As part of the lab, the teams of students also design and carry out a small lab experiment and then present it at the FRC Research Symposium as a research poster. The assignment is collaborative in nature and I have added collaboration with me in order to learn all aspects of creating the poster as part of #Ungrading. Before, I would give students a handout with instructions and I would offer to read through a draft (but students rarely took me up on this) and then I would grade the result. Now I also asset-frame this activity as a learning process for how to do a research poster (vs. students trying to follow my instructions and then me grading the team’s result), I scaffold the various steps and pieces with my instructions, but me giving feedback is built into the process now. As students develop their poster with some initial input from me, I give feedback whenever a team feels their draft is ready for feedback. There will be as several rounds of drafts and feedback as team feels they want/need and in the end each team has a poster that is ready to be presented at a research symposium. In the end, all students not only have had the opportunity to learn how to make a poster, but they have also had the opportunity to make mistakes and then improve their poster without it hurting their final grade and I can finish the course and send my students into the world knowing they all do know how to do a research poster.

·         I feel I have learned a lot more through this type of learning and grading than in my other classes. Being able to discuss and learn from classmates has helped me to focus less on just receiving a good grade and more on understanding the material.

·         This course allowed me to ask questions about material I felt I didn’t get rather than stress about it. 

·         I liked it because it gave us an opportunity to put our minds to the test instead of just copying notes.

·         With the teaching and testing style of this course I was able to focus on learning and understanding the material by being able to go back and review and apply the notes we have taken in class.

·         I liked that I could focus on the material rather than cramming for a test.  I also liked how you apply the information in this course to lab and other connections.

·         Never once was I stressed about my grade, and I feel like I did learn the material.

·         This setup made coming to class less stressful and more fun.

·         The opportunity to debate my answers, challenging my perceptions and gaining perspective from alternative approaches really helped to understand and solve problems. 
·         For my learning I looked to (names several students in the class) to understand. The opportunity to ask others is appreciated.

·         I feel I like I learned a lot and even when we had a test, I was not stressed about it because I felt confident.

·         I liked a lot of the small activities. From the outside they seemed a little ‘elementary’, but honestly, they really helped me grasp a lot of the concepts. 

·         ·         I wasn’t as focused on grades which is huge for me. Instead, I was so fascinated by the course material that I was more focused on learning. 

·         Being able to talk to others and have groups helped me so much. In the past I was always trying to figure out what the instructor wanted me to answer on a test whether I understood the material or not. I was a good student, but now I am a good student that understands the material.

·         I have always been very focused on grades and can sometimes rush through the learning in a course. This style of teaching allowed to put less stress on myself and work with others in order to learn the material better.

·         I think the labs and test set—up discussions helped me understand my own notes better because I could hear other people’s logic. And their logic would make me rethink the problem and/or review the material again.

·         It was nice that I was never stressed on getting high scores and I still completed all assignments.

·         The way this course is set-up allowed me to focus on the material and made me work to learn and grasp the concept rather than just memorizing a bunch of stuff.

·         I have always been primarily focused on my grades in classes and sometimes I get too caught up in the grade that I overlook learning. This teaching style has helped me not to stress about the grade, as I can look to others and even change my mind if needed, helping me to look past the grade and focus on the material and lessons in the class.

·         I have completely changed as a scholar this year. I really like the class setting. It allowed me to learn more and alleviate all my stress.

·         I face the challenge of doing what I can do easily to get a good grade instead of putting in effort to learn the material. However, in this class that was not the case because I didn’t focus on my grade. I need to do that more.

·         I face struggles in fearing that I place a certain concept to an idea that might be a little off. I need to trust in my knowledge and know that I am able to explain my reasoning in a precise and thorough way.

·         I think I have improved with sharing my ideas with other without fears that my ideas are wrong or irrelevant.

·         My ability as a scholar has improved in the aspect that I feel more at home in a science classroom. 

·         It’s giving me more confidence to be able to ask questions to deepen my understanding. Being about to ask questions has really been the key.

 ·         I have become more confident, and I am excited to learn. I think realizing that making mistakes is a good thing helped me want to ask more questions and participate.

·         I had space in the course to really begin to figure out what works for me, i.e. study habits, planning and time management.

·         I have learned not to obsess over grades. My most significant changes and successes are feeling more confident in myself and the material we learned.

·         By not focusing on my grade so much I have become more diligent with assignments. I am now motivated to actually do assignments on time rather than last minute or late. 

·         My biggest change is my confidence in the ability to understand the material.

·         I have changed over this semester as I have been able to focus more on my education and understanding of the material rather than just looking at the grade I get. This has helped to be more engaged in class as well as I am focused on the material.

·         I have become a more focused student who thinks more critically and analytically rather than just memorizing.

·         I finally realized that colony description and bacterial morphology/arrangement are two different things. By me making this mistake, we all went back to the notes and got it straightened out. It made me realize that it is a good idea to check what is in my brain against my notes.

·         Everyone in my group disagreed with my answer but I stand by it after checking my notes. I also feel that I explained it really well. (It was a great answer!)

·         I remember being confused about this in lecture and my initial answer shows this, but after talking it over with my classmates I understand this now and the addition to my initial answers shows that.