[FUN_Mail] Major field test (for Neuroscience)

Wed Oct 15 14:58:33 EDT 2014

Hi everyone,
It seems to me as though a discussion of student learning objectives is warranted before composing an assessment tool. I'm housed in the psychology department and last year we overhauled the curriculum and SLOs for that major. During that process we took advantage of a comprehensive document produced by the APA (http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/about/psymajor-guidelines.pdf).

I have not been able to identify such a resource for neuroscience. Does anyone have a database of SLOs for neuroscience (and related) majors/minors? We recently revised the SLOs for our Biopsychology major and I found the following article particularly helpful:

http://www.funjournal.org/images/stories/downloads/2012_Volume_11_Issue_1/kerchner_etal_11_1_a27_a37.pdf

I really like the idea of a MFT but it seems as though we would need to identify (and more or less agree upon!) specific goals as a starting point.

-Dave

----------------------------------
David J. Bauer, Ph.D.
Viterbo University
608-796-3712
djbauer at viterbo.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: FUN_Mail [mailto:fun_mail-bounces at lists.funfaculty.org] On Behalf Of Shawn Gallagher via FUN_Mail
Sent: Monday, October 13, 2014 6:09 PM
To: Louise Freeman
Cc: FUN_Mail
Subject: Re: [FUN_Mail] Major field test (for Neuroscience)

Hello Everyone

Don't let our conclusions about the psychology MFT discourage you.  I remember discussing the test with my undergraduate mentor, a cognitive psychologist, and he summed things up nicely by stating that developing an MFT for psychology is like developing an MFT for science. It's bound to be breadth over depth and, as a multiple choice exam, it struggles to address critical thinking. Lani's links seem to point to tools that use better techniques.

Neuroscience is a narrower field and I am I'm optimistic that a valid test is feasible but the first challenge would be to define the topics. Could/should a text like KS&J serve as a framework? (It would also be interesting to summarize the topics represented in our "classic articles" discussion from last month and see how well such an informal survey covered the discipline.)

Please feel free to contact me directly if you want to discuss this in more detail. We - our department - are also in the process of developing a neuroscience option within our major and, though I don't chime in very often, I appreciate all the nuggets of wisdom that everyone has offered.

Cheers,
Shawn

------------------------------------
Shawn P. Gallagher, Ph.D.
MU Department of Psychology
PO Box 1002 (1 S. George St.)
Millersville, PA 17551
(717) 871-2354

> On Oct 13, 2014, at 4:43 PM, "Louise Freeman via FUN_Mail" <fun_mail at lists.funfaculty.org> wrote:
> 
> I am not at an institution with a neuroscience major, but we do use 
> the psychology MFAT in evaluating our major, and it does include a 
> biopsychology subscale.
> 
> You may find this paper interesting, as it concluded that the psych 
> MFAT was not much different than pulling a set of random multiple 
> choice questions out of an introductory textbook.
> 
> (http://www.millersville.edu/~sgallagh/Publications/ptr2013.pdf)
> 
> They also found that there was a very high correlation between the 
> MFAT scores and SATs; we see the same thing among our students.
> 
> It would be useful to have national averages to compare to.
> 
> On Mon, Oct 13, 2014 at 12:29 PM, Keller, Lani C. Prof. via FUN_Mail < 
> fun_mail at lists.funfaculty.org> wrote:
> 
>> I just wanted to bring to people's attention that a similar 
>> competency test has been developed for genetics and used 
>> successfully. It may be worth checking this out as you think about 
>> developing one for neuroscience. I have included two links to 
>> publications that discuss the development of such an exam along with using the exam in classrooms.
>> 
>> Here is the abstract for development of the 
>> test:http://www.lifescied.org/content/7/4/422.abstract
>> Here is an updated paper describing the use of the test:
>> http://www.lifescied.org/content/7/4/422.abstract
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Lani
>> 
>> -----
>> Lani C. Keller
>> Assistant Professor
>> Quinnipiac University
>> Department of Biological Sciences
>> Buckman Center: BC123A
>> 275 Mount Carmel Avenue
>> Hamden, CT 06518
>> Office: 203.582.8994
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On 10/13/14 12:13 PM, "William Grisham via FUN_Mail"
>> <fun_mail at lists.funfaculty.org> wrote:
>> 
>>> Dear Divya,
>>> 
>>> I am fairly confident that no such standardized instrument exists 
>>> for testing students' knowledge of neuroscience. While I was at NSF, 
>>> I talked to some PIs about creating one, but they ultimately backed 
>>> off of the idea.
>>> 
>>> That being said, if one would team-up with someone really skilled in 
>>> test construction, they might be able to get a grant from NSF's 
>>> Division of Undergraduate Education IUSE program to develop such an instrument.
>>> Besides
>>> just testing knowledge, I think that such an instrument should also 
>>> tap critical thinking skills that we are hopefully instilling in our students.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> The need to evaluate the efficacy of neuroscience courses as well as 
>>> programs is clear, particularly as these programs are growing and 
>>> serving ever larger segments of the STEM students/community. Thus 
>>> the need to develop an appropriate testing instrument is clear.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> William (Bill) Grisham, Ph.D.
>>> Adjunct Professor
>>> Department of Psychology, UCLA
>>> 1285 Franz Hall
>>> PO Box 951563
>>> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563
>>> 
>>> (310) 825-7990
>>> Dr.billgrisham at gmail.com
>>> 
>>> On Sun, Oct 12, 2014 at 5:28 PM, Divya Sitaraman via FUN_Mail < 
>>> fun_mail at lists.funfaculty.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Dear FUN folks,
>>>> 
>>>> I am an Asst Professor in Behavioral Neuroscience at University of 
>>>> San Diego and am truly excited to be a part of the FUN community. 
>>>> The Behavioral Neuroscience major was started in our school in 2012 
>>>> and in order to gauge how we are doing we would like to conduct a 
>>>> Major Field Test (or something like it) for our graduating seniors 
>>>> in Spring 2014.
>>>> 
>>>> It will be anonymous and the idea is to present students with 
>>>> Neuroscience questions and test their understanding of the field. 
>>>> We have been looking around for something standardized but haven't 
>>>> been able to find something concrete yet.
>>>> 
>>>> I was interested in hearing your experiences regarding 2 major 
>>>> issues that we have been talking about:
>>>> a) How to test students knowledge of Neuroscience?
>>>> b) Are there any tests out there that will meet this purpose?
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks and I look forward to your responses,
>>>> 
>>>> Divya Sitaraman
>>>> Assistant Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience University of San 
>>>> Diego
>>>> 
>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> ------
>>>> Visiting Scientist
>>>> Janelia Research Campus at HHMI
>>>> MAILMAN_MIMEDEFANG WRAP
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> 
> 
> --
> Louise M. Freeman, Ph.D.
> Professor of Psychology
> Mary Baldwin College
> Staunton, VA 24401
> 540-887-7326
> FAX 540-887-7121
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