March 23, 2016
A First Year Experience Team-Based
Interdisciplinary Research Project
Renee Eaton, Margaret Merrill,
Cindy Wood, Eric Kaufman
CALS First Year Seminar
• 210 students in
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Agriculture and Extension Education
Animal and Poultry Sciences
Crop & Soil Environmental Science
Food Science and Technology
Human Nutrition, Foods & Exercise
Life Science Undecided
• 200 first year students, 10
transfer students
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Group Project
• 29 groups
• Most groups had 7-9 students
• Transfer students were
grouped together; 2 groups of
4-6 students.
• Each group had at least 3
different majors/departments
represented.
• Each group was assigned a
peer leader.
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How can we meet our goals?
Inquiry
ProblemSolving
Communication
and Teamwork
Group
Project
Information
Literacy
Integration
Interdisciplinary
Perspective
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There’s A Heifer In Your Tank!
University of Alberta 2050
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Formulating Questions
Librarians
Faculty
Students
• CALS Librarians generated
50 possible questions
• Revision to 30 questions
• Final questions were more
general in nature
For Example….
Does agriculture contribute (positively or negatively) to
water quality?
How does agriculture contribute to water quality?
Does animal waste from confined animal feeding
operations have an environmental impact?
What role do animal wastes have in the environment?
Selected Topics
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Why is there now greater concern about how food is
grown/raised than there was 20 years ago?
What are the impacts from organic farming?
Why is chicken cheaper than beef?
Should you exercise outside during rush hour?
A steer’s not a steak and a hog’s not all cops. What do we
get from animals besides meat?
Tobacco & cotton helped shape Virginia. What is their status
today?
Is “Eat Local” more sustainable?
How have automakers changed design to accommodate
“meals on wheels”- literally eating in the car?
Why are Farmers Markets suddenly so popular?
Why are earthworms so important?
Why are pigs used for human research?
What role do animal wastes have in the environment?
How does agriculture contribute to water quality?
Project Design
• Group Introduction
• The First Essay
• Group Responsibility Worksheet
• Annotated Bibliography
• 25-Word Summary
• The Final Essay
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Why is there now greater concern
about how food is grown/raised than
there was 20 years ago?
Demand
Social Pressure
Health
Nutrition
Regulation
Genetic Engineering
Sustainability / Environmental Impact
Safety
Media
Economy
Knowledge / Education
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Movement
Technology
Goal Achievement
Incomplete
understanding
of “Reliable
Source”
63%
reported they
learned to
effectively
work in
groups
Inquiry
ProblemSolving
Teamwork
Incorrect
citations
Information
Literacy
Plagiarism
Group
Project
Integration
Interdisciplinary
Perspective
85% met
students
from other
departments
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Group-work!!
Some
connections
to
coursework /
experience
What we learned:
• Provide additional time in class for
group work, especially at the
beginning.
• Assignment must be targeted to
specific learning objectives.
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Locating sources
Evaluate for relevance
Evaluate for reliability
Citations
Ethical Issues
Incorporating sources into an assignment
Relevance to class / other classes
Practice Points
• Identify goal(s) of project.
• Identify the deliverables.
• How do the goals relate to student
needs / student learning objectives?
• What are potential common topics?
• How are the topics relevant to each
individual discipline?
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Design your project!
• What should students learn?
• What will students do to learn
these things?
• How will you know what they
have learned?
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Possible Common Topics
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Obesity
Climate Change
Energy
Environment
Increasing Lifespan
Project Collaborators
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Eric Kaufman, Agriculture & Extension Education
Cindy Wood, Animal Poultry Science
Ann Dunnington, Animal Poultry Science
Ozzie Abaye, Crop & Soil Environmental Science
Bill Eigel, Food Science & Technology
Alex Niemiera, Horticulture
Renee Eaton, Human Nutrition, Foods & Exercise
Susan Sumner, College of Agriculture & Life
Sciences
Margaret Merrill, University Libraries
Rebecca Miller, University Libraries
Kiri Goldbeck-DeBose, University Libraries
Jamie Penven, Residence Life
Barb Weimerskirch, Center for Academic Enrichment
and Excellence