Teaching for Understanding in Large Classes: Active Learning

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Teaching for Understanding in Large
ClassesActive Learning Assessment
Diane Ebert-May Department of Plant Biology
Michigan State University ebertmay_at_msu.edu http
//first2.org
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The trouble with our times is that the future is
not what it used to be.
-Paul Valery, The Art of Poetry
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Objectives you will be able to.....

• Implement a learning cycle instructional design
• Organize and use cooperative groups
• Create an inquiry-based, student-centered
  classroom
• Develop goals/assessments
• Use concept maps - maybe
• Analyze data to improve instruction
• Develop rubrics for assessment
• Figure out if the rewards are worth it

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Learning Cycle

• Engage
• Explore
• Explain
• Assess

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Engage
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Question 1
Please respond on a scale of 1-5 1strongly
agree 2agree 3neutral 4 disagree
5strongly disagree

• Students learn science best by doing science.

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Question 2
Please respond on a scale of 1-5 1strongly
agree 2agree 3neutral 4 disagree
5strongly disagree

• Science should be taught as it is practiced.

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Question 3
Please respond on a scale if 0-100 in increments
of 10

• How important is it to use multiple kinds of
  data to assess student learning?

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Question 4
Please respond on a scale of 0 - 100 in
increments of 10

• How often do you use data to make instructional
  decisions?

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Question 5
Please respond on a scale of 1-5 5strongly
agree 4agree 3neutral 2 disagree
1strongly disagree

• Large lectures (50 at UM) are active learning
  environments.

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Question 6
Please respond on a scale of 1-5 1strongly
agree 2agree 3neutral 4 disagree
5strongly disagree

• In my department, excellence in teaching is
  rewarded at a level comparable to excellence in
  research.

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Question 7
Where on the continuum is the ideal classroom ?
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Question 8

• Where on the continuum is your
  classroom?

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Question 1
Please respond on a scale of 1-5 1strongly
agree 2agree 3neutral 4 disagree
5strongly disagree

• Students learn science best by doing science.

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Question 2
Please respond on a scale of 1-5 1strongly
agree 2agree 3neutral 4 disagree
5strongly disagree

• Science should be taught as it is practiced.

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Learners doing science...
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Question 3
Please respond on a scale if 0-100 in increments
of 10

• How important is it to use multiple kinds of
  data to assess student learning?

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How important is it to use multiple forms of data
to assess student learning?

Relative Importance
n127
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Question 4
Please respond on a scale of 0 - 100 in
increments of 10

• How often do you use data to make instructional
  decisions?

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How often do you use data to make instructional
decisions?

Frequency
n127
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Question 5
Please respond on a scale of 1-5 5strongly
agree 4agree 3neutral 2 disagree
1strongly disagree

• Large (50 UM) introductory courses are active
  learning environments.

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Question 6

• In my department, excellence in teaching is
  rewarded at a level comparable to excellence in
  research.

Please respond on a scale of 1-5 1strongly
agree 2agree 3neutral 4 disagree
5strongly disagree
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Question 7
Where on the continuum is the ideal classroom ?
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Question 8

• Where on the continuum is your
  classroom?

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Explore
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Whats up with Termites?

• 1. On a sheet of paper, draw two circles near
  each other on the center of the page.
• 2. Release termites onto paper.
• 3. Keep creatures safe. I shall collect them in
  their original habitat.
• 4. What do you observe about termite behavior?
• 5. Develop a question your group could explore if
  you had more time.
• (15 minutes - select a timekeeper)

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1. Develop 3 possible goals/ objectives for this
inquiry
2. Develop an assessment appropriate for one of
the goals/objectives.

• Team Written response. Overhead.
• Reporter -
• Recorder -
• Timekeeper - (10 minutes)
• Checker -

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Explain
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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 grainsizes)

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Why do assessment?
Improve student learning and development.
Provides students and faculty substantive
feedback about student understanding.
Challenge to use disciplinary research strategies
to assess learning.
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Assessment
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Guidelines for thinking about research...

