modification and in observing how changes in electronegativity, charge, and size affect the "activity" of the synthesized molecule. The game can and does illustrate that by using these observations, and a systematic approach in group modification, an active molecule may be obtained with relatively few attemots. Converselv. random chance selection of erouDs . is norm& not fruitfui.' A free listing of this program. which reauires about 12K of computer memory, may be obtained from John L. Meisenheimer.
The Medical Biochemistry QuestionBank Julian A. Peterson Department of Biochemistry Universiiv of Texas at Dallas ~ e i l t hScience Center 5323 Harrv Hines Blvd. During the past decade there has been an explosion in the number of students enrolled in medical education oroerams in North America. As the size of classes in ~undamenralsof Medical Biochemistrv in medical schools increased. the faculty became aware of the difficulty of preparing essay examinations to evaluate student performance. Because of this difficulty, there was a shift toward examinations composed of objective, multiple-choice questions. In the spring of 1977, the Association of Medical School Departments of Biochemistry (AMSDB) directed their Education Subcommittee to examine the testing practices in various medical schools and to report on the feasibility of the establishment of a computer-based question bank which could be used by the memben for the generation of high quality tests. The Medical Biochemistry Question Bank (MBQB) was formed in response to this perceived need. Subscriptions for $500 for the 1980 edition of the question bank were received from approximately 70% of the members of AMSDB. When the bank was being oreanized. the Editorial Board established the general policy t i a t questions must have been used in a medical biochemistrv course in a medical school before they could he considered for inclusion in the bank. T o ensure the continued viability of the bank, the subscribers are encouraged to submit quest& to the ~ d i t o r i aBoard, l and the 1981 edition will contain approximatelv 4,500 unique questions. Each subscriber must report the numbers of the questions that have been used on examinations so that unused auestions can be identified. The types of questions in the bank include all those that are Table 1. Medical Biochemistrv Question Bank Major Categories
Acids, Bases. Water. Electrolyte Balance, and Bonding Acids. Peptides, and Proteins Hemostasis (Blood and Hemaglobin) Enzymes Carbohydrates Intermediary Metabolism Energetics. Thermodynamics, and Biological Oxidations Photosynthesis Nitrogen Metabdism Amino
NLmition Purine. Pyrimidine, arm One-CarLmn Metabolism
N 0 P (1
R
S
Non-steroid Lipids Steroids and Sterols Memoranm and Membrane Systems Boochemlstry of hon-starolahormones NLCelc Ac d and Protem B . o ~ y m h e s s Systems,Processes, and Organs Biochemical Basis of Disease Miscellaneous
regularly used on obiective examinations: however.. aooroxi.. mately 60% of the q;estions are of the single-answer multiple-choice type. Some of the questions require fimres. maohs. or tables, and these are currktly provided inbrinte; form with the distributed bank. The questions in the bank have been sorted by subject matter into 19 major categories (Table 1) which compare to chapters in generally used texthooks. Each major category is further suhdivided for easy reference to a particular subject. In addition, each question can be assigned to more than one sub-cateeorv. the basis of cateeorizaiion being the topical thrust a l d &ect answer. we-discarded the option of grouping the questions by "difficulty" and left the decision regarding whether a question is appropriate for a particular course to the faculty concerned. The Editorial Board of MBQB has decided that the information about each question should be stored in as flexible a format as possible so that it can be used with only minor database modifications by the various item banking programs that are in use. We have written "industry standard" magnetic tape copies of the bank for a number of the subscribers, and the bank can be distributed on 8-in. diskettes written on a Digital Equipment Curporation PDPI I minicomputer as well as on a micn~comuuteruoeratinr under C1' M. The files can with some difficuity be written a number of other formats that might be useful in word Drocessors. Thus. a subscriber should be able to edit the question bank and td generate examinations using locally written software. T o increase the general usefulness of item banks, we are developing software in UCSD Pascal for an Aoole I1 microrvrnputer that will pernmit orher users who do n"; have access to mainframe computtw to edit the questions ns well as to construct and print examinations. Ultimately, we will extend this software to include student interaction programs for both studv and self-evaluation. ~nitiallythe Editorial Board decided to limit distribution of the bank to medical schools. As the bank has grown and developed, the members of the Editorial Board have been approached regarding the availability