2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In this work-in-progress paper, the instructor has implemented mastery grading into a Chemistry for Engineers course. The common grading conventions of US colleges and universities generally involve students earning points that accumulate and result in a final grade according to the percentage of points earned. This grading system rewards the students able to attend class every session and learn on the timeline the instructor determines. This inherited practice skews outcomes against already underserved student populations in typical engineering education. Traditional grading practices have an embedded hidden curriculum that rewards behaviors such as attendance, participation, and turning assignments in on time rather than assessing the understanding of the content. This system favors the students that already know how to “do school”.
The good news is that there are alternative assessment methods that are more equitable. All students can benefit from more equitable grading practices. These alternative methods are often referred to as “ungrading” and are commonly embraced in arts and humanities courses. Translating these grading practices to the STEM fields often draws concerns that the academic rigor will be diminished. With mastery grading, rather than earning points, the students are assessed on their level of mastery on a variety of content outcomes. Mastery grading allows for learning to be student-centered and focuses on the understanding of course content on the student’s timeline. Mastery grading promotes the growth mindset and highlights the learning process as a continuum rather than focusing on fixed high-stakes assessments. This paper describes the methods of implementing mastery grading, developing outcomes and assessments as well as how students reacted to this change of grading method. The paper also compares outcomes from this newly revised version of the course to the more traditionally assessed version. Suggestions for further research on this practice in other engineering courses are also offered.