• What did students learn? (assessment data)
• Why did students respond a particular way?
  (research)
• What are the working hypotheses or questions?
• What has already been done? Literature says...
• How and why to select methods? Conduct study...
• How to analyze and interpret data?
• What do the results mean?
• Are findings valid and generalizable?

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Research
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Data collection
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Assessment Gradient
High Ease of Assessment Low
Multiple Choice, T/F Diagrams, Concept maps,
Quantitative response Short answer Essay,
Research papers/ reports Oral Interview
Low Potential for Assessment of Learning High
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Identify desired outcomes
Determine acceptable evidence
Design learning experiences and instruction
Wiggins and McTighe 1998
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Objective (outcome) Students will demonstrate
understanding of evolution by natural selection.
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Problem (evidence)

• Write a scenario that explains the phenotypic
  changes in the tree and the animal. Use your
  understanding of evolution by natural selection.

Text
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How do we develop rubrics?

1. Describe the goal/objective for the activity,
   problem, task...
2. Select the assessment tasks aligned with goals
3. Develop performance standards
4. Differentiate levels of responses based on
   clearly described criteria
5. Rate (assign value) the categories

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Scoring Rubric for Quizzes and Homework
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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

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Limitations of Scoring Rubrics

• Problem of criteria
• Problem of practice and regular use
• Scoring Rubric website
• http//www.wcer.wisc.edu/nise/cl1/flag/
• Sample Rubrics for Environmental Science
• http//www.msu.edu/ebertmay/isb202/home.html

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What Type of Learning?
Bloom (1956) Cognitive Domain of Educational
Objectives 6 categories - Knowledge Comprehen
sion Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation
Condense to 4 - easy to work with
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Cognitive Levels

• Knowledge - remember
• Comprehension and Application - grasp meaning,
  use, interpret
• Critical Analysis - original thinking, open-ended
  answers, whole to parts, parts to whole,
  evaluation
• Synthesis - make connections, evaluate

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Model for Learning - System
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So what is a concept?

1. Take a piece of paper -- one of the dino-tree
   responses will work--
2. Fold it in half.
3. On the top half, draw a bicycle.
4. On the bottom half, describe bicycle in writing.
5. Which is a better representation of the concept
   bicycle?
6. Would a concept map be best?

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Prototypical
Knowledge-based
Concepts are...
Lexical
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Concept Maps
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www.ctools.msu.edu
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Robo Grader in Action
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Students Concept Map
Text
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For a course you teach .....
1. Select a concept that is critical for your
students to understand. 2. Identify 4 or 5
subconcepts that are important to understanding
that concept e.g., DNA - Gene- Chromosome -
Enzyme
3. Arrange them by rank order - top most general,
bottom most specific 4. Add linking lines to
make connections between two concepts 5. Add
linking words that describe the relationship
between two concepts
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Pre-Posttest Analysis
Does active, inquiry-based instructional design
influence students understanding of evolution
and natural selection?
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Alternative Conceptions Natural Selection
Changes in a population occur through a gradual
change in individual members of a population.
New traits in species are developed in response
to need. All members of a population are
genetically equivalent, variation and fitness are
not considered. Traits acquired during an
individuals lifetime will be inherited by
offspring.
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Explain the changes that occurred in the tree and
animal. Use your current understanding of
evolution by natural selection.
(AAAS 1999)
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Misconception individuals evolve new traits
n80 plt.01
of Students
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Misconception evolution is driven by need
n80 plt.01
of Students
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In guppy populations, what are the primary
changes that occur gradually over time?

• a. The traits of each individual guppy within a
  population gradually change.
• b. The proportions of guppies having different
  traits within population change.
• c. Successful behaviors learned by certain
  guppies are passed on to offspring.
• d. Mutations occur to meet the needs of the
  guppies as the environment changes.

