Creating authentic science assessments that engage students in conceptual understanding and provide evidence of their learning is challenging. Student-centered instruction and assessments provide an opportunity to build student agency and foster positive student relations with science. This qualitative work showcases assessments that focus on knowledge-in-use and assessments that incorporate opportunities for and evidence of student learning. We present the design, implementation, and reception of two authentic assessments, Science Portfolios and Teaching Presentations, designed for and implemented in an interdisciplinary science content course for pre-service K-8 educators. Each of the assessments was designed to deepen student knowledge and incorporate relevance to students’ future careers as teachers. These science assessments created authentic opportunities for student learning and served as evidence of student learning. We offer our reflections about our implementation and discuss how these types of assessments could be used in other science classrooms.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) increase student engagement in scientific practices and allow students to generate novel findings. Previous studies demonstrated that CUREs are more effective at enhancing students’ motivations, attitudes, science identity development, and acquisition of science process skills than traditional (i.e., prescriptive) laboratory exercises. Historically, CUREs have adopted one of two structures – the ‘network’ CURE, where faculty nationwide are provided with training to implement a single CURE model (e.g., SEA-PHAGES), or the ‘independent’ CURE, which is centered around an individual faculty member’s research expertise. Although independent CUREs are quite common, few studies have examined the process for and impacts of scaling up an independent CURE for use in diverse institutional contexts. To address this, we employed a quasi-experimental mixed methods design to evaluate how an independent CURE, the Tigriopus CURE, could be modified for implementation at a Hispanic-Serving Institution, Liberal Arts College, and Women’s College. Analysis of pre-/post-semester data revealed significant differences in CURE students’ science identity development, experimental design skills, and motivations relative to a matched comparison group of students in a traditional laboratory course. These findings highlight the effectiveness of independent CUREs such as the Tigriopus CURE, as well as its utility across institutional settings.

Communicating scientific findings is an accepted part of the research experience, but few science programs include explicit undergraduate curricula for developing or practicing oral science communication. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) can provide opportunities to practice science communication, but few studies describe or evaluate authentic oral science communication activities in CUREs. Existing literature lacks considerable evidence for how science communication activities impact students’ science identity and science communication self-efficacy regarding research posters. Therefore, we collected students’ quantitative & qualitative perceptions of science identity and science communication self-efficacy in a face-to-face (F2F) CURE during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also collected students’ qualitative perceptions of participating in a poster symposium and of wearing a face mask while engaging their symposium audience. We found significant improvements in science identity and science communication self-efficacy, as well as benefits and barriers to presenting in a F2F symposium while wearing a face mask. Our results can help educators interested in improving students' science identity and science communication self-efficacy, especially when deciding if a F2F poster symposium in a CURE is appropriate, as affective factors strongly impact students' persistence in science.

An introductory physics course may be run like a video game, where students have an almost unlimited number of attempts to demonstrate their competencies through a sequence of zero-penalty assessments until the end of a semester. Each checkpoint is conducted as a 10-minute, one-on-one oral interview with the instructor, and students are not allowed to move on to the next topic before passing the checkpoint on the current topic. This is an individualized approach to teaching physics, because students take the checkpoints at their own pace throughout the semester. Students strive to clear all checkpoints in sequence without a penalty for each attempt. This course was implemented as an online class with 32 undergraduate students in spring, 2021. It had mixed reviews: some students, who identified themselves as independent learners, found the format effective, and other students reported that it was difficult to stay on track.