Skip to main content

Cell and Molecular Biology, BS

Student Outcomes

Assessment of Student Outcomes

Outcome F Oral Communication (undergraduate)

Students will effectively communicate scientific observations, analyses, and arguments in oral presentations
.
The General Education objectives associated with this Outcome are listed below. You can use these objectives as is or modify them in the next step in GVAssess.

Students will:
• Develop content appropriate to the presentation.
• Organize the content in a logical manner appropriate for the intended audience.
• Demonstrate effective formal presentation skills.
Objective 1 Students will be able to give an oral presentation, describing their original research, at a level appropriate for a scientific conference.

Measure 1

2020 Status
Achieved
In the winter 2020 semester, our graduating students organized a virtual symposium in which they described their research results. The virtual symposium provided new challenges but all of the students were able to make their presentations and provide feedback to questions via BlackBoard. The mean value for the scores was 2.92 (SD=1.9), n= 16.

2019 Status
Achieved
In the 2019 academic year our graduating seniors held two CMB symposia. All presentations were evaluated on a 1-3 scale (three being best) with a rubric modified from the general education oral presentation rubric. The mean score was 2.98 (SD=0.077) n=14. Thus our students again surpassed our target of 2.75.

2018 Status
Achieved
In April, 2018, all CMB students registered for the capstone course participated in the student-organized, two-day, CMB symposium. All presentations were assessed with a rubric modified from the general education oral presentation rubric. The average score was 2.9 with a standard deviation of 0.2. This year there were more students participating and the presentations were generally of an even higher quality than last year.

2017 Status
Not Yet Achieved
Our initial scores for oral presentations, mean = 2.64±0.50 (n=17), at the symposium were above our selected threshold but below our target. We expect scores to increase with increased instructional focus on the presentations as well as improved presentations in the future by students who have seen the presentations evaluated here.

Outcome I Written Communication (undergraduate)

Students will effectively communicate scientific observations, analyses, and arguments in a written format typically required by professionals in fields related to cell and molecular biology.

The General Education objectives associated with this Outcome are listed below. You can use these objectives as is or modify them in the next step in GVAssess.

Students will:
• Develop content that is appropriate to a specific disciplinary or professional context, drawing upon relevant sources.
• Organize written material to suit the purposes of the document and meet the needs of the intended audience.
• Express ideas using language that meets the needs and expectations of the intended audience.
• Use conventions of grammar, punctuation, usage, formatting, and citation appropriate to the specific writing situation.
Objective 1 Students will be able to write a research paper, including appropriately documented citations, which could be submitted to a scientific journal.

Measure 1

2020 Status
Not Yet Achieved
Students in CMB 406 wrote scientific papers based upon the results of an experiment they conducted in the class. The mean score for the academic year was 1.7 (SD=0.7) which is below the threshold for the measure.

2019 Status
Not Yet Achieved
Scientific papers written for CMB 406 were evaluated on a 3 point scale and the mean score was 1.9 (SD=0.7). This measure is below the threshold we established with the measure.

Objective 2 Students will be able to maintain a useful laboratory notebook appropriate for documenting research in the life sciences

Measure 1

2020 Status
Achieved
Average scores of notebooks in CMB 426 were calculated through the academic year and the mean value of 2.6 (SD=0.49) surpassed the threshold value but is below the target of 2.75.

2019 Status
Achieved
The target for this important measure continues to be met

2017 Status
Achieved
The mean score for the notebooks of all 19 students who completed CMB 426 in the 2017 academic year was 2.8. The mean score was lower than the previous year but still above the target for this measure.

2016 Status
Achieved
All seventeen students who completed CMB 426 scored at the "satisfies" level on the evaluation of their laboratory notebooks, exceeding the target for this measure.

Outcome J CMB content mastery

Students will demonstrate mastery of the principles and concepts of cell and molecular biology.
Objective 1 Upon completion of the CMB curriculum, the graduating capstone students as a class, will score above the 80th percentile in a nationally-normed exam, or exam subsection, which measures content mastery in subjects related to cell and molecular biology.

Measure 1

2019 Status
Achieved
In April 2018, All CMB students in the capstone course took the ETS major fields test in Biology. As a group, they scored in the 98th and 99th percentile in Cell Biology and Molecular Biology and Genetics, respectively. The same students scored in the 93th, 98th and 99th percentile in Biochemistry and Cell Energetics, Cellular Structure, Organization, Function and Molecular Biology and Molecular Genetics assessment indicators, respectively. Our students continue to surpass the 85th percentile target by a wide margin, with little room for improvement in this measure.

