Appendix F

Pre- and Post-test data from Biology 100, Spring 2012, NC A&T State University This test was given on the first day of class without prior notification. The same test was also given on the day of the final exam, also without prior notification. All of the questions (except two) are from the AAAS Project 2061 Science Assessment Website (http://assessment.aaas.org/), which provides validated questions that tests misconceptions students have about a variety of science topics. Question 8 was taken from Impey et al, J Coll Sci Teaching, 40: 31-37, 2011, and Question 14 was of my own design. The actual test can be found on the next two pages. A summary of the performance of my Spring 2012 Biology 100 class is shown below.

Figure F1: Summary data for pre-test and post-test for Spring 2012 Biology 100. The bars represent the percentage of students who responded correctly. Asterisks indicate a significant improvement on the post-test compared to the pre-test (P < 0.05). Between 61 and 66 responses were recorded for each question. Further statistical analysis was performed on the pre-test and post-test data. The learning gain was calculated for each student that answered all 16 questions on both the pre-test and the post-test (n = 49). The average learning gain for the class was 0.23 0.21, or a 23% improvement from the pre-test to the post-test. The Wilcoxon SignedRank test was performed to determine if the improvements on the post-test as a whole were significant. The P value was 5.0 x 10-7, suggesting that the improvements on the post-test as a whole were significant. The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test was also used to determine whether there was significant improvement on individual questions. There were significantly more correct answers to 9 questions on the post-test compared to the pre-test (P < 0.05, see Figure F1). The reason for limited improvement or decline on the other 7 questions is not immediately apparent, as I felt that I covered those topics equally well during the semester. This data set will be extremely useful in planning further courses as it will allow me to improve my teaching in specific areas.