Anderson et al 2002
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Posttest Student responses to mc
n171

of Students
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Animal/Tree Posttest Gain in student
understanding of fitness
n80 plt.01
of Students
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• Quantitative Data
• Qualitative Data

Design Experiment
Ebert-May et al. 2003 Bioscience
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Question
How do assessment questions help us determine
students prior understanding and progressive
thinking about the carbon cycle.
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Instructional Design

• Two class meetings on carbon cycle (160 minutes)
• Active, inquiry-based learning
• Cooperative groups
• Questions, group processing, large lecture
  sections, small discussion sections, multi-week
  laboratory investigation
• Homework problems including web-based modules
• Different faculty for each course
• One graduate/8-10 undergraduate TAs per course

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Experimental Design

• Two introductory courses for majors
• Bio 1 - organismal/population biology (faculty A)
• Bio 2 - cell and molecular biology (faculty B)
• Three cohorts
• Cohort 1 Bio 1 (n141)
• Cohort 2 Bio1/Bio2 (n63)
• Cohort 3 Other/Bio2 (n40)

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Assessment Design

• Multiple iterations/versions of the carbon cycle
  problem
• Pretest, midterm, final with additional formative
  assessments during class
• Administered during instruction
• Semester 1 - pretest, midterm, final exam
• Semester 2 - final exam

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Grandma Johnson Problem

• Hypothetical scenario Grandma Johnson had very
  sentimental feelings toward Johnson Canyon, Utah,
  where she and her late husband had honeymooned
  long ago. Her feelings toward this spot were
  such that upon her death she requested to be
  buried under a creosote bush overlooking the
  canyon. Trace the path of a carbon atom from
  Grandma Johnsons remains to where it could
  become part of a coyote. NOTE the coyote will
  not dig up Grandma Johnson and consume any of her
  remains.

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Analysis of Responses

• Used same scoring rubric (coding scheme) for all
  three problems - calibrated by adding additional
  criteria when necessary, rescoring
• Examined two major concepts
• Concept 1 Decomposers respire CO2
• Concept 2 Plants uptake of CO2
• Explanations categorized into two groups
• Organisms (trophic levels)
• Processes (metabolic)

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Coding Scheme
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Cellular Respiration by Decomposers
Correct Student Responses ()
Bio1/Bio2
Other/Bio2
Friedmans, plt0.01
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Pathway of Carbon in Photosynthesis
Correct Student Responses ()
Bio1/Bio2
Other/Bio2
Friedmans, plt0.05
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Question 9

• True or False?
• Assessing student learning in science parallels
  what scientists do as researchers.

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Parallel ask questions

• Description
• -What is happening?
• Cause
• -Does x (teaching strategy) affect y
  (understanding)?
• Process or mechanism
• -Why or how does x cause y?

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Parallel collect data

• We collect data to find out what our students
  know.
• Data helps us understand student thinking about
  concepts and content.
• We use data to guide decisions about
  course/curriculum/innovative instruction

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Parallel analyze data

• Quantitative data - statistical analysis
• Qualitative data
• break into manageable units and define coding
  categories
• search for patterns, quantify
• interpret and synthesize
• Valid and repeatable measures

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Parallel peer review

• Ideas and results are peer reviewed - formally
  and/or informally.

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Examples to View
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Assessment of Workshop
Minute Paper
Q1 What was helpful to you? Why?
Q2 What would have been helpful to you ? Why?
Q3 What should we focus on in future workshops?
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IRD Team at MSU

• Janet Batzli - Plant Biology U of Wisconsin
• Doug Luckie - Physiology
• Scott Harrison - Microbiology (grad student)
• Tammy Long - Plant Biology
• Deb Linton - Plant Biology (postdoc)
• Rett Weber - Plant Biology
• Heejun Lim - Chemistry Education
• Duncan Sibley - Geology
• Rob Pennock - Philosophy
• Charles Ofria - Engineering
• Rich Lenski - Microbiolgy
• National Science Foundation