Pathways to
Scientific Teaching
Diane Ebert-May
Department of Plant Biology
Michigan State University
ebertmay@msu.edu
http://first2.org
Q uickTim e™ and a G r aphics decom pr essor ar e needed t o see t his pict ur e.
Engage
Question 1
Where on the continuum is
the ideal classroom ?
•
Question 2
Where on the continuum is
your classroom ?
•
Teacher to Learner Centered
Continuum:
What does it look like?
Where are you?
How People Learn
Bransford et al 1999, 2004
Explore: Out of Thin Air
What is going on?
• Teaching without Learning!
• Brainstorm:
• Diagnose situation - the learning
challenge
• Where is the missing
link?..misconception?
How and when do you identify student learning
difficulties?
Don’t have to grade
Pre-test (e.g., diagnostic questions - identify
misconceptions)
Engagement activity - brain teaser, discussion
starter, ‘need to know’ questions
Surveys or polls (clickers?)
Others
May use pretest or diagnostic (clicker)
question
Example Problem
Experimental setup:
Weighed out 3 batches of radish seeds
each weighing 1.5 g.
Experimental treatments:
1. Seeds placed on DRY paper towels in LIGHT
2. Seeds placed on WET paper towels in LIGHT
3. Seeds placed on WET paper towels in DARK
Problem (cont)
After 1 week, all plant material was dried in
an oven overnight (no water left) and plant
biomass was measured in grams.
Predict the biomass of the plant material in
the various treatments.
•
•
•
•
No Water, light
Water, light
Water dark
No idea
Results
Mass of Radish Seeds/Seedlings
1.46 g
1.63 g
1.20 g
Write an explanation about the results.
Explain the results.
Write individually on carbonless paper.
Misconceptions about Photosynthesis,
Respiration, and the Carbon Cycle
•
Photosynthesis as Energy
•
Biomass from Soil
•
Energy as Biomass
•
All Green
•
Plant Altruism
•
Thin Air
•
Respiration as ‘breathing’
•
One Earth - All together now
What is assessment?
Data collection with the purpose of
answering questions about…
students’ understanding
students’ attitudes
students’ skills
instructional design and implementation
curricular reform (at multiple grain sizes)
Informing BOTH instructors and students
about learning.
Jigsaw
New groups: 5 groups of 4
Count off -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
All 1s work on same paper ....2s, 3s, 4s, 5s
Return to ‘home’ groups and share what you
found in each of the papers.
Report out
Paper Assignments
Group 1: Climate change....
Group 2: Novel assessments...
Group 3: Practicing scientific inquiry...
Group 4: Unleashing problem solvers...
Group 5: Active homework...
In your groups:
Read the paper, discuss, record...
1. What are the student learning goals?
2. What is the Bloom-level of each goal?
3. Describe the type of assessment used in
the unit. Do the assessments align with the
goals?
4. What are the active learning strategies?
Return to “home” groups:
Select two types of assessments that you
learned about in the papers.
1.Compare two types of assessments.
2.Brainstorm other types of assessments.
Explain
Assessment and Feedback Approaches
• Subsample= You don’t need to grade everything!!
• Classroom Assessment Techniques (Angelo &
Cross 1993); Muddiest Point, Minute papers etc..
• Pyramid Exams- Individual 75% + Group 25%
• Diagnostic Questions & Clickers
• Rubrics
Assessment Gradient
High
Ease of
Multiple Choice, T/F
Diagrams, Concept
maps, Quantitative
response
Assessment
Short answer
Essay, Research
papers/ reports
Low
Oral Interview
Theoretical Framework
• Ausubel 1968; meaningful learning
• Novak 1998; visual representations
• King and Kitchner 1994; reflective judgment
• National Research Council 1999; theoretical frameworks
Low
Potential for
Assessment of
Learning
High
Instructional Design
How do you go about developing a unit
on the Carbon Cycle?
How would you start?
What would you do?
Backward Design
Learning Objective
Identify desired results
Learning Outcome
Determine acceptable evidence
Like This?
Assessments
Data collected & Feedback given
Instructional Design & Activities
Planned learning experiences and instruction
Adapted from Wiggins and McTighe 1998, 2005
Backward Design
Instructional Design Worksheet
How do you go about developing a unit on the Carbon
Cycle?
Activity:
• Misconception- List a common misconception for carbon cycle.
• Learning objective- Write the correct version of the concept.
• Learning outcome- Describe the specific performance or behavior that will
demonstrate student understanding. (Use Bloom’s Taxonomy of another
resource to help articulate the outcomes.)
• Activity- Describe the activity that will engage students and help them achieve
the learning objective
• Assessment- Describe the evidence you will collect and the type of feedback
you will give students to define their progress towards understanding.
How am I going to grade all this
stuff??
Case: Workshop Woes?
