Background: Current evaluation methods for nurse anesthesia students primarily assess didactic knowledge while lacking measures to evaluate students' critical thinking and application of clinical knowledge in decision making (Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthetists [COA], 2022; Staun et al., 2020). Purpose: This study aimed to develop an…

This study outlines the development of the Design Log Instrument (DLI), which is intended for use in identifying moments of abstraction as evidence of STEM content knowledge transfer. The DLI prompts participants to be reflective during technological/engineering design challenges. During the development of this instrument, a three-phase,…

Building upon a methodologically diverse research foundation, we adapted and validated the "Learning Progression-based Assessment of Modern Genetics" (LPA-MG) for college students' knowledge of the domain. Toward collecting valid learning progression-based measures in a college majors context, we redeveloped and content validated a…

Open-ended assessments, defined as assessments with a large set of possible correct answers, by nature lend themselves to concerns regarding accurate and consistent grading. This article describes one particular open-ended assessment, named Creative Exercises (CE), designed for promoting students' interconnection of concepts in a college general…

Despite its importance as a central goal in environmental education, there appears to be little consensus about how best to document, assess and evaluate understanding of environmental concepts. This illustrative case study describes and demonstrates the use of the concept mapping strategy as an effective tool for assessing environmental…

Four major problem areas inhibit the standardized assessment of critical thinking (CT): (1) content validity; (2) construct validity; (3) technical jargon; and (4) background knowledge. Practical examples of framing multiple-choice items for assessment are suggested. In the area of content validity, new agreement about the definition of CT now…

The primary purpose of the investigation was to determine the extent to which (a) the Wisconsin Alternate Assessment (WAA) adequately measures the skills and concepts that make up the curriculum and instruction of students with significant disabilities; and (b) the WAA adequately measures the concepts and skill areas represented in Wisconsin's…