Team-based learning and how it
can be used to enliven microbial
education.
Michael J. McInerney
and
L. Dee Fink
University of Oklahoma.
Active learning model
Passive
Learning
Receiving
information
and ideas.
Active learning
Experience
Reflective dialogue
with:
Doing
Self
Observing
Others
Educative assessment model.
Educative assessment
Audit-ive assessment
Self-assessment
(by learners)
Grading
Feedback
Backwardlooking
assessment
Forwardlooking
assessment
Use of small groups

Cooperative learning:



Problem-based learning:



Groups as specific activity inserted into existing class; some
type of project
4 members per group; assigned roles, paper or talk.
Problem comes first; requires restructuring of course
Mentors; multiple lengthy projects, either as papers or talks
Team-based learning:


Acquire needed information first then engage in learning
tasks, make a decision!
5-7 per group, no roles, work during class time, frequent and
prompt feedback.
Keys to team-based learning

Groups must be properly formed and managed


Students must be accountable for their individual and
group work



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Individual: Readiness assurance process
Group: Peer assessment
Assignments must promote both learning and team
development:


Instructor forms groups; by experience not grade
promote discussion, give and take.
Students must get timely and prompt feedback
Reward for success: somehow it must matter that
team performs well
Making good team assignments

Which would be best for group activity?




A. Make a list: list mistakes in the writer’s
use of active and passive voice
B. Make a choice: in passage, identify
sentences that are active or passive voice
C. Make a specific choice: in passage,
identify the sentence where passive voice
is used most appropriately
Use row 5 to answer this question.
Evolution of quiz question

Simple choice deduced from facts:



Have 97% carbon recovery but O/R ratio is 1.5.
Which compound is missing?
Ethanol, CO2, H2, or lactate?
Make decision:



Have 130% carbon recovery and O/R ratio of 0.7.
Cost of radioactive substrate is $5,000.
Can you use washed cell suspensions to obtain a
better fermentation balance?
Or could ask which of several approaches would
be best to obtain a fermentation balance.
Essentials for implementing
group assignments: The 3 S’s
Individual
work
X
Group
Discussion X
Class
Discussion
Impact on
learning
Same problem:
individuals/groups work on same project or question
Specific choice:
require students/groups to use concepts to make a
decision.
Simultaneous reporting:
report answers/choices simultaneously.
Microbial physiology:
situational analysis

Course content:






Mechanisms of energy conservation
carbon-carbon bond cleavage,
role of vitamins/cofactors
ecological applications
Required for microbiology majors; 50 to 80
students, mostly pre-medicine.
Problems:


Lack of relevancy to students’ careers
Poor retention of information and inability to apply
information to new contexts.
Changes made

2000: introduced weekly quizzes




2 to 3 multiple choice questions taken individually
Form groups and take same quiz.
Simultaneously report by raising card
2001 and 2002: introduced team projects as
well.

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Mid semester project: pathway development
End-of-semester project: electron transport and
bioenergetics.
Example of Quiz questions.


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Ask students to decide which of five
chemicals whose structures and octane
ratings are given should be used in gasoline.
Ask students which of five enzymes was
missing to explain growth of an E. coli mutant
on three different substrates.
Ask students whether to fund a proposal on
use of hydrogenase mutants to make 1,3propanediol.
CH 2OH Glycerol
CHOH
NAD + CH OH
2
NADH
CH 2OH
Dihydroxyacetone
Students had
to decide
whether deletion
of hydrogenase
would shift electron
flow to propandiol
C
O
CH 2OH
ATP
H2O
HC
O
CH 2
3-hydroxypropionaldehyde
CH 2OH
NADH
ADP
CH 2OH
Dihydroxy- C O
acetonephosphate CH 2 O PO3=
HC O
Glyceraldehyde-3CHOH
phosphate
CH 2 O PO3=
Glycolysis and
end-product formation
NAD +
CH 2OH
CH 2
CH 2OH
1,3-Propanediol
Sequence of team projects

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Give out data about 2- 3 weeks ahead of time
Assign 3 to 4 journal papers to read
On Monday of project week, each student turns in 1page write up. Provide class time to work in groups.
On Friday, teams posters reviewed.

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No identifying name or number
Each team reviews other teams posters
Assessment: post green, yellow, or red stickies notes
Discuss/defend/explain
Instructor summarizes.
Students assessing each others
posters.
Mid-semester project: transaconitate metabolism

Equation:

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Molar growth yield: ~8 g/mole
Metabolism of position-labeled compounds


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Trans-aconitate -> 1.8 acetate + 0.1 butyrate + 2CO2 + 0.9 H2
[5-14C]-glutamate: not found in acetate or butyrate.
[5-14C]-trans-aconitate: in carboxyl of acetate at
one-half the specific activity.
Specific activities of 7 enzymes with transaconitate and glutamate as substrates
Concentrations of 6 intermediates during
growth with the two substrates.
Did high level learning occur?



All teams correctly deduced that a
modified or new pathway was needed.
10 of 12 teams generated pathways
fully consistent with stoichiometry,
growth yields, labeling patterns, enzyme
and intermediate data
Prochirality: had to incorporation this
property of citrate to explain the data.
End of semester project:
Desulfovibrio bioenergetics.


Determine whether recent information on
mutants requires a change in the model.
Mutants:

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Cytochrome c3 deficient (Rapp-Giles et al., 2000)
Fe-only hydrogenase deficient (Pohorelic et al.,
2002)
Modifications must explain mutant
phenotypes and be consistent with molar
growth yields (Magee et al., 1978)

Most had multiply branched chains or hmc
complex that interacts with different carriers.
Three
routes
to
hmc
complex
Student performance on final
with and without team projects
Group
project
No. of
students
Median
(200 pts.
total)
95%
confidence
interval.
No
60
133
126-141
Yes
(2 years)
121
154-165
150-160
Significantly higher after team projects
Final examination scores with
and without team projects
Less low grades (<70)
and more good grades
(70’s and 80’s) with
team projects.
% in the 90’s not
significantly different.
Why team-learning helps?

Metacongitive instruction:


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Interactions may have allowed students to learn how others
learn, and thus develop a better sense of how they learn.
Critical for the durability of concepts and transfer of concepts
to new contexts (Georghiades, 2000, Educ. Res.; Vosniadou
et al., 2001, Learning Instruction).
Learning Styles:


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Sensor-feelers (Cognitive Profile Model)
Intuitive thinkers: don’t memorize, must understand concepts
These are the students with the traits best suited for
research.
Students’ attitudes before and
after team-learning introduced
Students’ attitudes
about the
instructor’s
ability to
encourage critical
thinking markedly
improved.
Team-based learning and a
graduate industrial microbiology


Have students form teams to develop
company to make a specific product
Instructor picks overall product:

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Commodity ethanol production
Biosurfactant production.
Teams choose:

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Market/application for process
Strain
Medium
Fermentation process
Molecular/genetic improvement approach
Team-base learning in
introductory microbiology


Non-majors class: mainly allied health
students.
Have group activity after each major section
of the course:


Anatomy, metabolism, growth, molecular biology,
and medical microbiology.
Culminating project to link concepts together:


Role of microorganisms atherosclerosis.
Modes of defense against bioterrorism attack.
Conclusions

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Teams accomplish significant learning tasks.
Improved understanding and retention of
foundational material and improved problemsolving skills.
Students’ attitudes and classroom dynamics
improved.
Mechanism to engage students in evolving
process of scientific thought and inquiry.
Learning tool for teaching microbial diversity.
Team question



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One word reports (yes/no, up/down) are
the very best format to report group
results.
Use row 2 to answer this question.
A. Yes
B. No?