This assignment is designed to encourage students in introductory-level religious studies classes to check the assumptions they bring to the subject matter and to develop their critical inquiry skills in this area through close examination of primary text passages. The primary textual sources used may be contemporary or historical, depending on the course context.

The assignment consists of two sequenced exercises:
Part one. In-class writing exercise analyzing an unidentified passage (1-2 pages)
Part two. Reflection and expanded analysis of the identified passage using scholarly sources (3-4 pages)

Document includes student learning objectives, assignment description (for instructors), assignment instructions with checklist (for students), additional questions for reflection or discussion, and example primary source passages for use in the exercises.

This small group zine-making activity can be adapted for any discipline.

In biology or health classes, assign each student a 'diagnosis'. Have them act as responsible patients by investigating both the diagnosis and the prescribed treatment. Results presented in a two-page paper should cover: a description of the condition and its symptoms; its etiology; its prognosis; the effectiveness of the prescribed treatment, its side effects and contradictions, along with the evidence; and a comparison of the relative effectiveness of alternate treatments.

This activity was created to introduce first-year students to library resources they can use for their annotated bibliography assignment. In pairs, students are assigned a task card that requires them to find an information source. After finding a source meeting the criteria of their task card, the student teams input their answers into a Google Form. Formative assessment takes place during class, allowing the librarian to modify instruction on-the-spot based on the responses from the form.

Summative assessment takes place at the end of the semester, when a rubric is applied to a sample of student responses from the activity. This assessment provides a more thorough picture of where students may have succeeded or struggled with the activity, and may provide ideas for how to adjust the activity in the future.

This recipe is from The First-Year Experience Cookbook, edited by Raymond Pun and Meggan Houlihan and written by Elisa Slater Acosta and Katherine Donaldson.

This resource and accompanying assignment focuses on evaluating news sources/claims and were used in an online information literacy class.