Development of the Biology Card Sorting Task to Measure Conceptual Expertise in Biology

Abstract

The authors present the development of a novel assessment tool, the Biology Card Sorting Task, designed to probe how individuals organize their conceptual knowledge of biology. Results suggest that the task is robust in distinguishing populations of biology experts and novices and represents a useful tool for probing emerging biology conceptual expertise.

Step by Step: Biology Undergraduates’ Problem-Solving Procedures during Multiple-Choice Assessment

“…Previously, research exploring undergraduate cognition during problem solving has focused on problem categorization or students’ solutions to open-response problems (Smith and Good, 1984; Smith, 1988; Lavoie, 1993; Nehm and Ridgway, 2011; Smith et al. 2013).…”

“…Chemistry researchers built on Chi’s work to identify differences in how experts and novices track their problem solving and use problem categorization and multiple representations (Bunce et al ., 1991; Kohl and Finkelstein, 2008; Catrette and Bodner, 2010). Biology researchers built upon this work by conducting similar problem-solving studies among experts and novices in evolution and genetics (Smith, 1992; Smith et al. , 2013; Nehm and Ridgway, 2011).…”

An online categorization task to investigate changes in students' interpretations of organic chemistry reactions

“…Categorization tasks have been used to probe the difference between experts and novices in many different disciplines of education research, including physics (Chi et al, ; Mason & Singh, , ; Singh, ), biology (Bissonnette et al, ; Hoskinson, Maher, Bekkering, & Ebert‐May, ; J. I. Smith et al, ; M. U. Smith, ), computer sciences (McCauley et al, ), and chemistry (Domin, Al‐Masum, & Mensah, ; Graulich & Bhattacharyya, ; Irby et al, ; Kozma & Russell, ; Krieter, Julius, Tanner, Bush, & Scott, ; Stains & Talanquer, ). These studies may employ one‐on‐one interviews (Chi et al, ; Galloway, Leung, et al, , ; Snyder, ), but can also be administered in larger class settings (Krieter et al, ; Lin & Singh, ; Mason & Singh, , ; J. I. Smith et al, ).…”

Promoting Students’ Attention to Argumentative Reasoning Patterns

“…In a classic study, Chi, Feltovich, and Glaser () used a sort task to demonstrate the nature of expertise: Physics experts were able to sort sets of problems based on the underlying solution principles, whereas novices sorted based on their surface properties (objects and settings). Subsequently, sorting has been used to evaluate the nature and quality of domain knowledge in psychological (e.g., Rottman, Gentner, & Goldwater, ; Shafto & Coley, ) and science education research (e.g., Smith et al., ; Stains & Talanquer, ). Importantly, in the present work, we extend the technique by comparing sort outcomes for the same population under different contexts—as opposed to comparing populations (novices versus experts).…”