already do as good a job as possible in the "consistency"
department.
-
- Our students complain vocally and vociferously because their practical
- exam scores lower their final grades, but my feeling is that the
- practical is the only time they do work that I know is "their
own".
-
- 2. How do you determine final grades? We adjust the individual
- Instructor's means to a standard mean and then use a standard scale
- for everyone.
-
- 3. Do you aim for a standard percent of each letter grade each year?
I
- see two problems with this: 1) what if the students from one year
to
- the next are not of the same ability or do not achieve the same
- success?, and 2) aren't we then guilty of giving unearned grades
-
- which we all complain about occurring in high schools? As has
been
- discussed previously on this list, our students' ability and/or
- willingness to work hard, has decreased dramtically over my six
years
- here at Pitt.
-
- 4. Does your Department or University have any prescribed standards
for
- assigning grades?
-
- I don't want my lab course to be a "weeding out" course
- - but if the students are unwilling or unable to do the required work
I
- don't want to reward them with a meaningless grade. The other problem
I
- see is that most lab grades are not a "curve" but a "plateau";
- consequently if you increase the number of A's you lose the D's and/or
- F's. This is not a problem for me - but it may end up being a problem
for
- my chair.
-
- I apologize if this note is long, but this has really been bothering
me
- for a while now.
-
- Does anyone out there have any comments or ideas? I would appreciate
- any/all answers. Thanks.
-
- Rosemary
-
- **********************************************************
- Rosemary E. Boone Department of Biological Sciences
- rmboone+@pitt.edu University of Pittsburgh
- (412) 624-9325 G2 Clapp Hall
- Fax: (412) 624-4759 Pittsburgh, PA 15260
-
-
- My course is much like the one Rosemary describes in size, staffing,
and
- evalution points. Our tests are given by a "teaching team"
of 4 TAs who
- make up the test together and they also switch lab reports for grading
- among other TAs. Since each TA makes up tests with two different groups
- (usually), tests are approved by a supervising staff member, and all
of
- this is done by a point distribution rubric, we assume that all 1000
- students can be graded as a single pool. If any group or TA seems
to be
- an outlier, we check their lab against their lecture grade (generally
a TA
- asserts that they have a lot of A students in their class and we can
tell
- if that is likely to be true by checking lecture grade).
-
- We then do a
- scale for the course as a whole, give about 50% As and Bs, 40% Cs,
a few
- Ds and very few Fs. This is MUCH MORE generous than lecture grades
and we
- justify it to ourselves by saying tha the students do SO MUCH work
for
- their one hour credit that they deserve a break.
-
- The students complain A LOT, especially about having their lab reports
- graded by a TA other than their own. This plan is definitely imperfect,
- but I think that our checks and balances make the grades extremely
fair.
-
- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
- Jean DeSaix, Ph.D.
- Department of Biology Coker Hall CB#3280
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280
- Work Phone: 919-962-1068 Home Phone 919-929-1580
- FAX 919-962-1625 email jdesaix@email.unc.edu
-
-
- In the intro courses I teach, we give several practicals, each longer
- than the previous one and more comprehensive. This gives students
plenty
- of warning that the practical will not be easy. It also helps them
figure
- out how to study for it. To solve the time problem in setting it up,
we
- have the students set up practice practicals that don't count and the
- GTA's comment on the questions and how these compare to the real thing.
- UTA's usually help in those setups, and convey the importance to the
- students. I have had a minimum of complaints. I also offer a carrot
- if
- a student earns at least 80% on the final practical and is satisfied
with
- the grade, that student need not take the lecture final.
- Janice
- ***********************************
- Janice M. Glime, Professor
- Department of Biological Sciences
- Michigan Technological University
- Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- jmglime@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2546
- FAX 906-487-3167
- ***********************************
-
-
- Rosemary-
- I struggle with this each semester myself. I'll respond to your questions
- then add any remarks that may be of assistance.
-
- >1. How do you evaluate your students?
-
- We use a variety of assessment tools including: 6 TA written quizzes
(drop
- lowest score - 50 points), 2 Homework Assignments (a histogram and
a
- genetics worksheet - 60 points total), 2 practicals (50 points each),
a
- formal scientific report - 30pts, a poster project that may go to a
faculty
- judged session -45 points (this is a group project), and maintainance
of a
- lab journal - 30pts. All assignments other than the quizzes are written
by
- me but graded by the TAs.
