Title: Redesigning the Large General Education Oceanography Course
1Redesigning the Large General Education
Oceanography Course
- By
- William A. Prothero, Jr
2Collaborators
- Prof Greg Kelly, Graduate School of Education
- Prof. Charles Bazerman, Graduate School of
Education - Numerous bright graduate students
- Holly Dodson Cathy Chen
- Allison 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)
3Three factors are converging that make this a
very interesting time for education
I. Better Technology
II. Learner Demands
III. Better Pedagogy
4Research into learning tells us
- Students must be challenged and engaged
- Prior knowledge can inhibit deep understanding
- Content learned passively does not transfer well
to a meaningful situations where it can be
applied - Ref How People Learn, National Research Council,
2000.
5Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice
National Survey of Student Engagementhttp//www.
iub.edu/nsse/students.shtml
6Our 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.
7Our methods vs our desired outcome
- Our methods do not support our goals
- Currently we emphasize
- Memorization of facts
- Passive reception of information (listening,
reading) - Practicing simple skills out of context
- We want citizens who can
- Perform complex tasks
- Gather and synthesize information
- Communicate with others
8What are the activities that scientists engage in?
- Asking questions (posing a problem)
- Collecting evidence (exploring data)
- Discussing, arguing, listening to peers
- Communicating their results
- Writing papers
- Scientific argumentation
- Observe, describe, interpret
- Applying their knowledge to relevant and
meaningful problems.
9Elements of science process
10Approach for Introductory Oceanography
- Use the practices of scientists as a model for
class activities - Learn background knowledge
- Choose a problem that can be solved by the
available data - Acquire data
- Discuss preliminary findings with peers
- Present preliminary results
- Publish final paper
11Context
- Large general education oceanography course
- 100-300 students each quarter
- All majors Physics lt--gt Dance
- Freshman thru Seniors
12(No Transcript)
13Relevance 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.
14Benefits
- Greater student engagement
- Appreciation for science process
- Deeper understanding of underlying theory
- Encourages critical thinking about science claims
in the media
15Student Feedback
- High A B C D E
Low - Lecture 17, 10, 27, 18, 27
- Labs 42, 28, 21, 8, 1
- Kyoto Conf 26, 31, 23, 14, 6
- Thought questions 14, 22, 27, 27, 11
- Questions of the Day 9, 25, 27, 23, 16
- Weekly quizzes 18, 33, 25, 15, 9
- Weekly homeworks 19, 28, 27, 15, 11
- Writing assignments 31, 37, 19, 6, 6
- Course 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
16Our Dynamic Planet
17MArine Virtual Explorer(MARVE)
18Global Ocean Data Viewer
19WorldWatcher CD
20Fishbanks, a commercial fishing simulation game.
21Internet 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.
22Challenges students face
- Mastering EarthEd and data browsing software
- Choosing a problem
- Separating observations from interpretations
- Scientific writing and argumentation
- Using/obtaining background knowledge
- Getting appropriate guidance and feedback
- Gaining confidence
23Mastering 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.
24Background knowledge
- Weekly online homework assignments directed at
the weeks 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 TAs 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.
25Separating 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.
26Framework for writing assignments
- Perspective science advisor to the President.
- Determine which phenomenon, within the scope of
the writing assignment, most strongly impacts to
the country the learner is representing. - Learn the theory
- Find data to support some aspect of the theory or
its predictions - Make a scientific argument based on the data,
that explains the process and impact to the
students country. - Supporting activities include
- Class presentations
- Small group discussion
- Final 1800 word paper
27Helping students get started
- Begin with a narrow range of problem choices
- Examples
- lab activity to find the earths 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.
28Example in-lecture activity
- Observe
- Describe
- Pair/share
- In writing
- Interpret
- Explain
- Models diagrams
29Science 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?
30Elements of a scientific argument---recognizing
and including statements which
- include an observation, or description of an
observation - name or classify an observation in terms of
geological features - 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 - describe relationships between different observed
and classified features - describe or explain a model or theory
- describe relationships between and/or observed
features that match (or disagree with) model
features
31Summary 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
students life and interests - Rewards and accountability
- Performance grades
32The End
- http//oceanography.geol.ucsb.edu