Teaching Science and Mathematics Unit I College Teaching and Student Learning Spring 2012 IBS 500R-001 Monday and Wed 11:45-1 in ECIT 214 Woodruff Library weekly session :Science Education Research Journal Club Fridays 4-5pm

Professors: Dr. Pat Marsteller, Office: Center for Science Education 1397 Oxford Rd. Office Hours: By appt. only Email: [email protected] Phone: 404-727-9696

Course Objectives: This course examines the underlying practices of teaching science and mathematics at the college level. Students will learn a variety of factors that influence teaching and learning in an attempt to discover and define what it means to be an effective college teacher. We will also discuss theory, techniques, and strategies for helping students become active learners. Students will work to create a seminar module that they will teach during Unit II.

Course Overview: The content of this course will include, but not be limited to, characteristics of good teaching, factors that influence student learning, motivation, technology use, professional development, and ethics. The course will meet two hours weekly where one hour will be devoted to discussing topics pertinent to teaching while the second hour will work on the development of a freshman and sophomore seminar course or a course module.

Course Philosophy Class will be structured in seminar format. This seminar is designed to introduce scholarly in-depth study of teaching literature and to engage participants in actual teaching practices. We hope to engender taking a scientific approach to teaching practice. Participants will learn elements of scientific teaching: how to develop, evaluate and assess teaching practices in the context of their own disciplines. They will examine recommendations for active learning and students engagement. They will also learn how disciplinary practices differ.

In this seminar the role and responsibility of the teacher is not to dispense information and fact, but instead to guide development, to be provocative, to encourage and to instill love of learning. Teachers can help students make connections to other disciplines and to the “real world”. In short the teacher is more “the guide on the side; not the sage on the stage.”

The role of the students is different from what many have experienced. Although listening and recording skills are important, students have the often novel responsibility of questioning, reflecting deeply on the course material, finding new information, identifying learning issues, and relating course content to previous beliefs, ideas and conceptions. Learning outcomes Participants in this course will be able to: 1. compare and contrast scientific teaching approaches. 2. discuss engaged learning strategies and evaluate these approaches for college teaching 3. Using principles of backwards design, students will construct a teachable unit based on their research area or on a particular concept of interest. 4. discuss the significance of student learning styles, background and misconceptions on design of courses and course units. 5. Adapt one case and create one new case. 6. Construct several types of assessments, both formative and summative. 7. Develop a teaching philosophy statement 8. Discuss appropriate ethical principles and practice in college teaching. Texts Course readings will be posted on Blackboard and the two texts below will be required for students. Innovative Techniques for Large-Group Instruction. 2002 NSTA Press. (Referred to as, “Innovative Techniques”) Handbook of College Science Teaching. JJ Mintzes and WH Leonard, eds. 2006 NSTA Press. (Referred to as, “Handbook”) Please purchase Scientific Teaching by Jo Handelsman, Sarah Miller, and Christine Pfund. Hardcover. 184 pages. Publisher: W.H. Freeman & Company, in collaboration with Roberts & Company Publishers (2006). ISBN-13 978-1-4292-0188-9 ISBN-10 1-4292-0188-6 Scientific Teaching is available through Amazon.com. You may also order the book directly through W.H. Freeman & Co.'s faculty services (1-800-446-8923). This book is not available for download.

Honor Code reminder: The assignments in this course not only allow but demand group work and participation. Citation of sources of ideas and attribution of which members of the collaborative teams contributed to the final works is an essential element of the course. Participants agree to read and abide by the Emory College honor code. http://www.college.emory.edu/current/standards/honor_code.html “Academic misconduct is an offense generally defined as any action or inaction which is offensive to the integrity and honesty of the members of the academic community. This offense includes, but is not limited to, the following: (a) Seeking, acquiring, receiving, or giving information about the conduct of an examination, knowing that the release of such information has not been authorized: (b) Plagiarizing; (c) Seeking, using, giving, or obtaining unauthorized assistance or information in any academic assignment or examination; (d) Intentionally giving false information to professors or instructors for the purpose of gaining academic advantage; (e) Breach of any duties prescribed by this Code; (f) Intentionally giving false evidence in any Honor Council hearing or refusing to give evidence when requested by the Honor Council.”

Attendance Policy: Since much of our work will be as collaborative groups, punctuality and attendance is essential. Team members are responsible for ensuring that all work is completed in a timely fashion and that if they must miss a session that they provide work products to their team members.

Class Schedule Generally, for each week, we will spend the first session exploring the assigned readings and the second session practicing or presenting the techniques that we have discussed.

Electronic copies of all readings outside of above texts will be posted on the class’ Blackboard site. Learnlink will be used as a repository of class activities and products, as well as a place for us to communicate and collaborate.

Wednesday January 18 Course Introduction Intros: Who am I? Who are you? What are your career goals? Exercise: Best Class, Worst Class: What were the characteristics of the Teacher that made it so? please post a short description of an example of a good and a bad learning experience from your past. Read each other’s posts!