of the bank by several undergraduate departments that teach large biochemistry classes. Currently the contract that subscrihers sign has been interpreted to mean that those medical school departments that also teach undergraduates may use the bank for all of their students but that other undergraduate departments, which are not affiliated with a medical department of biochemistry, may not have access to the bank. Because of a perceived need on the part of some undergraduate departments for a laree no01 of excellent test auestions. the Editorial Board, in conj;netion with AMSDB, will reevaluate in early 1982 the distribution oolicv to determine whether all or a Dart of the bank could or shouid be made available for widerhistribution. The ~ o t e n t i aadvantage l to the new subscribers would he the arress to a large pwl ;if test items. In return, the wider distrihutim would enable the Editorial Board to undertake some additional rdurational and evaluative prnjwtr. A potential drawhark, which must he fully explored, is the nature of the impact on undergraduate biochemical training which this medirally oriented question hank might have. The editor-in-chief would like to receive in writine an indication of the interest of undergraduate departments in the use of this t w e of auestion bank. Based on the deaee of interest and the percept& of the advantages and disidvantages to the hiochemical communitv at large. the decision will be reached in the near future by the men;bership of AMSDB on the wider distribution of this question bank. The names and addresses of the members of the Editorial Board are as follows: Julian A. Peterson, Department of Biochemistry, The University of Texas Health Science Center a t Dallas, 5323 Hines Blvd., Dallas, T X 75235; C. Coe Agee, De~artmentof Biochemistrv. Universitv of Tennessee Center for'the Health Sciences, ~ e m ~ h T i sN, $3163; James Baggott, Department of Biochemistrv. Hahnemann Medical Colleee. 235 North 15th Street, ~hiladelphia,PA 19102; J. ~ e i e ; ~
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Volume 59 Number 7 July 1982
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Bentley, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oregon Health Science Center, 3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park, Portland, OR 97201; James L. Fairley, Department of Biochemistrv. Michigan State Universitv. East Lansine. MI 48824: AH& B. RLwitch, ~ e ~ a r t m e n t ' bBiochemist&, ;f The Universitv of Kansas Medical Center. Rainbow Boulevard at 39th, ~ a n s i City, s KS titilo% and ~ e w i W. s Stillway, Ikparrment of Hiochemistrs. .Medical University of South Candina, 171 Ashley Ave., ~harleston,SC 29403.
ORGANIZR-A Microcomputer-Implemented Grade Management Program Keith M. Wellman University of Miami Coral Gables. FL 33124 The general availability and convenienceof microcomputers has led us to develoo . a oroeram . " written in BASIC to manaae student grades. The program was designed to meet several key objectives with the following capabilities: 1) accommodateapproximately 200 student names and associated
grades
2) compute standard scores from raw scores
3) edit the list of student names and scores 4)
rank students on each exam. as well as on the total overall ~~
~~
5 ) nsAlgn grades auromnticnlly
provide various summary repmti for faculty pnwide a stlmmnry report of i~udentrrsultd witable for posting 8) utilize several different options far weighting individual exam scores to arrive at a total score for each student 9) print a hardcopy of individual student summaries for distribution directly to the student 10) store student data on disk files 6) 7)
Refore further discussion of the program, a comment ahout raw scores and standard scores is appropriate. Many faculty insist that the raw score a student rereives on an exam is not arbitrary. This view is referred to as crilerion-rrfrr~nced trsting. Interestingly, the same faculty, when discussing scores of students on National ACS examinations, invariably use percentile ranks rather than the raw srore. In effect, the faculty memher is saying that the itudent's ACS exam numerical wore has meaning only as it is related w other scores achieved on that exam. This approach is norm-referenced testing. Translating scores inu, percentile ranks is one of several score transformations that are intended to convey the relationship of a given score to the group. S u m distributions that have heen altered to have means and standard deviarioni of standard values are ralled aiuidard scores. "%.srores" we standard scores calculated from the equation z , = x,/o where x, is the raw score, n the standard deviation of the raw score distribution, and z; the computed z-score. The mean of the z-score distribution is zero and the standard deviation is one. Because manv z-scores are neeative. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ , thev .are often reearded as awkward and are converted to a distribution having a convenient mean and standard deviation. The simulest conversion is a linear score transformation, e.g.,
.
