American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting (Dec. 2005) – notes by Tim Feinstein
Teaching workshop
Story about a shadow workshop with kindergarten students
Starts massive courses (3-400 students):
 convince students this “stuff” is real
 Use file folders with BIG names on them to encourage using their first names, Personal info in
smaller writing at corners.
 Ice-breaking: ask “who thinks they were born the farthest from X?”
 Students do the work- principle of science, principle of teaching
 Folders with names become depositors for work/exams in pendaflex boxes rolled to/from class
 Q: logistics- last minute rush for folders?
*First day of teaching- no biology. Life- time management, rules, etc.
 Students decide rules for late arrivals- students vote on rules, then rules posted, then “own”
rulesstudents enforce their own rules
o Hold an early intermission to allow all late arrivals to enter at once
o First arrival from each group bring whole group’s stuff (sit in groups)
 Accountability test every day
o Carbonless paper for in-class “accountability”: don’t have to pass back because students
keep record of work
 e.g. write a paper about the day’s material. Sub-sample to get a sense of class
progress or have group turn in a collective work.
10 % of students determined not to succeed- LET THEM.
**FIRST: Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching  www. first2.org
Does field teaching carry over to classrooms?
 e.g. Rich Conski’s digital evo. simulation lets students see evo. in class
The Learning Cycle
Organize prior knowledge; get everyone on the same page
Questions for the workshop:
 scientific teaching involves active teaching strategies to engage students in the process of
science
 students learn science best by doing science
 How important is it to use multiple kinds of data to assess student learning?
 How often do you use multiple kinds of data to make instructional design?
 Establish goals and evaluate progress. Test methods for reaching goals.
 Hands-on learning promotes understanding.
**Book: author John Bransford, “How people learn.”
**NRSC report 2002: recognizing and rewarding faculty
Learner
centered
Knowledge
centered
Assessment
centered
“Clickers” in classroom: auto-response to questions (technology)
 Yale uses flashcards to evaluate student participation
o 90%: move on
o 80%: have them talk to each other
o <80%: go over it again
 Clickers show students their own distributions: they know knowledge is off
o Or, poker chips in a graduated cylinder
 RF clickers: $350 for 1000 students, wireless
 Ask questions for which there is no right answer.
o Bimodal response.
o Students debate and learn.
 Clickers leave a record.
Objectives and Assessment
Have students hypothesize and test, report on carbonless paper.
 Feedback: did students appreciate HA/HO, dependent and independent variable, etc., controls?
 Lessons from thin airo Thinking: metaphorical/analogical
o Science: about making predictions
o Understanding: we teach, then write tests so they do well
o Knowledge as test: passing
*Teach knowledge as a synthesis leading to solving practical problems
*Must un-teach misconceptions in order to clarify real answers
 Before you start photosynthesis, survey students about basic questions:
o Does air have mass, etc?
 Do tests evaluate knowledge, or understanding?
o Prior knowledge: in students’ experience, watering and fertilizing plants
o Which level on Bloom’s taxonomy do we expect from our students?
o Knowledge-comprehension-application-analysis-synthesis-evolution
o Misconceptions
Questions about education: put them in a peer=reviewed society journal
 “Pathways” papers
Group teaching methods
Jigsaw: Groups become expert, then split into new groups with someone from each group, where
everyone’s an expert on something different and they teach each other
Concept mapping: model-based reasoning
Self-efficacy: as students gain confidence in doing higher-level Blooms, their confidence in doing tasks
increases
Assessment: data collection with the purpose of answering questions
 Improve learning and development
 Feedback
 Disciplinary research strategies to assess learning
low
Bloom
high
multiple choice…..concept maps…..essay questions….interviews
high
ease
low
goals acceptable evidence design learning and teaching
tools:
Exam, writing, PBA (problem-based-assessment), concept inventory
Problem Identification: Where is the knowledge gap?
“A learner chooses to relate information to ideas that the learner already knows”
Concept Maps
Visual diagrams
Or models
knowledge or
understanding
display
concepts
Used for
Assessment
organization
*www.ctools.msu.edu
“BEN” database: bioscience education net
Metrics: in essays, score for (for example) four common misconceptions about evolution
Misconception database in each discipline
One site that lists all research on misconceptions across various disciplines
Diane allows students to bring concept maps into exams
IRB’s don’t allow properly controlled expts.
Use covariates
ATCase regulation
Depends on
nt concentrations
act as allosteric effector
stabilize
R or T state
Maintained by
Protein-protein interaction
force
activity at
normal [asp]
reduces
cooperativity
Pre-test
In-class active
learning
Concepting map
definitions
Pre-test
Concept map
definitions
Essay and M.C.
assessment