“I attended a workshop about assessment, and the
main thing I learned is that I am suppposed to assess
students before class so I can target what the students
need to know. So, I created a series of pre-class
quizzes for the students, but most students don’t do
them because they are not graded. However, I don’t
have time to grade 320 of these each week--- much
less the 16 other assessments that the workshop
suggested. I’ll just go back to trusting my gut to know
how well the students are doing.”
Case: Workshop Woes?
• What issues might be contributing to this situation?
• What is the professor’s definition of assessment?
• Other than grades, what strategies could motivate the
students to participate in assessments?
• What suggestions do you have for the professor?
• Have you faced similar challenges?
What do the instructors need to know?
What are students learning well?
What are students learning poorly?
How to promote learning by improving
instruction, learning activities,
assignments, classroom climate
What do the students need to know?
What are they learning well?
What are they learning poorly?
Information on how to improve-- not just
grades, but feedback.
How do we develop rubrics?
Describe the goal/objective for the
activity, problem, task...
Select the assessment tasks aligned
with goals
Develop performance standards
Differentiate levels of responses
based on clearly described criteria
Rate (assign value) the categories
Results
Mass of Radish Seeds/Seedlings
1.46 g
1.63 g
1.20 g
Explain why the LIGHT,
WATER
gained about
mass,the
while
the other
Write
an explanation
results.
treatments lost mass..
Write individually on carbonless paper.
Practice with sample responses
How would you go about grading these responses?
What criteria would you use?
Scoring Rubric for Quizzes and Homework
Level of Achievement
Exemplary
(5 pts)
General Approach
• Addresses the
question.
• States a relevant,
justifiable answer.
• Presents arguments in
a logical order.
• Uses acceptable style
and grammar (no
errors).
Comp rehension
• Demonstrates an accurate and
complete understanding of the
question.
• Backs conclusions with data
and warrants.
• Uses 2 or more ideas,
examples and/or arguments that
support the answer.
Adequate
(3 pts)
• Does not address the
question explicitly,
although does so
tangentially.
• States a relevant and
justifiable answer.
• Presents arguments in
a logical order.
• Uses acceptable style
and grammar (one
error).
• Demonstrates accurate but only
adequate understanding of
question because does not back
conclusions with w arrants and
data.
• Uses only one idea to support
the answer.
• Less thorough than above.
Needs Improveme nt
(1 pt)
• Does not address the
question.
• States no relevant
answers
• indicates
misconceptions.
• Is n ot clearly or
logically organized.
• Fails to use acceptable
style and grammar (two
or more errors).
• Does not demonstrate accurate
understanding of the question.
• Does not provide evidence to
support their answer to the
question.
No Answer (0 pts)
Ebert-May http://www.flaguide.org/cat/rubrics/rubrics1.php
Advantages of
Scoring Rubrics
Improve the reliability of scoring written
assignments and oral presentations
Convey goals and performance expectations of
students in an unambiguous way
Convey “grading standards” or “point values” and
relate them to performance goals
Engage students in critical evaluation of their
own performance
Save time but spend it well
Write a scenario that explains the phenotypic changes in the
trees and animals. Use your understanding of evolution by
natural selection.
Coding Student Responses
Misconceptions
Correct
Change in the individual
Change in the population
Need to Change/ Must Change/
Choice
Change due to genes
All members of a population are
equally fit
Individuals within a
population have varying
fitness levels
Traits acquired during a lifetime
are passed on
Genetic traits help the
individual to survive and
reproduce
Assessment Database
Upload
Student Data
Spreadsheet
Questions
Spreadsheet
Student ID
Spreadsheet
Link Qs and
student answers
EdML
FIRST III
Database
De-identified
student data
Download
Search Results
eg. Excel,
SAS,
SPSS
Search
Faculty Computer
Database Server
“Educational Metadata Standard”
EdMD
•
Based on Ecological Metadata Standards
(Michener 1997)
•
Describe what collected, who collected,
where collected, when collected, how
collected, why collected
What is in the Educational
Metadata Standard?
Where
•Institution, class size
How
•Experimental and
sampling design
•Administration of
assessments
•Instructional design
Who
•Project personnel
What
Assessment instruments
Rubrics and assessment
concepts
Why
Classroom study
How do I use the database?
• Finding assessment instruments
• Administer the instrument, teach, and
prepare student data
• Prepare metadata and upload student
assessment data
• Analysis and download
• Results of analyses
Do students learn better?
Team at MSU
•Rett Weber - Plant Biology (postdoctoral researcher)
•Deb Linton - Plant Biology (postdoctoral researcher)
•Duncan Sibley - Geology
•Doug Luckie - Physiology
•Scott Harrison - Microbiology (graduate student)
•Tammy Long - Plant Biology
•Heejun Lim - Chemistry Education
•Rob Pennock - Philosophy
•Charles Ofria - Engineering
•Rich Lenski - Microbiolgy
•Janet Batzli - Plant Biology [U of Wisconsin]
Finally...
“...we note that successful people are the
ones who take advantage of those around
them to ultimately benefit students.”
•Ebert-May D, Weber R, Hodder J, Batzli J (2006)