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Course number: "Bio 26: Human Anatomy and Physiology II"

Public Exams, Focused Learning, Assessment

Reflection on Instructional Change for Equity-Minded Instruction:

The goal of this instructional change was to implement the "Public Exam" style as an assessment tool for the lecture portion of Bio 26. Published data suggest that this assessment style lessens student anxiety and allows all students to clarify any course content questions prior to the actual exam. Traditionally, a draft form of the exam is pre-released to students. In the case of the current Bio 26 class, the aim was also to reduce student test anxiety and allow sufficient time for question clarification, by encouraging students to focus on the most important concepts from each lecture.

In order to focus students' learning as they prepared for the lecture exams, I provided several different study tools. Students in my Bio 26 classes have access to printed "lecture notes". As part of the lecture notes, they also have "review of major concepts" (in the form of fill-in the blanks), that they are encouraged to complete after each lecture (answers are provided to students later). However, students have historically been overwhelmed by the amount of information in lecture and also the concept review questions. I am often asked " where do I start my studying". As part of this grant, I provided focused, in-class worksheets, emphasizing the most important concepts for every organ system (for example, a graph of the Wigger's diagram or specific questions related to the regulation of blood pressure). Additionally, a week or two prior to the lecture exam, I provided a list of Open (public) Exam questions that focused only on the concepts that were asked on the exam and informed them of exactly which diagrams/graphs/handouts and specific topics they needed to focus on as part of their preparation for the lecture exam, and also the exact number of questions they would see on the exam. Finally, the students were also given 10-15 questions (taken directly from the upcoming exam) and encouraged to answer them together (I did not provide the answers).

The initial feedback was very positive. Students appreciated the focused information and shared that it helped with reducing their anxiety about what type of questions (and number of questions) would be asked. I plan to offer my class a formal survey related to the public exam style during their final exam day and share the results as part of the final Mini grant deliverable.

The class average for lecture exams 1 and 2 were higher when compared to the same exams administered during Fall Semester 2023.

**Evidence of Instructional Change**
In-Class activity - Digestive System	Instructions for completing the focused exam questions - Reproductive System
Example of an in-class activity with specific questions about 4 hormones of the digestive system. Students are asked to answer the questions first and then they are reviewed as a class.	Providing instructions for another in-class activity. These are specific questions related to the reproductive section of the class. An in-class review of the answers will follow.

Changes in Course Syllabus and Schedules:

Pre Minigrant - Syllabus and Schedule Bio 26 - Spring 2024 Course outline - ORIGINAL Syllabus.doc

Post Minigrant - Syllabus and Schedule Bio 26 - Spring 2024 Course outline - REVISED Syllabus STEM mini grant).doc

Minigrant Impact Data:

Pre Minigrant - DFW rate, Equity gap data

Post Minigrant - DFW rate, Equity gap data

**Faculty Bio**
Faculty Picture
	Christina Strandgaard, Ph.D. - Lecturer, Department of Biological Sciences.

STEM4Equity: US Dept. of Education STEMHSI P031C210012
*Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sacramento State.