Discipline-specific teaching strategies:
There are many issues and challenges to teaching an engaging science course. We would like our students to be critical thinkers, but the emphasis in the classroom is often memorization of definitions and assessment with multiple choice exams. Many instructors rely heavily on the textbook and thus concepts may only be presented in one way, when multiple levels would be helpful to the student. In other words, the instructor may use a cartoon model of a cell from the text book, and give the student classical definitions of the organelles within the cell, but the student may not recognize an actual photograph of a cell or understand how the structure and function relate. Another challenge is getting students to realize the applicability of what they learn in the science classroom. If they do not understand how a concept applies outside of remembering it for the exam, then the student will not integrate information from previous classes. So how do we teach students to think critically while learning scientific concepts? How do we get students to become engaged and active learners, so they can utilize what they know in our class and beyond?
To learn more about the strategies appropriate for teaching a science course, I enrolled in a course at Michigan State University called, "Teaching College Science and Mathematics" (ISE870). Below is a description of the course, the syllabus, material I created for the course (artifacts), and my reflections on the course.
To learn more about the strategies appropriate for teaching a science course, I enrolled in a course at Michigan State University called, "Teaching College Science and Mathematics" (ISE870). Below is a description of the course, the syllabus, material I created for the course (artifacts), and my reflections on the course.
From the syllabus:
"[The purpose of this course is] to introduce participants to the theory and practice of student-centered college teaching. Students will be able to use an understanding of how people learn, the basics of curriculum design, and a range of teaching and assessment strategies and instructional technology to plan for, teach, and analyze effective science teaching". |
Topics covered in this course:
How people learn and implications for teaching Active learning Backward design Use of technology in the classroom Group work- uses and strategies Multiple purposes of laboratories Curriculum design and course objectives Instructor responsibilities in the university context |
Teaching Strategy Artifacts (materials that I created for this class- click on buttons):
Interpretation of the course:
I had a fair amount of teaching experience under my belt when I took this course. I have been confident in my understanding of material I wanted my students to learn, but I never could tell if I was getting through to students- I was mostly met with blank faces, even when I used what I felt to be the clearest descriptions of concepts. I knew I needed to have more student participation when I taught, but before I took this class, I didn't really know how to achieve this. Taking this course definitely helped me in these two skills in particular- I learned about using formative assessment to gauge what my students are understanding (or not understanding) as I instruct, and I learned several techniques for engaging students in active learning. What I like most about active learning is that it takes a lot of pressure off the instructor, and puts the emphasis of LEARNING on the students. That is, I don't have to wrack my brain for that perfect description, because that perfect description isn't going to be enough. I need to use activities or ask questions so that students construct their own working definitions with my guidance. This is much stronger than swallowing up what they passively hear from me.
I am going to use a lot of what I learned in this class in my own classroom. As you can see from my artifacts (links above), I let the students direct a lot of their own learning, while I provide guidance along the way (for example, see Active Learning Technique for my lesson on the ionic basis of membrane potentials). To allow students to really be in charge of their own learning, we need to be clear about what it is that we want them to learn. Therefore, I will start every class with the lecture objectives- that is, what I expect students to be able to DO (not just "know" or "understand") after the class session. And to make sure that I actually instruct them in a way that enables the students to achieve the objective, I will practice Backward Design. That is, I will first think about the objectives, then I will determine what evidence I would accept from students to demonstrate achievement of the objective, and then I will design my lesson and class materials accordingly. Getting the objectives and activities just right will take a lot of practice, but thanks to this class I have many of the skills and resources I will need for a strong start.
I had a fair amount of teaching experience under my belt when I took this course. I have been confident in my understanding of material I wanted my students to learn, but I never could tell if I was getting through to students- I was mostly met with blank faces, even when I used what I felt to be the clearest descriptions of concepts. I knew I needed to have more student participation when I taught, but before I took this class, I didn't really know how to achieve this. Taking this course definitely helped me in these two skills in particular- I learned about using formative assessment to gauge what my students are understanding (or not understanding) as I instruct, and I learned several techniques for engaging students in active learning. What I like most about active learning is that it takes a lot of pressure off the instructor, and puts the emphasis of LEARNING on the students. That is, I don't have to wrack my brain for that perfect description, because that perfect description isn't going to be enough. I need to use activities or ask questions so that students construct their own working definitions with my guidance. This is much stronger than swallowing up what they passively hear from me.
I am going to use a lot of what I learned in this class in my own classroom. As you can see from my artifacts (links above), I let the students direct a lot of their own learning, while I provide guidance along the way (for example, see Active Learning Technique for my lesson on the ionic basis of membrane potentials). To allow students to really be in charge of their own learning, we need to be clear about what it is that we want them to learn. Therefore, I will start every class with the lecture objectives- that is, what I expect students to be able to DO (not just "know" or "understand") after the class session. And to make sure that I actually instruct them in a way that enables the students to achieve the objective, I will practice Backward Design. That is, I will first think about the objectives, then I will determine what evidence I would accept from students to demonstrate achievement of the objective, and then I will design my lesson and class materials accordingly. Getting the objectives and activities just right will take a lot of practice, but thanks to this class I have many of the skills and resources I will need for a strong start.
An Introduction to Evidence-based Undergraduate STEM teaching,
[a massive open online course from Vanderbilt University and the Center for Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning]
From the syllabus:
'“An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching” is an open, online course designed to provide future STEM faculty, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows with an introduction to effective teaching strategies and the research that supports them. The goal of the eight-week course is to equip the next generation of STEM faculty to be effective teachers, thus improving the learning experience for the thousands of students they will teach.' |