#EvidenceBased
Identify and appropriately structure the information needed to support an argument effectively.
A written or spoken communication that is intended to make a specific point should clearly present relevant and persuasive evidence. Doing this well is a two-step process. First, one must identify the evidence relevant to supporting the conclusion. The argument must be formulated to be consistent with the supporting evidence and should address apparent contradictions. Second, one must arrange evidence effectively. This means anticipating where ones audience will notice a need for evidence, determining how much evidence will be needed given the strength of the conclusion, and deciding on how best to present the evidence (e.g., as a set of claims, a figure, a quote, or a paraphrase). In all cases, written and spoken, evidence should support underlying assumptions and show that implications of the argument are consistent with established facts and principles.
Example
You have a proposal for how to help your elementary school students learn math, and need to convince your academic supervisor that it is worth implementing. While preparing your presentation, you organize evidence to support two main lines of reasoning: interventional studies that showed the efficiency of the method and results of similar programs in other cities that were able to learn more complex materials with a curriculum involving this method. You select the best original figures and results, interpret them and add overarching conclusions from the individual examples and the evidence as a whole. You evaluate the studies you present, explaining the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence you use and explaining why it is generalizable to your school. Finally, you mention potential counterarguments to the method such as the associated capital and labor costs, but explain why the advantages that the implementation offers outweigh the disadvantages.
Rubric
0
Did not submit the assigned item, or submitted something that does not meet the minimum standard.
1
Does not identify or use evidence to support an argument when prompted, or does so mostly or entirely ineffectively.
2
Identifies or uses evidence to support an argument only somewhat accurately or presents evidence in a confusing manner; (when applicable) ineffectively evaluates the appropriateness or effectiveness of evidence presented by others.
3
Identifies or uses appropriate evidence to support an argument; presents evidence in a clear and accessible manner; (when applicable) effectively evaluates the appropriateness or effectiveness of evidence presented by others.
4
Explains or justifies the appropriate identification and use of evidence to support an argument; (when applicable) effectively evaluates the presentation of evidence for a given purpose by others and provides justification for the evaluation.
#Professionalism
Ensure that your communication follows established guidelines and use a careful editing process.
Part of effective communication involves presenting yourself and your work in an appropriate and professional manner. To communicate effectively, consider the norms for presenting yourself to others, including tone, forms of address, and the use of slang or informal speech. Always proofread written work for errors, properly attribute quotations, ideas, data and other sources, and follow conventional practices regarding attribution and formatting for the type of communication you are crafting. Different academic disciplines have different formatting conventions, and it is important to use the expected standards. More broadly, ensure that your approach to communication, whether verbal or written, meets or surpasses the expectations relevant to the context.
Example
Your new marketing firm has submitted a proposal to a chain of grocery stores that is seeking a fresh approach to its branding. Before you submitted your proposal, you asked several people to proofread it, verified design and font choices were kept consistent throughout, ensured figures and images were readable, formatted all titles and subtitles uniformly, and took great care that every aspect of it was presented according to the highest professional standards for your field. You made sure to properly attribute any information about behavioral economics research to the authors of the respective articles, using proper APA-style in-text citations and adding a bibliography. The grocery chains CEO later remarked that he was very impressed by the professionalism of your proposal, noting that it reflected well on your attention to detail, honesty, and interest in the project.
Rubric
0
Did not submit the assigned item, or submitted something that does not meet the minimum standard.
1
Does not communicate or present work products professionally, by using inappropriate tone, forms of address, or informal speech, failing to attribute quotations and ideas, using improper formatting, not following guidelines, or failing to proofread to correct obvious grammatical or spelling errors in the text.
2
Communicates or presents work products only somewhat professionally by using some inappropriate forms of speech, failing to attribute some quotations and ideas, using some improper formatting, not following some guidelines, or failing to proofread to correct some obvious grammatical or spelling errors in the text.
3
Communicates or presents work products professionally by using appropriate forms of speech given the context, attributing quotations and ideas, using proper formatting, following guidelines, and proofreading to correct grammatical or spelling errors in the text.
4
Demonstrates a deep grasp of how to communicate appropriately or present work products in a professional manner by following nuanced conventions for the audience, context, or discipline.
#SystemAnalysis
Analyze and apply decompositions of systems into constituent parts at multiple levels of analysis.
Complex systems can be deconstructed in a variety of ways that define both the scope of the system as well as the relevant attributes of its components (in social systems, most commonly, people). Thus, the key part of deconstructing a system is conceptualizing its constituent parts in several ways in order to choose or synthesize the mapping of the system that is most appropriate for addressing the explanatory challenge. To understand and explain the characteristics and behavior of complex systems, one may conduct this research on different scales, or levels of analysis. Of particular interest are social systems, which can roughly be divided into an individual, or micro level, a group, or meso level, and a system, or macro level. For many of the questions were interested in, an explanation that is situated on one level of analysis may be insufficient on its own to address the explanatory challenge, and a multilevel analysis is necessary.
