It takes a village to raise a SoTL project: Assessing the assessment of an ATP comic

It takes a village to raise a SoTL project: Assessing the assessment of an ATP comic

Pre-test Post-TestTwo weeks after using the

book.

Using the

book in class

Optical Allusions: Assessment recap

Hosler, Jay S. and Boomer, K.B. (2011). Are Comic Books an Effective Way to Engage Non- Majors in Learning and Appreciating Science? CBE-Life Science Education 10, pg. 309–317

The Initial Plan:

• Didn’t use them• Instead, made all of that and more

for an ATP story.• How come?

• I received a SoTL summer grant to develop a photosynthesis comic, prose story and textbook piece

The comic book story

Molecular Techniques Class:Alyssa Fazi, Kat Connolly, Nathan Bicher, Shannon Harrington, and Jared Haidet

Try to make something teachers will actually use.

The narrated comic

“They can buy hundreds of comics with story and character. They buy your book to master biology. Anything that gets in the way of their grasping those fundamentals is an obstacle.”

- Thomas LeBien

How do you know students didn’t like the comic (Optical Allusions) just because of the narrative?

How do you know your prose (Photosynthesis) will be any good?

The illustrated prose story

The textbook excerpt

Use a textbook excerpt. Otherwise you run the risk of assessing your ability to write a textbook excerpt.

Freeman (2011) Biological Science, pages 148-150

Illustrated Prose Story

Textbookexcerpt

Narratedcomic

Comic bookstory

Protocol, IRB and Analysis

Content Pre-test12 MC

questions

Large Group

Content Post-test 2

12 MC questions

Attitude Survey 4 Likert

questions

Small Group

3 weeks

Small Group

Read the ATP

passage

ImmediateContent

Post-test 112 MC

questions

1 week

Approved.

Let’s run the numbers.

Results: Attitudes

They liked the prose and the two comics significantly more…....................….than the textbook.

Results: Content scores

They scored significantly higher with the text and two comics ……..…............than the prose.

Think critically!

• Didn’t ask others to proof anything other than the comic story. (I forgot Jim’s admonition…)

• Maybe prose only works for certain topics.

• Could be the content test was less than effective.

• Ceiling effect: not that much content?

• Sample size is still too small

• Didn’t wait long enough for post-test 2

Or, have others think critically for you…

Consider different learning experiences?Maybe students in POEs more comfortable with prose narrative would respond differently to it.

Are style and format an issue?The layout of the comic story is a little intimidating but the narrated comic seems better organized and accessible.

Do comics work better in certain contexts?Richard Mayer and his colleagues have found that comics used as a lesson summary for college students did better than students who received written or pictorial summaries.

Thanks.

Now, feel free to make my “To Do” list longer