Where are you on the Active Learning Continuum? Continuum of course objectives Acquisition of knowledge ------Acquisition of skills Interaction in your classroom Limited interaction ------Extensive interaction Levels of control Need total control ------Need little control Sage on the Stage……………………………………………..Guide on the Side Willingness to take a risk Cautious------Adventurous Level of student experience Inexperienced------Experienced Modified from Using Active Learning in College Classes: A Range of Options for Faculty Tracey Sutherland and Charles Bonwell, eds. New Directions for Teaching and Learning , 67, Fall 1996, Jossey-Bass Publishers. Exercise: List characteristics of Emory students—developmental, preferred learning styles, interests, group dynamics, prior knowledge of concepts, career goals.

Monday Jan 23 and Wed Jan 25 Scientific Teaching

*Due Monday: Reading- Wenderoth MP. A Manual for the Scientific (Teaching) Revolution. CBE-Life Sci Educ 2007;6 271-272. Handelsman J, et al. Scientific Teaching (2004) Science 304: 521-522. Scientific Teaching Scientific Teaching Chapter 1 Due Wed WB WOOD 2009 Innovations in Teaching Undergraduate Biology and Why We Need Them sdbonline.org/Re-BootCamp09/Wood_Innovations09s.pdf Go to AAAS assessment site, http://assessment.aaas.org/pages/home

Choose topics related to your discipline. Construct an item bank of important concepts. List misconceptions that you think are relevant to your students Due in class Feb 2

Week 2 (Jan 30 & Feb2): Building a Teachable Unit : Active & Cooperative Learning Jan 30 Comparisons of Wood and Handlesman Your Teaching Philosophy Formation of working groups for this seminar What is a Teachable Unit? A teachable tidbit? an Intro to Research Seminar, Lab, Course or SI module, and how do we create one?

Assignment for Feb 6: Visit a first year seminar or an introductory course in your discipline. Write a brief description of the content and process used. How active and engaging was it? Visit http://scientificteaching.wisc.edu/

*Due for Feb 2: Reading- All: Scientific Teaching Chapter 2 Post 3 questions or statements about the reading assignment to the LL conference before class.

Feb 2: Groups should be prepared to present the following readings: Group 1: TR Lord. 101 Reasons for Using Cooperative Learning in Biology Teaching, The American Biology Teacher 63:1 30-38. http://serc.carleton.edu/resources/1783.html

Group 2: R.M. Felder and R. Brent, "Learning by Doing." Chem. Engr. Education, 37(4), 282-283 (Fall 2003). And Ten worst Teaching Mistakes http://www.oncourseworkshop.com/Getting%20On%20Course023.htm or http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/Coopreport.html Group 3: Active Learning in the Lecture Hall, Elaine J. Anderson (Innovative Techniques) pg. 19 Group 4: Experiential Learning in a Large Introductory Biology Course, Marvin Druger (Handbook) pg. 37 Feb 2: More resources: http://www.crlt.umich.edu/publinks/clgt_science.php http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Student-Centered.html  What kinds of ACTIVE LEARNING Strategies will you try? To explore more, see the handout for weblinks. See also http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/archive/cl1/flag/cat/cat.htm and http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/archive/cl1/flag/tools/tools_technique.htm Field Tested Learning Assessments (by discipline)

All: Visit http://scientificteaching.wisc.edu/materials/allmaterials.htm for Biology teachable units. See also ORDER syllabi on our Blackboard site Let’s make some for other topics for other science disciplines.

Topics for today: What makes learning difficult? What makes it easy? What impacts students the most? Student misconceptions and metacognition In class: List specific curriculum outcomes your students will achieve through the learning unit.

Use different levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm See the Bloom’s handout for describing outcomes. Bloom’s Taxonomy and setting learning outcomes *Assignment: Find an on-line unit that incorporates active and cooperative learning. To be presented next week. Write a web review of a unit or site in your discipline. Week 3 (Feb 6 &8): How Students Learn *Due today: Scientific Teaching Chapter 5 and Draft Teaching Philosophy *Due Feb 8: All Learning Styles and Strategies by Richard M. Felder and Barbara A. Soloman http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSpage.html

Student Learning Styles and Their Implications for Teaching by Susan M. Montgomery & Linda N. Groat, 1998. How Do College Students Best Learn Science? http://www.crlt.umich.edu/publinks/CRLT_no10.pdf

WH Leonard (Innovative Techniques) pg. 1

Post 3 questions or statements about the reading assignment to the LL conference before class.

