3.2.5. Evaluation of a Concept or Practice
Example 1 – Peer evaluation (Appendix B.9): The peer evaluation
activity will be used in a new Aquatic Biodiversity Conservation course
at the graduate level. This activity was developed as a lecture series
summary and exam review activity to provide students with an opportunity
to practice evaluation of peers’ conservation education interpretative
displays. Students were provided with resources, examples, and rubrics
to develop their own interpretive display on a topic that will be
selected by each student, but related to material from the lecture
series on freshwater river ecosystems. Next, students will be given
instructions regarding evaluation. Finally, students will use a
faculty-developed grading rubric to evaluate classmates’ interpretive
displays on the merits of creativity, alignment of learning objectives
with learning goal, scientific accuracy, and execution. This activity
could be modified for any course (i.e., introductory, advanced
undergraduate, graduate) where the learning objective is for students to
develop original works and practice their evaluation skills.
Example 2 – Evaluate results of published literature (Appendix
B.10) : The evaluate results of published literature activity has been
used in a Wildlife Plant Identification lecture course at a split upper
undergraduate/graduate level. This activity guides students through
evaluating the results of published literature to determine if it
supports a theory that has led to a common management practice. First,
students are oriented to the learning objective for the activity in the
assignment instructions: “Evaluate the results of the study to
determine if it supports or does not support Aldo Leopold’s theory of
using livestock as a wildlife habitat management land; to set back the
seral stage of succession by consuming grasses, thus increase abundance
of forbs” (Leopold, 1933). Next, students are asked several key
questions to guide them in pulling pertinent facts from the manuscript
that provide supporting evidence for their evaluation. Finally, students
are asked an open-ended evaluation question: “Did the researchers of
this manuscript find a treatment effect that would support Aldo
Leopold’s theory of using cattle or livestock as a wildlife habitat
management tool to set back the seral stage of succession?” This
activity could be modified for any course (i.e., ecology, zoology,
wildlife biology) where the learning objective is to evaluate the
results of published literature to determine if it supports a concept or
practice.