Assessment in BioBeyond

No quizzes, no tests, and no need to cram for either — in BioBeyond, your students are assessed as they go, earning points while they learn.

In each lesson, BioBeyond uses a novel continuous assessment and scoring system, where students are evaluated near-constantly as they complete their lessons. In addition, students complete three major projects:

1. My Classification, in which they build their own unique classification of 50 organisms using their own observations
2. Blue Planet Report, where students synthesize data from six different lessons to build a holistic picture of a changing Earth and design a plan to address it
3. A Mission Beyond, where students take the role of a NASA mission planner charged with ensuring the crew’s survival and fitness on the first crewed mission to Mars.

The major projects are joined by dozens of minor projects ranging from assembling DNA to manipulating complex systems and exploring paleobiological dig sites, encouraging students to explore the unknown and learn by doing.

Our decision to implement a continuous scoring method was informed by educational research, which has shown that continuous scoring reduces “cramming” by students, improves student motivation and retention, and through a robust feedback system can help students develop strong metacognition, enabling them to anticipate where misconceptions and errors may occur before they do.

For lesson scoring, screens in BioBeyond are broken down into the following categories. These categories are listed with their most common scoring values, but some circumstances may adjust these. Please refer to the lesson in the Workspace for specific information on each screen.

Informational:

• Informational screens display information but do not call for a student interaction.
• Maximum score: 0
• Maximum attempts: none

Formative:

• Formative screens ask the student to answer one or more questions about material they have not yet learned, or to make a hypothesis.
• Maximum score: 1 upon completion (trap state scoring)
• Maximum attempts: none

Instructional:

• Instructional screens convey new material and require student interaction demonstrating their understanding of that new material.
• Maximum score: 5
• Maximum attempts: The lesser of 5 or the number of options on screen

Simulation or Key Activity:

• A screen with a custom interactive animation or key activity where the student may be scored based on their performance within the simulation or activity.
• Maximum score: 10 upon completion (trap state scoring)
• Maximum attempts: none, the student must succeed to proceed

Summative:

• Summative screens have one or more questions on material the student has had significant time and assistance to learn.
• Maximum score: 20
• Maximum attempts: The lesser of 5 or the number of options on screen

Remediative:

• Remediative screens allow students to review prior content before proceeding in lessons that require that knowledge.
• Maximum score: 0
• Maximum attempts: The lesser of 5 or the number of options on screen

Metacognitive:

• Metacognitive screens provide a moment to encourage students to pause and reflect on what they have learned.
• Maximum score: 0
• Maximum attempts: none, students must respond to proceed