Practices in Action

Discipline-Specific Examples

Discipline-Specific Examples

Don’t see something exactly right for you?

These materials were created in collaboration with Claude AI, starting with the prompt:

You’re an expert at designing creative in-class assessment activities for the university classroom.  I am a faculty developer at an R1 university and I need 10 concrete examples of activities that a faculty member can use for in-class assessments, even for very large classes.  NOTE:  I need activities that are AI-proof and scalable.  This means no oral exams or presentations.

If any of these activities seem close to useful but not-quite-right for your context, try pasting from this page into a Claude chat and ask for suggestions that could bring it closer to “just right” for the details of your needs. 

In this guide:

1. Cold-Text Annotation & Analysis

How it works: An unseen passage, dataset, or image is distributed on paper at the start of class. Students annotate and respond to 3–5 targeted questions.

Biology (STEM) Distribute a novel figure from a recent journal article showing two competing dose-response curves for a new drug candidate. Students have never seen this graph.

Questions on the sheet:

  1. Annotate the graph: label the axes, identify the EC50 for each curve, and mark the therapeutic window.
  2. Which compound shows greater efficacy? Greater potency? Explain the difference.
  3. What experimental limitation of this data would you flag before recommending further trials?

History (Humanities) Distribute a 200-word excerpt from an unidentified 19th-century primary source (e.g., a colonial administrator’s internal memo). Do not reveal the author or date.

Questions on the sheet:

  1. Annotate the text: underline at least three loaded or ideologically revealing word choices.
  2. Based on internal evidence alone, what do you infer about the author’s position and purpose?
  3. What does this document obscure or leave unspoken? What questions would a historian need to ask about its context?

Business / Accounting (Professional) Distribute a partial income statement and balance sheet from a fictional mid-size firm showing three years of data with one anomalous year.

Questions on the sheet:

  1. Annotate the statements: circle any figures that appear anomalous and note why.
  2. Calculate the current ratio and return on assets for Year 2. Show your work.
  3. If you were an auditor, what one line item would you investigate first and why?

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2. Concept Map from Memory

How it works: A blank template with a central concept pre-printed. Students construct a map of 8–10 course terms from memory, with labeled links.

Neuroscience (STEM) Central concept: Synaptic Transmission

Students must incorporate at minimum: action potential, voltage-gated channels, neurotransmitter, vesicle, receptor, reuptake, inhibitory/excitatory, myelin, nodes of Ranvier, and threshold.

Prompt: “Map how these terms relate to one another. Every link between nodes must be labeled with a verb or relational phrase (e.g., ‘triggers,’ ‘inhibits,’ ‘is released into’).”

Sociology (Social Sciences) Central concept: Social Stratification

Students must incorporate at minimum: class, race, gender, cultural capital, social mobility, meritocracy, structural inequality, intersectionality, life chances, and Weber’s three dimensions of stratification.

Prompt: “Show how these concepts interact. Where two concepts reinforce each other, use a solid line. Where they are in tension, use a dashed line. Label all links.”

Nursing / Healthcare (Professional) Central concept: Sepsis Response

Students must incorporate at minimum: SIRS criteria, blood cultures, lactate level, fluid resuscitation, vasopressors, broad-spectrum antibiotics, organ dysfunction, the Sepsis-3 definition, MAP, and the sepsis bundle.

Prompt: “Map the clinical decision pathway using these terms. Use arrows to indicate sequencing and causal relationships.”

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3. Error Detection & Correction

How it works: Students receive work containing 3–5 deliberate errors and must identify, explain, and correct each one.

Chemistry (STEM) Distribute a worked problem showing a student’s attempt to balance a redox reaction in acidic solution using the half-reaction method. Embed errors such as: incorrect assignment of oxidation states, failure to balance oxygen with water molecules, and an arithmetic error in the final combination step.

Prompt: “For each error you find: (a) state what the error is, (b) explain why it is wrong chemically, and (c) show the correct step. Simply circling or crossing out earns no credit.”

Literary Analysis (Humanities) Distribute a short student essay paragraph arguing that The Great Gatsby critiques the American Dream. Embed errors such as: a misattributed quote (slightly altered), a logical leap unsupported by textual evidence, a conflation of the narrator’s voice with the author’s intent, and an unsupported claim about Fitzgerald’s biography.