Example
You work at a hospital thats trying to reduce spending. Your manager asks you to make a diagram showing the structure of the organization to identify inefficiencies. You are contemplating how to create this diagram. You first choose to represent the organization by separating it into different departments because the employees within each work together closely, and therefore are expected to share some norms and views about the organizations. While this decomposition reveals the dynamics of interactions between large groups such as the lack of communication between the medical staff in different departments or between the medical and cleaning staff, there are no obvious inefficiencies. You then decide to deconstruct the system by focusing on the roles of individuals and find that each department has its own educational campaigning function and that there is little communication between those working on educational campaigns in different departments. It turns out that there is a large amount of money being spent on educational campaigns overall. This was not obvious when the system was deconstructed by department because education campaigns are funded by each department separately, at relatively low cost. You advise making educational campaigns a central process, consolidating common costs and being able to prioritize what should be budgeted.
Rubric
0
Did not submit the assigned item, or submitted something that does not meet the minimum standard.
1
Fails to deconstruct a system when prompted; deconstructs a system mostly or entirely inaccurately, without regard to the explanatory challenge; or distinguish an appropriate level of analysis.
2
Deconstructs a system only somewhat effectively or does so in ways that fail to address the explanatory challenge; distinguishes an appropriate level of analysis only somewhat accurately by failing to identify some relevant levels or addressing a level that is not contextually salient.
3
Deconstructs a system into plausible component parts in ways that are useful for addressing the explanatory challenge; describes why the deconstruction is useful. Distinguishes appropriate levels of analysis given the explanatory context; (when applicable) identifies the significance of multi-level analysis.
4
Deconstructs a system into plausible component parts and explains how the deconstruction best serves to address a clearly articulated explanatory challenge; (when applicable) effectively compares multiple deconstructions of a system. Analyzes and explains one or more appropriate levels of analysis that are relevant to the explanatory context; justifies focus on one or more particular levels; (when applicable) explains specific interactions between levels and justifies their relevance to the explanatory challenge or context; (when applicable) explains the significance of multi-level of analysis.
#EmergentProperties
Identify emergent properties of complex systems and discern their causes.
Some properties of complex systems, such as mass, are easily understood as trivial combinations of the properties of their parts: the total mass of all Zayed students is the sum of the mass of each student. Other system-level properties are not easily understood as the sum of the properties of each part, due to the interactions between the parts: the total learning gained by Zayed students each year is not the sum of the each students capacity for learning because interactions (e.g., discussion and joint activities) lead to additional learning. Emergent properties can usually, in principle, be analyzed and predicted in terms of the properties and interactions of the parts in a system; in practice, there are often limits to our ability to know and think about all parts and interactions, and so thinking in terms of the emergent property itself can be useful as well. Emergent properties typically occur at a higher level of analysis, and so emergent properties are macro-level properties.
Example
Inspired by your first experiences learning and using Python, you join a group of students learning JavaScript. Indeed, you are so excited you then join a second JavaScript-learning group as well. You have particularly high hopes for the second group, since it contains a couple of students who already know some JavaScript and are particularly motivated to learn even more. In general, the students in the second group seem more knowledgeable, and also seem more motivated to increase their knowledge. Much to your surprise, it is the first group that learns more. The first group gels better, creating norms of mutual support and encouragement, and working together on tough problems, and so group-level properties like commitment to working consistently towards better programming ability are higher than would be expected just by looking at the individual members in isolation. Fourteen months later, most of the members from the first group are still working together, and have just won their first hackathon.
Rubric
0
Did not submit the assigned item, or submitted something that does not meet the minimum standard.
1
Fails to recall or apply the concept of emergent properties when prompted; identifies an emergent property of a complex system mostly or entirely inaccurately.
2
Identifies emergent properties only somewhat accurately by mis-describing them or confusing them with more predictable extensive properties; proposes implausible causes for emergent properties.
3
Accurately identifies an emergent property of a complex system; identifies plausible causes of an emergent property; (when applicable) identifies the significance of emergent properties in systems.
4
Effectively identifies and explains the classification of a property as emergent or explains why specific causes give rise to the relevant property; explains the significance of a particular emergent property given the relevant problems or goals; (when applicable) makes plausible predictions about conditions under which emergent properties may manifest; (when applicable) explains the significance of emergent properties in systems.
