Content Insensitive Measurements
There are three types of class evaluation tools in broad use in science classes today; (1) Instructor written exams, (2) Standardized tests and concept inventories, (3) Course evaluations and other attitude surveys. All of these have drawbacks that prevent a unbiased picture of the class emerging. Instructor written exams test to some extent the instructors skill in writing exams that match the class coverage. Standardized exams may have little relation to class coverage. Course evaluations and attitude surveys are sensitive to how personable the instructor is and what grade the student expects to receive in the class. We propose the use of a fourth class of evaluation that does not suffer from these drawbacks to supplement the evaluations already in use, content insensitive quantitative measurements. Measurements that do not depend on course content and that can be measured quantitatively without the intrusion of instructor opinion. The papers below investigate how a student's use of time affects performance, how classes and textbooks are integrated through references, how time use may be measured accurately, and what the language structure of a science course can tell us.