Prompt: “Identify each error, explain what kind of error it is (factual, logical, interpretive, or evidentiary), and rewrite the sentence or claim correctly.”

Public Policy / Law (Professional) Distribute a one-paragraph policy brief recommending a zoning change. Embed errors such as: a mischaracterization of a cited statute, a cost-benefit claim that reverses the actual data provided in a footnote, and a logical fallacy (e.g., false dichotomy) in the recommendation.

Prompt: “For each error: (a) identify it precisely, (b) explain what is wrong and why it matters for the argument, and (c) provide a corrected version.”

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4. Live Data / Scenario Interpretation

How it works: A novel data artifact is presented in class for the first time. Students respond to structured questions on paper.

Environmental Science (STEM) Project a real-time air quality index map for the local metro region downloaded that morning, showing PM2.5 readings across monitoring stations.

Questions:

  1. Describe the spatial pattern you observe. What is the most likely source of the highest readings?
  2. Which population groups in this region would be at greatest health risk today, and why?
  3. What one additional data layer would most improve your interpretation of this map?

Political Science (Social Sciences) Project a newly released poll crosstab (from that week) showing approval ratings for a policy broken down by age, party, and income.

Questions:

  1. Which demographic cleavage shows the largest gap? Quantify it.
  2. What is one alternative explanation for the pattern you identified beyond party identification?
  3. Identify one methodological question you would ask before reporting this data.

Finance / MBA (Professional) Distribute a one-page cap table from a fictional Series B startup showing pre- and post-money valuations, investor ownership percentages, and a proposed option pool expansion.

Questions:

  1. Calculate the dilution experienced by the founding team as a result of this round. Show your work.
  2. From the perspective of the lead Series B investor, is this a favorable structure? Why or why not?
  3. What negotiation point would you raise if you were representing the Series A investors?

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5. Structured Argument Ranking

How it works: Students receive 4–5 pre-written responses to a scenario and must rank them from strongest to weakest with written justifications.

Physics (STEM) Scenario: A student is asked why a heavier ball and a lighter ball dropped from the same height hit the ground at the same time.

Provide five student “answers” ranging from correct (invoking equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass) to partially correct (invoking Galileo without explanation) to wrong (invoking air resistance as the main factor, or confusing mass and weight).

Prompt: “Rank these answers 1–5 (strongest to weakest). For each rank, write 2–3 sentences explaining specifically why you placed it there. Do not simply say an answer is ‘wrong’ — explain the flaw.”

Ethics / Philosophy (Humanities) Scenario: A self-driving car must choose between two unavoidable collision outcomes. Which action is morally justified?

Provide five responses representing different ethical frameworks: a strict utilitarian calculus, a deontological refusal to treat persons as means, a virtue ethics response, a contractarian response, and a common-sense intuition with no theoretical grounding.

Prompt: “Rank these from most to least philosophically rigorous. Justify each ranking by naming what the response does well or poorly in terms of moral reasoning.”

Medicine / Clinical (Professional) Scenario: A 67-year-old patient with poorly controlled Type 2 diabetes presents with a new foot ulcer. Five treatment approaches are listed, varying in aggressiveness, cost, and adherence to current guidelines.

Prompt: “Rank these from most to least appropriate for this patient. For each rank, specify which guideline principle or clinical consideration drives your judgment. Ranking alone without explanation earns no credit.”

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6. Muddiest Point + Peer Interrogation

How it works: Stage 1 — students write their own specific muddiest point. Stage 2 — papers are swapped; students write a teaching response to their peer’s confusion.

Statistics (STEM) After a lecture on p-values and null hypothesis significance testing:

Stage 1 prompt: “Write your muddiest point. Be specific — don’t write ‘I don’t get p-values.’ Write something like: ‘I understand that p < .05 means we reject the null, but I don’t understand why .05 is the threshold and not .01 or .10.'”

Stage 2 prompt: “Read your partner’s confusion carefully. Write a response that directly addresses their specific question. Use an example if it helps. Do not just re-explain the lecture.”

American Literature (Humanities) After discussion of narrative unreliability in The Remains of the Day:

Stage 1 prompt: “Identify the single moment in today’s reading where Stevens’s unreliability was most difficult for you to interpret. Describe what you understood, what confused you, and what you think might be going on.”