2018 Status
Achieved
In April 2018, All CMB students in the capstone course took the ETS major fields test in Biology. As a group, they scored in the 96th and 99th percentile in Cell Biology and Molecular Biology and Genetics, respectively. The same students scored in the 97th, 94th and 99th percentile in Biochemistry and Cell Energetics, Cellular Structure, Organization, Function and Molecular Biology and Molecular Genetics assessment indicators, respectively. Our students continue to surpass the 85th percentile target by a wide margin.

2017 Status
Achieved
In April 2017 , all graduating CMB majors took the nationally-normed Biology Major Fields Test. As a group, they scored in the 97th and 98th percentile in The Cell Biology and Molecular Biology and Genetics subscores, respectively. The same students scored in the 99th, 94th and 99th percentile in Biochemistry and Cell Energetics; Cellular Structure, Organization, Function; and Molecular Biology and Molecular Genetics Assessment Indicators, respectively. Our students have again far exceeded our goal of scoring in the 85th percentile.

2016 Status
Achieved
In April 2016, all graduating CMB majors took the nationally-normed Biology Major Fields Test. As a group, they scored in the 99th and 99th percentile in The Cell Biology and Molecular Biology and Genetics subscores, respectively. The same students scored in the 98th, 99th and 99th percentile in Biochemistry and Cell Energetics; Cellular Structure, Organization, Function; and Molecular Biology and Molecular Genetics Assessment Indicators, respectively. Our students have exceeded our goal of scoring in the 85th percentile.

Outcome K Investagative ability

Students will demonstrate an ability to investigate processes at the molecular, cellular, organ or organismal level using diverse scientific approaches.
Objective 1 Before the completion of the degree, CMB students will present the results of their original research to the public.

Measure 1

2020 Status
Achieved
In April 2020, 100% (16/16) of the students enrolled in the CMB capstone presented their research at the CMB symposium. This year, the COVID-19 pandemic required that the symposium be virtual and the symposium was conducted virtually and asynchronously with questions and answers presented on Black Board. In spite of the need to present virtually, all students made a presentation and the event was a success.

2019 Status
Achieved
In December 2018 and April 2019, 100% (23/23) of the students enrolled in the CMB capstone presented their research at the two CMB symposia.

2018 Status
Achieved
In April 2018, 100% (25/25) of the students enrolled in the CMB capstone presented their research at the 2-day CMB symposium.

2017 Status
Achieved
In April 2017 100% (17/17) of the students enrolled in the CMB capstone made a public oral presentation describing some aspect of their research.

2016 Status
Achieved
In April 2016, 100% of CMB students enrolled in the capstone course presented their research at the student-organized CMB symposium.

Outcome L Quantitative and Analytical Reasoning

By the end of they graduate CMB students will have mastered the ability to analyze quantitative data as measured by a nationally-normed exam given to life-science undergraduate majors across the country.
Objective 5 Upon completion of the CMB curriculum, students will score above the 80th percentile in a nationally-normed exam, or exam subsection, which measures Quantitative and Analytical skills compared to other life-science majors.

Measure 1

2019 Status
Achieved
In April 2019 all students in the CMB capstone class took the nationally-normed ETS major fields test in biology and scored in the 96th percentile as a group for the "Analytical Skills" indicator.

2018 Status
Achieved
In April 2018 all CMB students in the capstone took the ETS major fields test and scored in the 87th percentile as a group in the "Analytical Skills" category. Again surpassing our target of the 85th percentile.

2017 Status
Achieved
In April 2017, all CMB majors registered for the capstone took the ETS major fields test. As a group they scored in the 90th percentile in Analytical and Quantitative reasoning.

2016 Status
Achieved
In April 2015 all CMB students registered for the capstone took the ETS Biology Major Fields Test. As a group they scored in the 97th percentile, surpassing by a wide margin the target.

Outcome M Life science content mastery

Students will demonstrate mastery of the principles and concepts of a broad range of the life sciences.
Objective 1 Upon completion of the CMB curriculum, the graduating capstone students as a class, will score above the 80th percentile in a nationally-normed exam, which measures a broad range of life science content.

Measure 1

2019 Status
Achieved
In April of 2019 all students in the CMB capstone class took the ETS Major Fields exam in Biology and scored in the 96th percentile as a class.

2018 Status
Achieved
In April of 2018 all students in the CMB capstone class took the ETS Major Fields exam in Biology and scored in the 91st percentile as a class.

2017 Status
Achieved
In April, 2017, all CMB students enrolled in the capstone course took the ETS biology major fields test and scored in the 94th percentile on the overall score which measures competence in the breadth of the life-sciences.

2016 Status
Achieved
In April 1996 all CMB majors in the capstone class took the ETS Biology major fields test. Compared with programs across the country, our class scored in the 97th percentile in the total range of topics from ecology to molecular biology. This result exceeded our target.