Can and should assessment nurture an orientation to society and social justice?
- Jan McArthur, Lancaster University
- Margaret Blackie, Stellenbosch University
- Nicole Pitterson, Virginia Tech
- Kayleigh Rosewell, Lancaster University
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This seminar explores the connections that can, or should, be made between how we assess students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) disciplines and nurturing an orientation to wider society, by which we mean a sense of interconnectedness between oneself and others. From a critical theory perspective, education should facilitate movement from a conception of the individual as autonomous towards the individual as a member of a larger society. We describe a longitudinal study among chemistry and chemical engineering undergraduate students at universities in the UK, South Africa and the USA. Only a very small number of students display any orientation to society through their responses to assessment tasks. This result is surprising, and somewhat distressing, because there are a number of socially-related assessment tasks within the curricula of most programmes researched. Thus it becomes evident that more may be required to achieve higher education oriented to society and social justice than simply the deliberate inclusion of socially-related activities in the curriculum or as assessment tasks.
Jan McArthur recently published CGHE Working Paper 58.
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Margaret Blackie is a Co-Investigator on CGHE’s local higher education engagement research programme.
Nicole Pitterson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. She holds a B.Sc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Technology, Jamaica, a M.Sc. in Manufacturing Engineering from Western Illinois University, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University. Upon completion of her doctoral degree, Dr. Pitterson worked as a postdoctoral research scholar at Oregon State University. Her research interests include difficult concepts in engineering, increasing students’ conceptual understanding of circuit concepts, and promoting collaboration through using active learning strategies.
Kayleigh Rosewell is a Senior Research Associate on CGHE’s local higher education engagement research programme.