student self-assessment of the development of advanced scientific thinking skills during...

IUPS Teaching Workshop July 2013

Student self-assessment of the development of

advanced scientific thinking skills during inquiry-based physiology

practical classes using an innovative e-learning tool for

annotating videos

Kirsten Zimbardi, Kay Colthorpe,

Judit Kibedi, Phil LongThe University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia


Science education for the 21st century workplace

Students need to develop the ability to deal with novel, complex, unstructured problems

The Boyer Commission (1998) Reinventing undergraduate education: a blueprint for America’s research universities.

National Research Council (2003) BIO2010: Transforming undergraduate education for future research biologists

President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (2012) Engage to Excel: Producing one million additional college gradates with degrees in STEM

Students need to learn to ‘think like a scientist’


What is “scientific thinking”?Causal reasoning within a hypothetico-deductive reasoning framework

1. Assumptions used to build hypothesis• Based on previous evidence from scientific literature

2. Hypothesis includes a specific cause and specific measurable outcome

3. Methods designed to test hypothesis

4. Results analysed and presented in relation to hypothesis

5. Findings interpreted in relation to evidence-based assumptions

• Expected and unexpected findings

Dunbar and Fugelsang (2006) The Cambridge Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning, pp 705, 708


Australian Learning Teaching Academic Standards

Threshold Learning Outcomes for Science


Teaching inquiry skills through vertically-integrated inquiry-based practicalsacross five semesters of physiology

Jones & Yates (2013) LTAS TLO3 Good Practice GuideZimbardi et al. (under review) Advances in Physiology Education


Study context: Learning scientific thinking through scientific inquiry

Institutional contextLarge, research-intensive Australian University, delivering comprehensive education

Degree contextMajority of students enrolled in a Bachelor of Science (3 year degree)

Course context2nd year courses required for major in biomedical science (specialisation in physiology), ~400 students/course

Class contextInquiry-based practical classes where students design, conduct and interpret their own experiments, ~80 students/class


Vertically-integrated, inquiry-based practical curricula

Cell & Molecular PhysiologyClass 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Class 5 Class 6

Module 1 Module 2Pilot

experiment + proposal

Data analysis Experiment Pilot

experiment + proposal

Report writing feedback Experiment

Systems PhysiologyClass 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Class 5 Class 6

Skill building Skill building + proposal Oral proposals Experiment Experiment Data analysis

Videos of students in class


Research Methods

• Video recordings of classes

• 3 Interviews on experiences of• inquiry and recipe practicals

• using LTAS TLO3 inquiry and problem solving skills

• annotating videos for inquiry and problem solving skills

• Annotations of class videos• Each student provided at least 3

annotations


Students annotated videos of themselves to highlight scientific thinking using the Threshold Learning Outcomes framework

http://dev.ceit.uq.edu.au/vcop2/course/inquiring-minds


3.1 - Gathering, synthesising and critically evaluating information from a range of sources

Here we are using our knowledge of physiology and previous studies' experimental designs to explain deviations in the results from the expected values and literature.

After recording preliminary test results and formatting a hypothesis, students consider some of the biological mechanisms that may be behind the results.


3.2 - Designing and planning an investigation

'How will we know which is the stronger arm?’ Students discuss how the investigation must be designed in order to ensure standardisation.

Students are examining different variables that might be useful in measuring fatigue. Body temperature is suggested, and the means of measuring it looked at, but it is decided that temperature would be too hard to measure accurately, and may not indicate fatigue.


3.3 - Selecting and applying practical techniques to conduct an investigation

After the collection and recording of the EMG of a student's bicep brachii whilst performing the two different methods of exercise, students interpret the results to conclude which method would be the most effective for the purpose of the experiment.

Based off our knowledge of the experimental design and its possible flaws, we are discussing an appropriate method for analysis.


3.4 - Collecting, accurately recording and interpreting and drawing conclusions from scientific data.

Here we are discussing whether our experimental design is similar to other studies in certain aspects, such as whether our exercise classifies as endurance, to determine whether we can relate their findings to results we should see in our experiment.


