Education research: astronomy laboratory student learning outcomes

Student achievement of course learning outcomes are assessed by administering a Student Learning Outcomes survey, a five-point Likert scale questionnaire to Astronomy 210L students at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA. This course is a one-semester, introductory astronomy laboratory (separate from lecture), and is taken primarily by students to satisfy their general education science laboratory transfer requirement.

This survey is administered online during the second-to-last week of instruction, to be completed just before the final laboratory session.

The results from this semester are compiled below. Values for the mean and standard deviations are given next to the modal response category for each question. Also listed is the percentage of students who have self-assessed themselves as having successfully achieving a learning outcome (responding "fairly well" or "very well") as opposed to not achieving success with a learning outcome (responding "not at all," "slightly" or "somewhat").

Cuesta College
Student Learning Outcomes for Astronomy 210L (SLO-Astr210L) 
Astronomy 210 Spring 2011 sections 30678, 30679, 30680, 30682

The questions below are designed to characterize your achievement of each of the 
learning outcomes by filling in a bubble on the rating scale provided to the 
right of each statement. Mark the level of achievement that best describes your 
learning at the completion of the course.

1. Keeping abreast of present-day discoveries and developments in astronomy 
(current events).
(Achieved: 66%, unachieved: 34%) 
1. Not at all     1 : *
2. Slightly       1 : *
3. Somewhat      22 : **********************
4. Fairly well   27 : ***************************  [3.9 +/- 0.9]
5. Very well     20 : ********************

2. Developing scientific evidence-based research questions.
(Achieved: 82%; unachieved: 12%)  
1. Not at all     4 : ****
2. Slightly       9 : *********
3. Somewhat      37 : *************************************  [4.1 +/- 0.8]
4. Fairly well   21 : *********************
5. Very well     18 : ******************

3. Developing procedures to gather evidence in order to answer research 
questions.
(Achieved: 87%, unachieved: 13%)  
1. Not at all     0 : 
2. Slightly       3 : ***
3. Somewhat       6 : ******
4. Fairly well   36 : ************************************  [4.2 +/- 0.8]
5. Very well     25 : *************************

4. Making appropriate evidence-supported conclusions.
(Achieved: 92%, unachieved: 8%)  
1. Not at all     0 : 
2. Slightly       1 : *
3. Somewhat       5 : *****
4. Fairly well   38 : **************************************  [4.3 +/- 0.7]
5. Very well     27 : ***************************

5. Explaining research findings in a report, poster, or presentation.
(Achieved: 90%, unachieved: 10%)  
1. Not at all     0 : 
2. Slightly       0 : 
3. Somewhat       7 : *******
4. Fairly well   30 : ******************************
5. Very well     33 : *********************************  [4.4 +/- 0.7]

6. Evaluating evidence to determine whether or not it appropriately answers a 
research question.
(Achieved: 94%, unachieved: 6%)  
1. Not at all     0 : 
2. Slightly       1 : *
3. Somewhat       3 : ***
4. Fairly well   38 : **************************************  [4.3 +/- 0.6]
5. Very well     29 : *****************************

Note that the overall class average for current events quizzes (where students are assigned to read online articles on current astronomy events, and take a short current events quiz during the first 10 minutes of lab) is 65% +/- 31%, which is comparable to the self-assessed success rate of 66%.

As per the ACCJC (Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges), results from this assessment tool will be used for course/program improvement by increasing emphasis on these lowest student learning outcomes in instruction in future semesters.