Development of the BioCalculus Assessment (BCA)

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through NSF award DUE- 1544375, EAGER: Assessing Impacts on Student Learning in Mathematics from Inclusion of Biological, Real-World Examples, to the University of Tennessee. Additional support was provided by the NSF through award DBI-1300426, National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, to the University of Tennessee. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. We thank the panel of expert reviewers, students who participated in focus groups and pilot studies for assistance in question refinement, instructors who administered the test, and students who took the exam and provided consent to use their scores. We also thank Virginia Parkman and Gregory Wiggins for their efforts in data management and graphics during the research project. This article benefited greatly from the very helpful comments of several reviewers and the editor. For access to the BioCalculus Assessment, please contact Suzanne Lenhart at [email protected].