-
- We are also a stand alone 1 credit course. I am constantly baraged
with
- "too much work for one credit" complaints but I feel the
lab is where we
- can bring it all together and do "real" biology.
- >
- >2. How do you determine final grades? We adjust the individual
- > Instructor's means to a standard mean and then use a standard
scale
- > for everyone.
-
- We do the same thing.
- >
- >3. Do you aim for a standard percent of each letter grade each
year? I
- > see two problems with this:
-
- No, some semesters we give out so many As and Bs I wince and other
- semesters its just the opposite. About three semesters ago we had
a really
- rough semester and ended up with about 4% As. I like it when we hover
- around 10% but don't force it.
-
- >
- >4. Does your Department or University have any prescribed standards
for
- > assigning grades?
- >
- No.
-
- The other problem I
- >see is that most lab grades are not a "curve" but a "plateau";
- >consequently if you increase the number of A's you lose the D's
and/or
- >F's. This is not a problem for me - but it may end up being a
problem for
- >my chair.
- >
- We see the plateau effect here too. They seem to cluster at 77-80%
but
- very few can muster the 92 it takes to get a true A.
-
- >I apologize if this note is long, but this has really been bothering
me
- >for a while now.
-
- This entire grading practice really unnerves me. I truly think it
gets in
- the way of learning. I see so many that just work for the grade and
never
- really learn. I try to write assessments that force integration and
- synthesis but some can always fool the system. The other confounding
- principle is how can we really look at a "curve" when we
allow students to
- drop the course halfway through. Typically all the Ds and Fs drop
leaving
- the rest that is supposed to be "normalized" in some manner.
I like to
- think we grade on a criterion basis but that end of the semester
- equalization among 48 sections really confounds the issue.
-
- Not much help but at least I empathize.
-
- Chris
- V. Christine Minor
- Biology Laboratory Coordinator
- Iowa State University
- 154 Bessey Hall
- Ames, IA 50011
- 515-294-8596 vcmahaff@iastate.edu
- http://www.biology.iastate.edu/
-
-
- I've copied this to biolab because it bears on the present discussion
- about how we count labs.
- Rosemary Boone asked:
- >
- > Janice-
- >
- > I have two questions: 1) How much lab time do you spend on the
various
- > practicals?
- That varies. Maybe 20 minutes on the ones the students set up for
- practice - they are early in the term with little material. In some
- courses, We may use 20-30 minutes of lab time for a graded practical
- during the term, but the final practical takes one hour and is done
in the
- evening outside of class time. I also give my lecture tests at night
so
- students have ample time. We are "expected" to give the
students an hour
- off lecture if we give an evening exam, but instead I use the last
week to
- review, using the argument that they can get off work for a test but
not
- for a review and that if necessary I can give a written test at a
- different time, so everyone has equal access to the review this way.
- Botany: 1 ungraded practical during lab
- 2 graded practicals during lab
- 1 graded final practical outside of lab
- Organismal Biology:
- 1 graded practical during lab (about 20 min)
- 1 graded practical outside of lab (1 hour)
- Plant Morphology
- 2 graded practicals during lab (half hr, 1 hr)
- Plant Taxonomy
- graded practicals during class daily (meets daily for 2 weeks)
- time increases from 15 min 2n day to 3-4 hrs for final (spread
- over 2 days)
- and 2) Do these practicals count toward their final grade?
- In Botany and plant morphology, labs are so closely tied to lectures
that
- I offer the option of 95% earns an automatic A in the course no matter
- what other grades are; 80% or above and student need not take final
- lecture exam - grade will be average of lab and lecture.
- In all cases, lab counts about half the grade. Practicals make up
most of
- the lab grade.
- Janice
- ***********************************
- Janice M. Glime, Professor
- Department of Biological Sciences
- Michigan Technological University
- Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- jmglime@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2546
- FAX 906-487-3167
- ***********************************
-
-
- This is an interesting thread. I particularly agree with the comments
- concerning the discrepancy between unit credit for lecture and lab.
Some
- students may not be very motivated to do their best for a one unit
lab grade.
-
-
- I have a problem with the comparison of lecture and laboratory grades.
- Although I realize that this is frequently done, I'm not certain how
sound a
- practice this is. Some students may perform differently in lab than
in
- lecture because of the type of learner that they are. Is it a given
that the
- grade curve for lecture and lab are the same? Is there any educational