Use of a Scoring Rubric to Evaluate Student Responses to Warm Ups
Kathy Marrs, IUPUI

Warm Up questions in N100 are worth (3) points, and students are not graded for ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers (3 points are given to all students who respond on time to Warm Ups). However, in analyzing student responses to warm ups for research purposes, I have found this rubric to be helpful in determining any misconceptions a student might have, how thoroughly the students were able to answer a question, how much they used resources available to them, and even how well a particular Warm Up question was constructed.

Scoring Rubric:

1 – No Demonstrated Understanding: Student says he / she does not know how to answer the Warm Up question.

2 – Elementary Understanding: (Minimal Accurate Prior Knowledge) Student tries to answer the Warm Up question but shows minimal accurate previous knowledge to assist in answering. Student shows significant misconceptions about concepts. Student does not use any information from the text or lecture notes to answer the question. (Incorrect answer)

3 – Intermediate Understanding: (Moderate Accurate Prior Knowledge) Student shows some accurate prior knowledge and may use correct terminology to answer the Warm Up question. Student does not use appropriate information from the text or lecture notes to answer the question. (May be partially correct but still incomplete).

4 – Formal Understanding: (Correct and Complete Prior Knowledge) Student answers the Warm Up question correctly and completely. Student incorporates information from the text or class notes into the answer. Student may look for answer outside the class (web, etc) or go beyond question to apply to other concepts.

 
Adapted from de Caprariis, Barman, and Magee (2001), Monitoring The Benefits of Active Learning Exercises in Introductory Survey Courses in Science: An Attempt to Improve The Education of Prospective Public School Teachers. Journal Of Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning (JoSoTL) 1:1-11