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Zi = 102s
+ 50
where Z; is the new standard score. This particular Z-score is sometimes referred to as a linear T-score or, simply, Tscore; it has a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. Mwt T-scores will fall in the range of 20-80. In our program ORGANIZR we define still another option as WL= 20zi + 50. Here the mean is 50. The standard deviation is 20. W-scores tend to fall in the range of 0-100. Standard scores such as Z and W have several practical virtues. When calculated for the same eroun " . of students. standard scores on different examinations have directly comparable means and standard deviations and allow for the
602
Journal of Chemical Education
following: (1) ascertaining whether the student is improving, lagging, or holding even with the rest of the class by looking a t a series of the student's standard scores, (2) legitimate comparison of the standard scores on each exam if the instructor wishes to drop or suhstitute the score of a student's worst exam (such is not usually the case for raw scores), and (3) a fair value for a missed exam hv wine an average . . assienina " standard score based on standard scoresfor ocher exams. Bodner has also discussed the utilitv of standard scores versus raw scores (3). ORGANIZR, then, has the option to use (1)raw scores, (2) T-scores, or (3) W-scores for individual exams. Summing of exam scores is accomplished by one of several options: (1) sum raw scores-no scores dropped, (2) sum raw scores-drop lowest, (3) sum standard scores-no drops, (4) sum standard scores-drop lowest, (5) suhstitute final exam grade for the lowest regular exam if final is higher, and (6) substitute the final exam score for each missine reeular exam score. For ed to options 1-4, exams can he i n d i ~ i d h i w e i ~ h t according the instructor's formula. ORGANIZR provides a class ranking on each exam. I t also determines an overall class rank based on the total score from which grades can he automatically assigned according to rank. The instructor simply inputs the cutoff rank for "lowest A," "lowest B," etc. I t is worthwhile to note here that the instructor ultimately decides the general grade distribution. At this point, subjective judgment based on rank andlor total score is involved. Since the total score can he a t least semiquantitatively related to raw scores, the instructor can invoke a degree of criterion-referenced measurement to decide the actual grade distribution. After the grades are assigned, the instructor has the opportunity to change a student's grade individually before the various summaries and reports are printed. An alternative method of assigning grades using "normal" T-scores has been discussed elsewhere (3,4). T o comply with the Family Privacy Act of 1974, students who authorize oostine of their results can he flagged before final summary;epor~ are printed. The programthen automatically prints two hardcopy summaries: (1) an alphabetical listing for the instructor with class rank, rank on each exam, and grade, and (2) a similar listing hy student record number for - - nostine. This latter listine includes class rank. raw scores. and a grade. I t has been our experience that prokding a ten: tative course grade after each exam keeps the student clearly informed and virtually eliminates the otherwise inevitable ouestions from manv of todav's erade-conscience students. Individual student reports :a also generated. These are usuallv eiven to the student when each exam is returned. ~ h e s e " r e ~ o rprovide ts the student with a variety of information including raw scores, standard scores, rank on each exam, total score based upon the instructor's formula, overall rank, and tentative grade. The standard scores indicate the individual's progress relative to the rest of the class. It is important to recognize that the class is the standard to which all students are comoared with this svstem. Othe; printed reportsfor the instructor's records can he obtained on reauest. These are (1) . . an dohabetical listing with class rank, raw.scores, total score, and grade, (2) a listing accordine to class rank including standard scores on each exam and tr;;al sctre (useful i n defermining cutoffs for grade asrirnmeat), and (3) a listing acwrding toclass rank with rank on each exam and total score (usefulin discussing a student's progress). Initial preparation of the student class list can he done directly with OHGANIZR or the list can heobtained from adisk file orieinalh. ~ ~ r c r ~ a usine r e d SKA'I'I.IS7' (vide infra). " New students and their G d e s can he added to the & r e n t list. and editine of some data (name. raw scores. letter made, and class rankiis possible. changing raw scor& will &ually entail comnletelv redoina the analvsis of the corresuondina standard score, ;anking;total scoie, class rank, a i d grade assignment. As a matter of convenience to the instructor, such L~~~~
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