How effectively is CPR being used An analysis of assignments from the CPR server library

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How effectively is CPR being used? An analysis
of assignments from the CPR server library

• Julie Reynolds and Cary Moskovitz
• Duke University

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CPR, in context

• Promoted as a powerful tool to help students
  become stronger thinkers and writers
• Carlson and Berry 2003
• Carlson et al. 2005
• Donovan 2003
• Robinson 2001
• Russell and Brand 2005
• Pedagogy of CPR vs. assignments?

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CPR assignments

• Creating them is challenging and time-consuming
• New users are encouraged to adapt assignments
  from the CPR assignment library
• Margerum et al. 2007
• Russell 2004
• But
• Much of the pedagogy underlying CPR assignments
  comes from assignment propagation

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Promising evidence

• Well-written CPR assignments can help students
  master course content
• Furman and Robinson 2003
• Gerdeman et al. 2007
• Kim et al. 2005
• Margerum et al. 2007
• McCarty et al. 2005
• Pelaez 2002
• Prichard 2005
• Studies comparing the effectiveness of CPR to
  other methods of teaching writing generally
  report favorable results
• McCarty et al. 2005
• Plutsky and Wilson 2004

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But what we dont know.

• General trends of CPR use?
• Is CPR being effectively used to help students
  become better critical thinkers and scientific
  writers?

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Methods

• Representative sample of assignments from CPR
  server library
• Contributed and edited assignments
• Only STEM courses
• One assignment per author
• Analysis of writing phase
• 139 references to sources
• 27 sets of student instructions
• 205 guiding questions
• 36 prompts
• Analysis of reviewing phase
• 421 rubric questions

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Methods

• Rated each assignment (explicit implicit
  instructions) for
• LOCS (lower-order cognitive skills)
• HOCS (higher-order cognitive skill)
• LOWC (lower-order writing concerns)
• HOWC (higher-order writing concerns)

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Methods

• LOCS (lower-order cognitive skills)
• restating, explaining, and identifying content
  accurately
• Examples
• Describe the life cycle of seedless, vascular
  plants.
• Did the essay indicate that the life cycle of a
  seedless, vascular plant has a dominant
  sporophyte?

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Methods

• HOCS (higher-order cognitive skill)
• critical thinking skills
• applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating
  information or ideas
• Examples
• Recently, a person on a bus was overheard saying
  that he was not overly concerned about excessive
  CO2 emissions due to the burning of fossil fuels.
  He argued that since plants need atmospheric CO2
  to produce food, the increased emission rates
  will increase the growth rates of crops, trees,
  and all other primary producers. He argued that
  given time, the growth rate of plants will
  increase enough to balance out the increased rate
  of emissions. Based on what you know about the
  global carbon cycle and global land use patterns,
  do you agree or disagree with his argument?
  Explain your answer.
• Did the essay accurately describe global land use
  patterns?

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Tip

• Combine open-ended rubric questions with relevant
  information in the high-caliber calibration essays

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Methods

• LOWC (lower-order writing concerns)
• spelling, grammar, and punctuation
• Examples
• Be sure to proofread your essay for spelling
  errors and use correct grammar.
• Did the essay have any spelling errors?

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Methods

• HOWC (higher-order writing concerns)
• organization, development of arguments, use of
  evidence, and appropriate use of sources
• Examples
• Write an Op/Ed that responds to Donlan et al.s
  proposal, and offers your insight to other
  readers. Your Op/Ed will be publishable if it
  argues your claim successfully, by using evidence
  to support your position, and/or by building upon
  theoretical/ethical arguments. Your audience is
  the Duke community fellow students, faculty and
  staff. Keep in mind that your audience is
  probably comprised of people with a wide range of
  views about our ethical responsibility towards
  conservation. Consider whether it makes your
  argument stronger or weaker to acknowledge
  multiple perspectives.
• Are there appropriate topic sentences in each
  paragraph of the essay?
• Is this authors claim central to this essay? Is
  the claim easy to find and emphasized
  appropriately?

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Results
42-68 of sample assignments focused exclusively
on LOCS
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Results
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CPR is being used primarily as a writing to
learn (WTL) tool

• Lower-division science courses prioritize content
  mastery, but
• Learning is not linear
• Most students learn by constructing knowledge
  (HOCS)
• Well-designed WTL assignments can do both

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CPR as WTL tool (Cont.)

• Only a third of CPR assignments required any
  critical thinking in the reviewing phase
• A missed opportunity?

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CPR is rarely used as a learning to write (LTW)
tool

• Few CPR assignments promote serious attention to
  writing
• little or no attention to writing in the writing
  phase,
• In the reviewing phase the dominant emphasis was
  on error hunting
• What writing skills do we value?
• Proofreading?
• Developing ideas or arguments?
• Presenting evidence?
• Organizing ideas?

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Our concern

• Well-intentioned faculty, administrators,
  accreditation reviewers may mistakenly believe
  that courses implementing CPR support their
  students development as writers
• Effort to implement CPR gtgt payoff

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What accounts for current trends in CPR use?

• Science educators may not have training to create
  effective CPR assignments
• They may be putting trust in CPR assignment
  library
• Library may cause more problems that it solves

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Technology ? Pedagogy