Assessment Items for Philosophy and History of Science unit

For IDT 7100 - Online and Blended Assessment, I had to develop a variety of assessment items, taking into consideration the following:
  • Learning Objectives for the Philosophy and History of Science unit
  • Cognitive Process Domains of Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create
  • Knowledge Dimensions of Factual, Conceptual, Procedural, and Metacognitive

Informed by many articles and websites on how to develop effective assessment items, I put together exam questions in True/False, Completion, Multiple Choice, and Matching formats.

After these items were developed for face-to-face administration, they were reformatted for online delivery using an app for test-taking.

Learning Objectives for the Unit

  • Remember LO 1: Provide the names of key influential natural philosophers from the 17th century, and describe their contributions to science at large.
  • Understand LO 2: Explain why it was Christianized Western Europe that was most fruitful in the consolidation and establishment of an empirical and experimental science, citing what you learned about the various cultural milieus in which technologies emerged globally.
  • Apply LO 3: When provided with theoretical experiment examples, students will select one and apply select steps from the scientific method (making observations, generating a hypothesis, developing an experimental protocol) to outline a plan that might work in the experiments execution.
  • Analyze LO 4: Differentiate between the various steps of the Scientific Method (making observations, generating a hypothesis, developing an experimental protocol, collecting data, analyzing the results), by explaining how each contributes to the support or refutation of a hypothetical statement concerning natural phenomenon.
  • Evaluate LO 5: Understanding the intellectual and cultural milieu in which the scientific revolution took place, reflect, then explain how Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic thought inhibited it's earlier consolidation.
  • Create LO 6: Generate two timelines: (1) showing the evolution of philosophical thought impacting the culture leading up to the Scientific Revolution, and (2) the life spans of the philosophers, statesmen, theologians, astronomers, physicists, and chemists who contributed to it.

True/ False

True/ False. If the below statement is true, circle T; if false, circle F:
  1. T  F     Francis Bacon – a British statesman - was greatly influential in the development of the Scientific Method. LO #1
  2. T  F     Aristotelian thinking – which assigned teleological purpose to all matter – greatly facilitated the consolidation of science during the 17th century. LO #5
  3. T  F     According to Pearcey and Thaxton (1994) Hindu belief systems created a cultural and philosophical environment that encouraged the development of empirical science. LO #2

Completion

Completion. Complete each statement by filling in the blanks.
  1. A testable statement that can be supported or refuted by well-designed experimentation is called a(n) _________________. LO #4     Ans.: hypothesis
  2. The philosophy that facilitated a pantheistic view of nature (as opposed to one more mechanistic) is known as ____________. LO #5     Ans.: neo-Platonism
  3. The name of the first modern chemist (1627-1691), who developed gas laws relating pressure to volume, and was one of the pioneers of the Scientific Method was _______________.    LO #1     Ans. Robert Boyle

Multiple Choice

Multiple Choice. Write in the blank provided the best answer for each of the following questions (2 points each)
1. _B_ Which of the below statements does NOT reflect beliefs that contributed to the development of empirical science?
            A. Since the Biblical God is one of law and order, nature must similarly follow laws with predictable and mathematical precision.
            B. Since everything we observe in nature came into being by the Biblical God, nature by necessity is also divine.
            C. The Adamic fall instilled in humanity cognitive depravity, making human “reason” alone insufficient for acquiring reliable knowledge about nature.
            D. Since the fall impaired human’s sensory channels (vision, hearing, smell), highly technical instrumentation must be used to study nature.
LO #2

_D_     2. If you were Johannes Kepler, what step of the scientific method would characterize the statement, “After much observation and quantitative analysis, the orbit by which Mars revolves around the sun is elliptical.”
            A. Formulating a hypothesis
            B. Developing testable experiment
            C. Collecting data and calculations
            D. Drawing conclusions
LO's #3, 4

_A_     3. Which of the below statements describes early Greek thought that inhibited the consolidation of an empirical scientific method?
            A. Since the Greek gods are capricious and unpredictable, nature is similarly unknowable.
            B. Because the Greek deities were transcendental and existed before matter, they had total control over the material world.
            C. Greek deities generated a material world that operates under predictable laws, much like a clock.
            D. Since material objects do not have any teleological purpose, the laws influencing them are regular.
LO #5

_A_     4. If you believed in a geocentric (Earth-centered) universe, which of the below observations would generate significant doubt for this position?
            A. Elliptical orbits of planets better explain their relative motions to the Sun.
            B. Earth appears to be unmoving from the perspective of an earthbound observer.
            C. The sun appears to revolve around Earth once per day, in a 24-hour period.
            D. The stars appear to be embedded within a celestial sphere, rotating about Earth.
LO #4

Matching

MATCHING – Place the correct letter corresponding to the historical figure at the left to their philosophical position characterized at right in the space provided – each letter is used only once. (1 point each)
References:
Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., & Bloom, B. S. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. Allyn & Bacon.
Clay, B., & Root, E. (2001). Is this a trick question? A short guide to writing effective test questions. Retrieved from: https://www.k-state.edu/ksde/alp/resources/Handout-Module6.pdf
Harrison, P. (2007). The fall of man and the foundations of science. Cambridge University Press.
​Harrison, P. (2001). The Bible, Protestantism, and the rise of natural science (No. 10). Cambridge University Press.
Klaaren, E. M. (1977). Religious origins of modern science: belief in creation in seventeenth-century thought. William B. Eerdman’s Publishing: Grand Rapids, MI.
Pearcey, N. & Paxton, C.B. (1997). The soul of science: Christian faith and natural philosophy. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books
Image Credits:
Image credit of the Milky Way Galaxy: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Caltech). Retrieved from: https://astronomynow.com/2015/06/07/charting-the-milky-way-from-the-inside-out/
Image of vintage periodic table of elements retrieved from: https://printmeposter.com/blog/periodic-table-poster-efficient-visual-aid-for-a-chemistry-class-and-a-great-decoration-for-walls/
Image of Michelangelo's God and Adam's hands retrieved from: https://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2010/05/michelangelo-and-neuroanatomy.html
Image of Robert Boyle retrieved from: https://www.dkfindout.com/us/science/famous-scientists/robert-boyle/
Image of Isaac Newton retrieved from: https://www.history.com/.image/t_share/MTU3ODc5MDg1MzU5NTcyMjk3/sir-isaac-newton.jpg
Image of Robert Boyle's manuscript cover retrieved from: https://allthingsdiving.com/timeline/robert-boyle-law-ideal-gas/