redesigning the large general education oceanography course by william a. prothero, jr
TRANSCRIPT
Redesigning the Large General Education Oceanography
Course
By
William A. Prothero, Jr
CollaboratorsProf Greg Kelly, Graduate School of EducationProf. Charles Bazerman, Graduate School of
EducationNumerous bright graduate students:
Holly Dodson Cathy ChenAllison Takao Julie Esch Jacqueline Regev Jose Constantine
Some of the materials and ideas for this presentation were inspired by Daniel Edelson (Northwestern Univ) and Curtis Bonk (Indiana University)
I. BetterTechnology
II. LearnerDemands
III. BetterPedagogy
Three factors are converging that make this a very interesting time
for education
Research into learning tells us:
Students must be challenged and engagedPrior knowledge can inhibit deep
understandingContent learned passively does not transfer
well to a meaningful situations where it can be applied
Ref: How People Learn, National Research Council, 2000.
NSSE BenchmarksNSSE Benchmarks
Level of Level of Academic Academic ChallengeChallenge
Active & Active & Collaborative Collaborative
LearningLearning
EnrichingEnrichingEducational Educational ExperiencesExperiences
SupportiveSupportiveCampusCampus
EnvironmentEnvironment
StudentStudentFaculty Faculty
InteractionInteraction
Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice
National Survey of Student Engagementhttp://www.iub.edu/~nsse/students.shtml
Our Gen Ed Science Courses:
Are often one of the only (or very few) science courses non-science majors take.
Are vital to building a science literate electorate.
Address a need for our population to be informed about critical environmental issues.
Our methods vs our desired outcome
Our methods do not support our goals
Currently we emphasizeMemorization of factsPassive reception of information
(listening, reading)Practicing simple skills out of context
We want citizens who canPerform complex tasksGather and synthesize informationCommunicate with others
What are the activities that scientists engage in?
Asking questions (posing a problem)Collecting evidence (exploring data)Discussing, arguing, listening to peersCommunicating their resultsWriting papers
Scientific argumentationObserve, describe, interpret
Applying their knowledge to relevant and meaningful problems.
Elements of science process
Approach for Introductory Oceanography
Use the practices of scientists as a model for class activitiesLearn background knowledgeChoose a problem that can be solved by the
available dataAcquire dataDiscuss preliminary findings with peersPresent preliminary resultsPublish final paper
Context
Large general education oceanography course
100-300 students each quarterAll majors: Physics <--> DanceFreshman thru Seniors
Relevance to meaningful problems
Each student joins a group that represents a country or region
Course writing assignments require that the student teams (2-4) present the material from the viewpoint of the country they represent.
Benefits
Greater student engagement
Appreciation for science process
Deeper understanding of underlying theory
Encourages critical thinking about science claims in the media
Student Feedback High: A B C D E Low Lecture 17, 10, 27, 18, 27Labs 42, 28, 21, 8, 1
Kyoto Conf 26, 31, 23, 14, 6Thought questions 14, 22, 27, 27, 11Questions of the Day 9, 25, 27, 23, 16Weekly quizzes 18, 33, 25, 15, 9Weekly homeworks 19, 28, 27, 15, 11Writing assignments 31, 37, 19, 6, 6Course was difficult 16, 22, 37, 14, 11
Interesting and relevant 20, 42, 23, 9, 6
Worked hard 40, 24, 22, 9, 5
Learned a lot 28, 30, 14, 17, 11
Our Dynamic Planet
MArine Virtual Explorer(MARVE)
Global Ocean Data Viewer
WorldWatcher CD
Fishbanks, a commercial fishing simulation game.
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Internet data resources
Online data from Lamont, PMEL, and others
Science and society: CIESEN, United Nations, CIA Factbook, and many others
See Mini-studies at http://oceanography.geol.ucsb.edu/ for links.
Challenges students face
Mastering EarthEd and data browsing softwareChoosing a problemSeparating observations from interpretationsScientific writing and argumentationUsing/obtaining background knowledgeGetting appropriate guidance and feedbackGaining confidence
Mastering software Lecture time software demonstrations Extensive help in “Guide” window for each screen. Scaffolding
Initial data access is done in section, in groups Troublesome operations are included in early assignments
Items: Each student has a copy of the CD and most install on
their own computer. Software updates are automatically downloaded and
installed.
Background knowledge Weekly online homework assignments directed at the
week’s lab activities (auto graded) Weekly thought problem assignments directed at the
lecture content, tightly coupled to lab assignments. All answers are posted to an online bulletin board. (Graded by TA’s or undergraduate reader).
Weekly mini-quizzes (auto graded online). Lecture and textbook••• Homeworks and mini-quizzes can be repeated as often
as desired, with increasing penalties automatically applied after the due date.
••• Current course grade can be computed at any time.
Separating observations from interpretations
Realize that the classification of assertions as “observation” or “interpretation” is context dependent.
In-class “Quick Writes” provide hands-on experience making observations and interpretations, and provide material for more in-depth class discussion.
Provide examples of what we consider to be observations and interpretations to students.
Lab section activities include student presentations, which provides an opportunity for student and TA feedback.
Framework for writing assignments1. Perspective: science advisor to the President.2. Determine which phenomenon, within the scope of the
writing assignment, most strongly impacts to the country the learner is representing.
3. Learn the theory4. Find data to support some aspect of the theory or its
predictions5. Make a scientific argument based on the data, that
explains the process and impact to the students’ country.
6. Supporting activities include: Class presentations Small group discussion Final 1800 word paper
Helping students get started Begin with a narrow range of problem choices
Examples: lab activity to find the earth’s plates using earthquake data Mini-study of a selected small area
Create a mission Students divide into groups that represent all of the course
topics from the point of view of “their” country. These “country groups” persist during the course.
Mini-studies 2 hr loosely guided group explorations. Students form new,
temporary groups, each doing a different mini-study. They share their expertise with their country group members.
Writing assignments draw from the mini-studies for guidance and data sources.
Example in-lecture activity
ObserveDescribe
Pair/shareIn writing
InterpretExplainModels
diagrams
Science writing/argumentation
Carefully written instructions on the structure of a science paper
Rubric that sets clear grading standards Make the difference between a “book report” and the use of data
clear. In-lecture practice activities Explicit instruction on elements of a scientific argument:
i.e. what are the issues that must be addressed in a science argument?
Elements of a scientific argument:
---recognizing and including statements which: 1. include an observation, or description of an observation
2. name or classify an observation in terms of geological features
3. describe a feature that has been observed and classified, or that the author implies has been observed and classified, even if supporting observations are lacking
4. describe relationships between different observed and classified features
5. describe or explain a model or theory
6. describe relationships between and/or observed features that match (or disagree with) model features
Summary of important strategies Scaffolding of all critical skills
Software Group work and presentations Science process and writing
Clear descriptions of the assignments and grading Access to current assignment and course grade(s) Rubric for writing assignment grading
Relevance Importance of subject matter to society or the student’s life and
interests Rewards and accountability
Performance = grades
The Endhttp://oceanography.geol.ucsb.edu