Chemical Education Today
Book & Media Reviews The Hidden Curriculum: Faculty-Made Tests in Science Sheila Tobias and Jacqueline Raphael. Plenum: NY, 1997. Part 1: Lower-Division Courses. 199 pp. ISBN: 0-306-455803. $24.95. Part 2: Upper-Division Courses. 135 pp. ISBN: 0-306-45581-1. $22.95.
Sheila Tobias is well known in the science education community for pointing out different perspectives on the faculty/student relationship. Her past works, including They Aren’t Dumb, They’re Different: Stalking the Second Tier (1990) and Revitalizing Undergraduate Science: Why Some Things Work and Most Don’t (1992), emphasized the differences in faculty perceptions of student learning needs and actual student learning needs. The two-volume current work, coauthored by Jacqueline Raphael, focuses on testing practices in college science courses. The major point is that the style and content of tests (and grading in general) are important facets of the communication between instructor and student. The two volumes begin with several chapters presenting faculty and student perspectives on testing. The bulk of each book features case studies of innovative testing methods, organized by scientific discipline (biology, chemistry, geology, physics, assorted). For example, the chemistry section of part 1 has 36 individual case studies, each one to two pages in length; the chemistry section in part 2 has 27 similar presentations. Actually, the examples presented in parts 1 and 2 are very similar to each other. Distinctive testing strategies have more to do with the
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instructor’s style than with the level of the course being taught. The individual examples of innovation are based on solicited submissions by a wide variety of faculty across the nation. Rather than a cohesive integrated package, they serve as individual ideas that a reader could consider for adaptation and adoption. A wide range of ideas are represented, starting with course grading schemes that offer students choices, chances to redeem poor performances, and various curving approaches. Many ideas pertinent to individual exams are included, such as test-taking by groups working together, ways of getting instructor assistance during exams (with partial loss of credit), use of conceptual questions in addition to math related questions, and oral testing. In summary, these two books contain a variety of ideas an interested instructor can use to develop new testing approaches, along with some discussion of the educational reasons for new modes of testing. I found the compiled examples to be mostly familiar—ideas already seen in other settings— rather than brand new innovations. Nevertheless, seeing them brought together in this concise compiled format will make it easy for educators to consider a wide range of possible improvements in the testing aspect of college-level instruction. Jack Steehler Department of Chemistry Roanoke College Salem, VA 24153-3794
[email protected] Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 75 No. 1 January 1998 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
