Podcast E1: Beyond Multiple Choice: Rethinking Assessment in STEM
What does it really mean for a student to think like a scientist? Is it remembering the right answer, or knowing how to approach a problem when things don't go as expected?
In the first episode of The Modern Classroom by Catalyst Education podcast, host and educator Dr. Tricia Rushing sits down with instructional designer Dr. Sharleen Flowers to explore how educators can move beyond traditional testing and create more meaningful learning experiences.
Their conversation explores authentic assessment in higher education, including practical strategies for evaluating scientific reasoning, encouraging collaboration, and helping students learn from mistakes.
Why Multiple-Choice Exams Don't Tell the Whole Story
Traditional multiple-choice exams are efficient and easy to grade, especially in large STEM courses. But they don't always capture the skills students need to succeed in the lab or beyond the classroom.
Students need opportunities to demonstrate not just what they remember, but what they can do with their knowledge.
Scientific understanding involves much more than memorizing facts and formulas. Students also need to:
Apply knowledge to unfamiliar problems and situations.
Analyze data and make sense of unexpected results.
Troubleshoot experiments when things don't go as planned.
Collaborate and communicate their scientific reasoning.
“A multiple choice exam is going to be training our students to be human databases. And we want to train them to think like scientists.” — Dr. Sharleen Flowers
Why Productive Failure Matters in Science
In scientific research, unexpected results are part of the process. Experiments don't always work as planned, and learning to interpret those outcomes is an essential scientific skill.
Yet traditional grading can sometimes reward students for producing the expected result rather than understanding the process that led there.
“We need to design assessments that reward productive failure. It's rewarding that thought process, not necessarily the final product.” — Dr. Sharleen Flowers
Instead of focusing exclusively on correct answers, educators can also assess how students:
Explain unexpected experimental outcomes.
Identify errors and adjust their approach.
Interpret data and support their conclusions.
Reflect on what they learned throughout the process.
A successful learning experience doesn't always produce a successful experiment.
3 Assessment Strategies Worth Trying
Moving toward more meaningful assessment doesn't have to mean more grading work. Throughout the episode, Sharleen shares practical alternative assessment methods that can work even in large-enrollment STEM courses.
1. Specifications Grading: Focus on Competency, Not Points
Rather than assigning points across a complicated rubric, specifications grading establishes clear criteria students must meet to demonstrate competency.
Students know exactly what's expected, receive targeted feedback, and can be given opportunities to revise and resubmit their work.
Why it works: It makes expectations more transparent, shifts attention toward mastery, and can simplify grading for instructors and TAs.
2. Two-Stage Exams: Make Assessment Collaborative
Students first complete an exam independently, then work in small groups to revisit questions, discuss their reasoning, and agree on answers.
This transforms part of the assessment into an active learning experience where students explain concepts and learn from one another.
Why it works: It preserves individual accountability while encouraging collaboration, peer instruction, and immediate reflection.
3. Reverse Exam Questions: Put Students in the Instructor's Seat
Instead of answering questions, students create their own. They develop a question, identify the correct answer, construct plausible incorrect answers, and explain their reasoning.
Why it works: Writing meaningful questions requires students to engage more deeply with the material and recognize their own misconceptions.
When Technology Serves Pedagogy
While these assessment strategies offer exciting possibilities, implementing them across hundreds of students can be challenging.
That's where thoughtful instructional design and the right technology can help.
At Catalyst Education, the process starts with understanding an instructor's learning goals and teaching approach, not asking them to adapt their course to fit a rigid platform.
“We can wrap our technology around their pedagogy.” — Dr. Sharleen Flowers
Our platform helps educators put these principles into practice with tools that support:
Flexible grading workflows, including specifications-based rubrics.
Timely, targeted feedback that helps students learn from mistakes.
Authentic data analysis, using students' own experimental results.
Streamlined grading, reducing repetitive tasks for instructors and TAs.
By reducing administrative work, technology can give educators more time to focus on what matters most: helping students learn.
Listen to the Full Conversation
Rethinking assessment isn't about abandoning academic rigor or eliminating traditional exams. It's about creating more opportunities for students to demonstrate the critical thinking, problem-solving, and scientific reasoning skills they'll need beyond the classroom.
As the conversation reminds us:
“When technology serves pedagogy, we don’t just scale courses, we scale human potential in STEM.”
In the first episode of The Modern Classroom By Catalyst Podcast, Dr. Tricia Rushing and Dr. Sharleen Flowers explore these ideas and more, sharing practical ways to make meaningful assessment possible in today's STEM classrooms.
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