In this project, an interdisciplinary team of faculty from the College of Natural Science and the Lyman Briggs School at Michigan State University are working to develop and validate a new assessment tool for courses in biology, chemistry, physics and geology. The idea is for students to construct concept maps of their own. The Concept Connector, consists of a web-based, concept mapping Java applet with automatic scoring and feedback functionality. The tool enables students in large introductory science classes to visualize their thinking online and receive immediate formative feedback. The assessment tool and the methods of its application in the classroom are being designed to motivate students to reflect, revise and share their thinking with peers as an extension of the learning process. We predict (i) faculty becomes better able to identify their students ' areas of incomplete, vague or misunderstanding of science, and (ii) students confront their misconceptions and become better able to reflect on, organize, and integrate their learning. Three primary goals of this project are to: (1) develop and validate an online concept mapping tool that can be used to provide immediate feedback (computer automated) to both students and instructors about student understanding of conceptual relationships, (2) detect and document students ' misconceptions regarding relationships between concepts (e.g., interdisciplinary; relation between ecology and quantum physics, or discipline specific; structure and function of DNA), and (3) implement and sustain faculty development workshops to help faculty design curricula and instruction that can better assess student learning and enable students to use visual models to represent their understanding.
