Using Self-assessment Rubrics to Improve Student Project Work and Reduce Instructor Workload

Project work is an important part of learning to be a physicist. Giving timely feedback has been shown to be important for efficient learning. But, assessing written reports and giving quality written feedback is very time consuming. A different method has been developed in the framework of the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE), an active engagement method that emphasizes engaging in physics practices for an epistemologically authentic experience, such as investigating phenomena, testing hypotheses, using multiple representations, working in groups and having opportunities for improvement. The assessment of laboratory work in ISLE is done via Scientific Abilities Rubrics. These rubrics list abilities that students should develop through laboratory work. The reports are then assessed according to how well these abilities have been developed. We reformed a Project laboratory course with the help of the Scientific Abilities Rubrics and we observed that the average assessment time decreased and the average quality of reports increased. These findings do not address any particular curriculum topic, but are instead relevant for the development of general scientific practices of students, which can be transferred across multiple contexts and even multiple disciplines.