Redesigning the Large General Education Oceanography

Course

By

William A. Prothero, Jr

CollaboratorsProf Greg Kelly, Graduate School of EducationProf. Charles Bazerman, Graduate School of

EducationNumerous bright graduate students:

Holly Dodson Cathy ChenAllison Takao Julie Esch Jacqueline Regev Jose Constantine

Some of the materials and ideas for this presentation were inspired by Daniel Edelson (Northwestern Univ) and Curtis Bonk (Indiana University)

I. BetterTechnology

II. LearnerDemands

III. BetterPedagogy

Three factors are converging that make this a very interesting time

for education

Research into learning tells us:

Students must be challenged and engagedPrior knowledge can inhibit deep

understandingContent learned passively does not transfer

well to a meaningful situations where it can be applied

Ref: How People Learn, National Research Council, 2000.

NSSE BenchmarksNSSE Benchmarks

Level of Level of Academic Academic ChallengeChallenge

Active & Active & Collaborative Collaborative

LearningLearning

EnrichingEnrichingEducational Educational ExperiencesExperiences

SupportiveSupportiveCampusCampus

EnvironmentEnvironment

StudentStudentFaculty Faculty

InteractionInteraction

Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice

National Survey of Student Engagementhttp://www.iub.edu/~nsse/students.shtml

Our Gen Ed Science Courses:

Are often one of the only (or very few) science courses non-science majors take.

Are vital to building a science literate electorate.

Address a need for our population to be informed about critical environmental issues.

Our methods vs our desired outcome

Our methods do not support our goals

Currently we emphasizeMemorization of factsPassive reception of information

(listening, reading)Practicing simple skills out of context

We want citizens who canPerform complex tasksGather and synthesize informationCommunicate with others

What are the activities that scientists engage in?

Asking questions (posing a problem)Collecting evidence (exploring data)Discussing, arguing, listening to peersCommunicating their resultsWriting papers

Scientific argumentationObserve, describe, interpret

Applying their knowledge to relevant and meaningful problems.

Elements of science process

Approach for Introductory Oceanography

Use the practices of scientists as a model for class activitiesLearn background knowledgeChoose a problem that can be solved by the

available dataAcquire dataDiscuss preliminary findings with peersPresent preliminary resultsPublish final paper

Context

Large general education oceanography course

100-300 students each quarterAll majors: Physics <--> DanceFreshman thru Seniors

Relevance to meaningful problems

Each student joins a group that represents a country or region

Course writing assignments require that the student teams (2-4) present the material from the viewpoint of the country they represent.

Benefits

Greater student engagement

Appreciation for science process

Deeper understanding of underlying theory

Encourages critical thinking about science claims in the media

Student Feedback High: A B C D E Low Lecture 17, 10, 27, 18, 27Labs 42, 28, 21, 8, 1

Kyoto Conf 26, 31, 23, 14, 6Thought questions 14, 22, 27, 27, 11Questions of the Day 9, 25, 27, 23, 16Weekly quizzes 18, 33, 25, 15, 9Weekly homeworks 19, 28, 27, 15, 11Writing assignments 31, 37, 19, 6, 6Course was difficult 16, 22, 37, 14, 11

Interesting and relevant 20, 42, 23, 9, 6

Worked hard 40, 24, 22, 9, 5

Learned a lot 28, 30, 14, 17, 11

Our Dynamic Planet

MArine Virtual Explorer(MARVE)

Global Ocean Data Viewer

WorldWatcher CD

Fishbanks, a commercial fishing simulation game.

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Internet data resources

Online data from Lamont, PMEL, and others

Science and society: CIESEN, United Nations, CIA Factbook, and many others

See Mini-studies at http://oceanography.geol.ucsb.edu/ for links.

Challenges students face

Mastering EarthEd and data browsing softwareChoosing a problemSeparating observations from interpretationsScientific writing and argumentationUsing/obtaining background knowledgeGetting appropriate guidance and feedbackGaining confidence

Mastering software Lecture time software demonstrations Extensive help in “Guide” window for each screen. Scaffolding

Initial data access is done in section, in groups Troublesome operations are included in early assignments

Items: Each student has a copy of the CD and most install on

their own computer. Software updates are automatically downloaded and

installed.

Background knowledge Weekly online homework assignments directed at the

week’s lab activities (auto graded) Weekly thought problem assignments directed at the

lecture content, tightly coupled to lab assignments. All answers are posted to an online bulletin board. (Graded by TA’s or undergraduate reader).

Weekly mini-quizzes (auto graded online). Lecture and textbook••• Homeworks and mini-quizzes can be repeated as often

as desired, with increasing penalties automatically applied after the due date.

••• Current course grade can be computed at any time.

Separating observations from interpretations

Realize that the classification of assertions as “observation” or “interpretation” is context dependent.

In-class “Quick Writes” provide hands-on experience making observations and interpretations, and provide material for more in-depth class discussion.

Provide examples of what we consider to be observations and interpretations to students.

Lab section activities include student presentations, which provides an opportunity for student and TA feedback.

Framework for writing assignments1. Perspective: science advisor to the President.2. Determine which phenomenon, within the scope of the

writing assignment, most strongly impacts to the country the learner is representing.

3. Learn the theory4. Find data to support some aspect of the theory or its

predictions5. Make a scientific argument based on the data, that

explains the process and impact to the students’ country.

6. Supporting activities include: Class presentations Small group discussion Final 1800 word paper

Helping students get started Begin with a narrow range of problem choices

Examples: lab activity to find the earth’s plates using earthquake data Mini-study of a selected small area

Create a mission Students divide into groups that represent all of the course

topics from the point of view of “their” country. These “country groups” persist during the course.

Mini-studies 2 hr loosely guided group explorations. Students form new,

temporary groups, each doing a different mini-study. They share their expertise with their country group members.

Writing assignments draw from the mini-studies for guidance and data sources.

Example in-lecture activity

ObserveDescribe

Pair/shareIn writing

InterpretExplainModels

diagrams

Science writing/argumentation

Carefully written instructions on the structure of a science paper

Rubric that sets clear grading standards Make the difference between a “book report” and the use of data

clear. In-lecture practice activities Explicit instruction on elements of a scientific argument:

i.e. what are the issues that must be addressed in a science argument?

Elements of a scientific argument:

---recognizing and including statements which: 1. include an observation, or description of an observation

2. name or classify an observation in terms of geological features

3. describe a feature that has been observed and classified, or that the author implies has been observed and classified, even if supporting observations are lacking

4. describe relationships between different observed and classified features

5. describe or explain a model or theory

6. describe relationships between and/or observed features that match (or disagree with) model features

Summary of important strategies Scaffolding of all critical skills

Software Group work and presentations Science process and writing

Clear descriptions of the assignments and grading Access to current assignment and course grade(s) Rubric for writing assignment grading

Relevance Importance of subject matter to society or the student’s life and

interests Rewards and accountability

Performance = grades

The Endhttp://oceanography.geol.ucsb.edu