Personalizing biology teaching and learning

Evaluating Students’ Comprehension of Biology

We are attempting to develop means to automatically evaluate students’ responses to open biological questions. Thus, enabling us to probe students’ comprehension in three dimensions: i) various biological contents (e.g., Cellular respiration, Genetics, Evolution, Immunology); ii) scientific skills (e.g., Argumentation, Explanations); and iii) cross-cutting biological concepts (e.g., Homeostasis, Structure-Function relationships).

Evaluating Argumentation Skills in Biological Contexts: An Automated Assessment Approach

We explore how students develop argumentation skills in biology using the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) framework, leveraging advanced tools like automated assessment and clustering techniques to uncover patterns in their explanations. We aim to evaluate the potential of ChatGPT as an alternative to existing models for assessing student responses, offering insights that could enhance personalized feedback and formative assessment practices in education.