Students are reasoning collaboratively in the inquiry-based classes

Students were able to find examples where they were using each of the four areas of inquiry skills described in TLO 3

Many of students’ reasoning steps incorporate several TLO3 skills

Students at 2nd year show an awareness for the need for literature and experimental evidence to support their claims


Acknowledgements & invitation to contribute

FundingUQ Teaching and Learning Fellowship

Centre for Educational Innovation & Technology

Thank you to our 2nd year students

To view and contribute to annotated videos, please contact:

Kirsten [email protected]

http://dev.ceit.uq.edu.au/vcop2/course/inquiring-minds


References

Boyer Commission. The Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University: Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A blue print for America’s research universities Stony Brook, NY: 1998.

Elliott, K., Boin, A., Irving, H., Johnson, E. and Galea, V. 2010. Teaching scientific inquiry skills: A handbook for bioscience educators in Australian universities. Sydney, Australia, Australian Learning and Teaching Council.

Baxter Magolda, M. B. 1999. Creating contexts for learning and self-authorship: Constructive-developmental pedagogy. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.

Dunbar, K., and J. Fugelsang. 2005. "Scientific Thinking and Reasoning." In The Cambridge handbook of thinking and reasoning, edited by Holyoak and Morrison, 705-725. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Farrand, Kirsten, Judit Kibedi, Kay Colthorpe, Jonathan P. Good, and Lesley J. Lluka. 2009. Creating physiology graduates who think and sound like scientists. Paper read at Third National Attributes Graduate Project Symposia, at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.

Farrand-Zimbardi, Kirsten, Kay Colthorpe, Jonathan P. Good, and Lesley J. Lluka. 2010. Becoming a scientist: the development of students’ skills in scientific investigation and communication through a vertically integrated model of inquiry-based practical curricula. Paper read at International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) annual conference, at Liverpool, UK.

Kuhn, Deanna. 2005. Education for Thinking. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

National Research Council (2003) BIO2010: Transforming undergraduate education for future research biologists. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press

President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (2012) Engage to Excel: Producing one million additional college graduates with degrees in STEM. Washington, DC

Zimbardi, Kirsten, Andrea Bugarcic, Kay Colthorpe, Jonathan P. Good, and Lesley J. Lluka. (under review) "A set of vertically-integrated inquiry-based practical curricula that develop scientific thinking skills for large cohorts of undergraduate students." Advances in Physiology Education.


Vertical integration across the three inquiry-based practical curricula

Vertical progression Course 1 Course 2 Course 3

Course names and timing

Increased specialisation

Cells to Organisms (BIOL1040)Year 1, Semester 2

Integrative Cell and Tissue Biology (BIOM2011)Year 2, Semester 1

Systems Physiology (BIOM2012)Year 2, Semester 2

Project duration Increase 6x 3hr classes 2 blocks of 3x 3hr classes 1 block of 5x 3hr classes

Guidance Reduction

LabTutor provides specific scaffolding for each stage of the experiment from hypothesis to discussion.

Manuals for experimental paradigm. Example research questions and experiments.

Skill building experiments in the first 2 classes. Students use primary literature to develop research questions and experiments.

Student ownership of research question

Increase

4 set topics for which students begin by choosing a hypothesis from a set of examples and end with designing their own method and hypothesis.

2 broad fields for which students can design their own experiment or choose from a set of example experiments.

Students are given freedom to investigate any aspect of cardiovascular, respiratory, renal and metabolic physiology in response to a wide range of perturbations.

Scientific method

Increase in complexity

Hypothesis generation and experimental design.

Detailing the methods, statistical analysis, interpretation of results.

Integration of experimental design and findings with primary literature

Scientific communication

More advanced aspects of scientific writing.

Written reports.Strategic questions scaffold entire report writing process.

Written proposals and reports. Emphasis on genre conventions for methods and results

Oral proposals, written reports. Emphasis on integration of primary literature in introduction, methods and discussion.

Assessment artefacts used for analysis

3 reports scaffolded in “prompt –answer” format

1 report using formal structure of scientific article genre

1 report using formal structure of scientific article genre

Modelled on “Research Skills Framework” Willison and O’Regan (2007)