More resources: http://fod.msu.edu/oir/Learners/learning-teaching-styles.asp

Topics for today: Knowing your students Assessing different learning styles: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html http://surfaquarium.com/MI/inventory.htm Teaching students with different learning styles

*Assignment: Each Group will choose one concept and modify it to teach students with different learning styles next class period. **Assignment: Individually, post examples of a First-year seminar or module that relates to your research. A teachable tidbit draft! Week 4 (Feb 13 & 15):Diversity and Inclusion

Draft module due for peer review Read Chapter4 in Scientific Teaching Cases in class for discussion from http://www.cirtl.net/diversityresources. You must log in and register before class please. Download the resource book and the cases resource. http://www.cirtl.net/CaseStudies You may wish to do the workshop on-line http://www.cirtl.net/DiversityWorkshop

Assignment: Individually, describe one lesson for your first-year seminar or module you posted last time formatted in two different versions to reach at least two different learning styles. Post by next class.

Week 5 (Feb 20 & 22): Incorporating Problem Based Learning I *Due today: Each group presents a concept by teaching to different learning styles.

*Due next week: Reading-Using Case Studies to Teach, Clyde Freeman Herreid (Handbook) pg. 177

Getting There from Here: Making the Transition from Traditional Teaching Practices to Those That are Student Centered, MW Caprio and LB Micikas (Innovative Techniques) pg. 9

Post 3 questions or statements about the reading assignment to the LL conference before class.

In class: PBL on PBL! Other topics for discussion for this class and next: • Differentiating between PBL, ICBL, decision cases, and other variants. • Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of PBL/ICBL approaches. • Exploring the basic methodology of problems and cases. • Defining the role of teacher in PBL as a facilitator rather than an instructor. • Differentiating between student-centered and teacher-centered instruction. • Defining the role of "learning issues" in student learning. 0 Brainstorming qualities of effective problems/cases (authentic, compelling, adapted to audience, etc.) • Comparing the effectiveness of problems/cases vs. traditional lectures in engaging students in science and enhancing learning. • Considering methods to assess student learning through problems and cases. • Recognizing the importance of peer evaluation in making groups work well. • Identify free, online sources of problems and cases in a variety of disciplines.

*Assignment: In your working groups, choose a topic and find a PBL case that you could use “as is” or adapt for your needs. Post before next class. Provide copies of the documents or materials that will “hook” students into the relevance of your unit and introduce them to their role and situation. If your “hook” will include a person, video, role-play, news story etc., describe it clearly here.

Find a case, a PBL or a “clicker case that might work .

Week 6 (Feb 27 & 29): Incorporating Problem Based Learning II *Present the PBL or Case you found

In class: What PBL case did you chose yesterday and why? What makes a good case?

*Assignment: In class, your group will choose a topic and write a PBL or Case from scratch. Post the product by the next class period.

(Mar 5 & 7) Technology in the Classroom *Presentations of your case/ PBL.

*Due today: Reading-Animated Pedagogical Agents: Face-to-Face Interaction in Facilitating the Reading/Discussion Connection in the Interactive Classroom, BC Pestel (Innovative Techniques) pg. 27

An Interactive Lecture Notebook: Twelve Ways to Improve Students’ Grades, JE Stencel (Innovative Techniques) pg. 35

Strategies for Interactive Engagement in Large Lecture Science Survey Classes, TF Slater, EE Prather, and M Zeilik, (Handbook) pg. 45

Topics for today: Using Emory College Interactive Teaching Resources (ECIT) Using LearnLink, community Clickers

*Assignment: In your groups, develop and propose ideas of how to use BlackBoard, Facebook, blogs or a website in a seminar course. Post ideas to LL conference by next class.

March 12 &14 Spring break

(Mar 19 &21) Introduction to Evaluation *Due today: Chapter 3 in Scientific Teaching Reading- Gauging Students’ Learning in the Classroom: An Assessment Tool to Help Refine Instructors’ Teaching Techniques, Judith E. Heady (Innovative Techniques) pg. 58 Assessment Practices in College Science: Trends from the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty, Karleen Goubeaud (Handbook) pg. 371

In class: Review different classroom assessments http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/archive/cl1/flag/default.asp http://www.flaguide.org/cat/salg/salg1.php

*Assignment: Develop an evaluation strategy for your new course/module

Specify two or three “along the way” assessments you will insert as your students work on the unit/problem/concept.

Specify the final, authentic performance assessment at the end of your problem unit in which students will demonstrate what they know, can do and value via presentations of their solution(s) to the problem. Sketch out a beginning rubric for assessing students’ final performance. What criteria state your expectations for a successful performance? What evidence will demonstrate that students have learned? BE SURE the rubric aligns with your curriculum outcomes and standards.

(March 26 & 28): Effective test construction, writing assignments and grading *Due today: Reading- see assessment reading posted on LL and BB

(April 2 & 4): Ethics and teaching *Due today: One or more assessment for your module for class critique

Topics for today: What about cheating? Plagiarism etc. Honor Code

( April 9 &11 Tweaking the Seminar In class today: peer review, critique/discussion of modules developed so far * Due today: Draft syllabus of first-year seminar based on theme created from incorporating individuals’ research interests or module for intro course

April 16, 18, 23, 25: Final module presentations Due: Final version of Seminar syllabus, module, etc. Present in class. Peer review April 30: Wrap-Up Session

Developing a Teaching Philosophy Reflection: What did you learn?