Diagnostics and rubrics for assessing learning across the computational science curriculum

Abstract We describe our experiences with learning assessment in a new computational science program. We report on the development and pilot testing of assessment tools in both core and cognate courses. Specifically, we detail a diagnostic assessment that predicted success in our introductory computational science course with reasonable reliability; we give an account of our use of an existing assessment tool to investigate how introducing computational thinking in a cognate course influences learning of the traditional course material; and we discuss rubric development for project evaluation.

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