GENERAL EDUCATION OUTCOME ASSESSMENT PLAN, “COMMON ASSIGNMENT(S)”
This is the assignment that all professors teaching a section in the San Jacinto College Core Curriculum will agree upon,
teach, assign, assess and document in Blackboard.
Course & Plan Information
Course Rubric/Number
BIOL 1313/1113
Course Title
General Zoology
Component Area
Biology
Outcomes assessed
(per district-wide syllabus)
Communication, Critical Thinking Skills, Empirical and Quantitative Skills, and
Teamwork
Effective Date
Fall 2015
Summary (for faculty, expository explanation of assignment)
An exercise designed to cover all four general education outcomes covered in BIOL courses using the logic of the
scientific method as a means to evaluate students and their abilities in these four areas.
Parameters/Logistics (for faculty, specific parameters or logistics when implementing)


(Do not remove, standard for all courses) The assignment must be collected through an “Assignment” content
item in Blackboard. Faculty electing to use Turnitin may do so, but students will need to submit the
document twice: first to the Bb “Assignment” content item and second to Turnitin.
(Do not remove, standard for all courses) The assignment assesses an outcome included in the syllabus for
the course; thus, all assignments should be included as a regular grade in the course. The assignment should
not be considered optional, extra-credit, or a bonus activity.
Part 1 (for students, to be copy and pasted into the Blackboard Assignment item)
Assignment Title
Scientific Method Exercise
Aligned Outcomes
Communication, Critical Thinking Skills, Empirical and Quantitative Skills
Description
Scientific Method Exercise
1. This exercise is part of your 3rd lab exam. It is worth up to 10 of the possible
100 points on lab exam 3.
2. This exercise is meant to test the following general education outcomes:
communication skills, critical thinking skills, empirical and quantitative skills,
and teamwork.
3. Your assignment is to act as a scientist and participate in the most interesting
aspect of a zoologist’s life: finding answers to what you feel are interesting
questions about animals!
4. Your will come up with what you think is an interesting/unusual/unique
observation that you have made of the animal/s of your choosing. This is the
first part of the 4 part process of answering scientific questions, known as the
scientific method. As we have discussed in class, these 4 parts are:
observation, hypothesis, experimentation/testing, and conclusions.
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5. Once you have made your observation, you need to develop a hypothesis
based on that observation, develop what you think would be a good
experiment in order to test your hypothesis, and then discuss the results of
your experiment.
6. You will need to turn in this assignment, which should be complete with 4
separate sections in complete sentence and paragraph form: 1) observation
section, 2) hypothesis section (critical thinking), 3) experimentation/testing
section (empirical and quantitative skills), and 4) conclusions section
(communication).
7. You need to come up with the observation and hypothesis sections on your
own. For the experimentation/testing and conclusions sections, you can
make these sections up on your own, or find some actual research that
follows along with your observation and/or hypothesis and use those for your
experimentation/testing and conclusions sections. Ensure that you use actual
numerical information (numbers!) in these two sections.
8. Your paper should be no longer than a two pages. Each of the 4 sections will
be worth up to 2 points each, for a total of up to 8 points on the paper itself.
9. Your ability to communicate effectively through his written exercise will be
evaluated as a whole. This will be worth up to 2 points. Thus, the whole
assignment is worth up to 10 total points.
10. Enjoy this exercise, the sky is the limit, as long as it is based on an animal and
as long as it is ethical! Good luck!
Notes (for faculty, do not
include in Bb)
The first sentence in part 9 would need to be modified dependent upon which general
education outcome is being measured. For example, your ability to think critically,
particularly as it relates to the hypothesis and the experimentation/testing section, will be
evaluated as a whole. Similarly, your ability to demonstrate empirical and quantitative skills
within the experimentation/testing section will be evaluated as a whole.
Part 1 (for students, to be copy and pasted into the Blackboard Assignment item)
Assignment Title
Scientific Method Exercise
Aligned Outcomes
Teamwork
Description
1.
2.
3.
4.
Scientific Method Exercise
This exercise is part of your 3rd lab exam. It is worth up to 10 of the possible
100 points on lab exam 3.
This exercise is meant to test the general education outcome of Teamwork.
As a Teamwork exercise, you will form teams based on you Lab seating
arrangement in that each lab table will be a team (4 per table).
Your team’s assignment is to act as scientists and participate in the most
interesting aspect of zoologist’s life: finding answers to what your team feels
are interesting questions about animals!
Your team will come up with what you think is an interesting/unusual/unique
observation that you have made of the animal/s of your choosing. This is the
first part of the 4 part process of answering scientific questions, known as the
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scientific method. As we have discussed in class, these 4 parts are:
observation, hypothesis, experimentation/testing, and conclusions.