Stage 2 prompt: “Read your partner’s confusion. Write a 5–7 sentence interpretive response. Cite at least one specific textual moment to support your explanation.”

MBA Organizational Behavior (Professional) After a lecture on attribution theory and performance management:

Stage 1 prompt: “Identify the point in today’s lecture where your understanding broke down. Frame it as a question your manager might actually face: ‘I’m confused about what attribution theory tells me to do when…'”

Stage 2 prompt: “Respond to your partner’s question as if you were a management consultant advising them. Be concrete and practical — not just theoretical.”

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7. Course Concept Applied to Local/Campus Context

How it works: Students apply a course concept to a specific, local, and timely context that AI cannot know.

Urban Planning / Geography (Social Sciences) Local anchor: A new mixed-use development was recently approved two blocks from campus.

Prompt: “Apply the concept of gentrification displacement to this development project. Using the framework we discussed, identify: (1) which indicators of displacement pressure are already present, (2) which populations are most at risk, and (3) what one policy intervention from our readings would be most applicable. Your analysis must reference specific features of this local project.”

Public Health (Professional/STEM) Local anchor: The university just released its annual campus health data report (distributed in class).

Prompt: “Identify one health disparity visible in this data and apply the social determinants of health framework to analyze its likely causes. What does this data not tell you that you would need to make a stronger causal argument?”

Media Studies / Communications (Humanities) Local anchor: The student newspaper ran a contested story this week about a campus policy.

Prompt: “Apply framing theory to today’s front-page article. Identify: (1) the primary frame used, (2) what is emphasized and what is omitted, and (3) how a different frame would change the reader’s interpretation of the same facts. Attach the article to your response.”

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8. Before/After Knowledge Comparison

How it works: Students write a brief explanation at the start of class, then revise it at the end — explaining specifically what changed and why.

Immunology (STEM) Before prompt (start of class): “In 3–4 sentences, explain what happens in your body between the moment a pathogen enters and the moment you develop a fever.”

(Lecture on innate vs. adaptive immunity, cytokine signaling, and the inflammatory response)

After prompt (end of class): “Revise your explanation using what you’ve just learned. Underline every change you made. In 2–3 sentences, explain specifically what was incomplete or wrong in your original answer and why.”

Economics (Social Sciences) Before prompt: “In your own words, explain why rent control is or isn’t a good policy for addressing housing affordability.”

(Lecture or Socratic discussion on price ceilings, deadweight loss, and housing market elasticity)

After prompt: “Revise your position using the economic concepts from today. You do not need to change your conclusion — but you must demonstrate that your reasoning is now grounded in supply-and-demand analysis. Explain exactly what your original response was missing.”

Medical Education / Pharmacology (Professional) Before prompt: “Explain how beta-blockers lower blood pressure. Be as specific as you currently can.”

(Lecture on adrenergic receptor pharmacology, cardiac output, and peripheral resistance)

After prompt: “Rewrite your explanation at the level of receptor binding and downstream physiological effects. Circle every term you added from today’s lecture. In one sentence, identify the most significant gap in your original answer.”

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9. Discipline-Specific Sketchnote

How it works: Students create a one-page visual summary — words + hand-drawn diagrams — of a concept from that class session.

Cell Biology (STEM) Prompt: “Create a sketchnote of the cell cycle. Your sketchnote must include: a diagram of all phases with labeled checkpoints, at least two regulatory proteins per checkpoint, what happens when a checkpoint fails, and one clinical implication. Written labels and a one-sentence takeaway are required.”

Grading focus: Accuracy of checkpoint placement; correct protein labeling; meaningful takeaway statement.

Sociology of Education (Social Sciences) Prompt: “Create a sketchnote that captures the argument from today’s lecture on the hidden curriculum. Your sketchnote must include: a definition in your own words, at least two concrete examples, one counterargument or limitation, and a connection to at least one theorist we’ve discussed. Do not use full sentences — use labeled visuals, arrows, and short phrases.”

Grading focus: Accuracy of the concept; quality of examples; presence of critical perspective.

Project Management / Operations (Professional) Prompt: “Create a sketchnote of the critical path method. Include: a hand-drawn network diagram with at least 6 nodes, labeled dependencies, the critical path identified, float for at least two non-critical tasks, and a one-sentence explanation of why float matters to a project manager.”

Grading focus: Diagram accuracy; correct identification of critical path; quality of the written takeaway.

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