5. Once you have made your observation, you need to develop a hypothesis
based on that observation, develop what you think would be a good
experiment in order to test your hypothesis, and then discuss the results of
your experiment.
6. Each team member will need to turn in this assignment, which should be
complete with 4 separate sections in complete sentence and paragraph form:
1) observation section, 2) hypothesis section, 3) experimentation/testing
section, and 4) conclusions section.
7. Your team needs to come up with the observation and hypothesis sections.
For the experimentation/testing and conclusions sections, the team can make
these sections up or find some actual research that follows along with your
observation and/or hypothesis and use those for your
experimentation/testing. Each conclusion section will be written individually
be each member of the team when they turn in their individual write ups.
Ensure that each of you use actual numerical information (numbers!) in these
two sections.
8. Your paper should be no longer than a two pages. Each of the 4 sections will
be worth up to 2.5 points each, for a total of up to 10 points on the paper
itself.
9. Your ability to work as a member of the team will be evaluated by your
teammates. Each member of the team will fill out a Teamwork Peer
Evaluation form for each member of their team. Your actual score on the
project will be based on how many points your paper gets (section 8 above)
AND how your teammates evaluated your contributions to the team. The
possible deductions are outlined in the Instructions for Peer Evaluation form.
10. Enjoy this exercise, the sky is the limit, as long as it is based on an animal and
as long as it is ethical! Good luck!
TEAMWORK PEER EVALUATION
This peer evaluation is intended to assist your team members in honing their
teamwork skills. In addition, the instructor will use this peer evaluation as one
component in determining your and your peer’s contribution to the project.
Please select a rating for each component, and in the space provided, provide
specific examples of behaviors that support your evaluation and provide suggestions
for improvement where it is needed (any “Low” ratings).
Team Member being
Reviewed
SECTION: WORK ETHIC
Quality of Work
High
Medium
Work could be used as a model for other students.
Work had flaws but was useable and made a contribution to the team.
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Low
Work was either not usable or had to be redone/fixed by other team
members.
Comments
Quantity of Work
High
Completed more than one portion of work or helped others complete
their work.
Medium
Completed his/her share of work with minimal contributions to others.
Low
Did not complete or fell behind on his/her work and caused issues for
the team.
Comments
SECTION: CREATIVITY
Ideas and Inspiration
High
Contributed many ideas or comments that helped shape outcome of
the project.
Medium
Contributed a few ideas to improve results or made some suggestions.
Low
Rarely contributed individual ideas and mostly followed the lead/ideas
of others.
Comments
SECTION: PROFESSIONALISM
Integrity
High
Medium
Low
Followed through on his/her commitments in an honest,
straightforward manner; attended to group discussions in a timely
manner and/or was on time for group meetings.
Met his/her commitments though perhaps not always on time or may
have been unclear in communications; occasionally lagged in
communications and/or was late for group meetings.
Had to be reminded to complete work or offered excuses regarding
incomplete or late work; did not communicate effectively or missed
group meetings.
Comments
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Courtesy
High
Medium
Low
Was polite and respectful, and acted as a leader when
needed/engaged in constructive discussion
Was polite and respectful though perhaps somewhat passive.
Was, at times, unnecessarily argumentative or was rude or
disrespectful in tone or manner
Comments
SECTION: SUMMARY
Overall
High
Medium
Low
I would be pleased to and would make an effort to work with this
individual again.
I would not mind working with this individual again.
I would rather not and would make an effort to avoid working with this
individual again.
Comments
Instructions for Peer Evaluation Form
Assign the following numeric values to the peer evaluation form:
 High – 3
 Medium – 2
 Low – 1
Have each student fill out the peer evaluation form for each of their teammates. For
a given student, add up the total number of points (based on the numeric values
above) received on their peer evaluation forms, and then determine the average
(which will be between 1.0 and 3.0). This is the student’s peer evaluation average.
The peer evaluation average will be used to determine each individual student’s
grade on the team project/assignment. Averages will be used to determine the grade
as follows:
 Peer evaluation average of 2.0-3.0: student receives all points
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

Peer evaluation average of 1.5-1.99: student has 3 points subtracted
Peer evaluation average of 1.0-1.49: student has 5 points subtracted
As an example, if the team project/assignment is worth 10 points, then we’ll say that
a given team earned a perfect score of 10. That team was comprised of 4 students:
students A, B, C, and D. If student A’s peer evaluation average was 2.1, then he/she
received the full 10 points. If student B’s peer evaluation average was 2.5, he/she
also received the full 10 points. However, if student C’s peer evaluation average was
1.8, then he/she only received 7 points.
Notes (for faculty, do not
include in Bb)
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Screenshot
NOTE: Capture a single screenshot example of how the assignment – including all parts – may appear once developed
in Blackboard.
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