Natural Sciences > Biology > Concept-Centered Teaching(2006)

Concept-Centered Teaching(2006) posted by duggu on 12/10/2007

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Abstract/Syllabus

Courseware/Lectures

Test/Tutorials

Course Highlights

This course features a full bibliography of readings.

Course Description

Do you like teaching, but find yourself frustrated by how little students seem to learn? Would you like to try teaching, but are nervous about whether you will be any good at it? Are you interested in new research on science education? Research in science education shows that the greatest obstacle to student learning is the failure to identify and confront the misconceptions with which the students enter the class or those that they acquire during their studies. This weekly seminar course focuses on developing the participants' ability to uncover and confront student misconceptions and to foster student understanding and retention of key concepts. Participants read primary literature on science education, uncover basic concepts often overlooked when teaching biology, and lead a small weekly discussion session for students currently enrolled in introductory biology classes.

The instructor for this course, Dr. Kosinski-Collins, is a member of the HHMI Education Group.

Syllabus

Course Description

7.391 is a weekly seminar on science education open to both graduate and undergraduate students. Participants will read primary literature on science education, uncover basic concepts often overlooked when teaching biology, and lead a small weekly discussion session for students in 7.014 or 7.02. Students will be encouraged to review lecture material posted on the web for 7.014 or attend review sessions for 7.02 to obtain a first-hand view of the material being covered. Current students will be paired with mentors from last semester's course.

Research in science education shows that the greatest obstacle to student learning is the failure to identify and confront the misconceptions with which the students enter the class or those that they acquire during their studies. This course focuses on developing the participants' ability to uncover and confront student misconceptions and to foster student understanding and retention of key concepts.

Participants are encouraged to remain in the program as mentors for the fall semester.

Course Format

The course will have three components, reading primary literature in science education, discussing key concepts in select areas of biology, and leading a discussion group for the students taking Introductory Biology lab or lecture (7.014 or 7.02).

We will discuss at least one original paper each week. The papers must be read in advance of the class. Our goal will be to critically analyze these papers. To help us achieve that goal, each of you will be expected to email to the instructor two discussion questions for the article covered that day by the morning of the class. In discussing the papers, we will focus on articulating the main points of the paper, identifying conditions under which the data was collected and assumptions used in interpreting the data, and discussing how the results could be applied to the teaching environment at MIT.

Starting in the third week of class, seminar participants will lead a small (no more than 5 students) discussion groups for students enrolled in 7.014 or 7.02. There will be one session of each discussion group a week and each session will last approximately an hour. A mentor from last semester's class will be partnered with you to help facilitate the discussion. Students leading discussions for 7.02 will be required to attend bi-weekly meetings with the 7.02 staff to orient themselves with the material to be presented. Students leading discussions for 7.014 will be asked to attend lecture if possible or review old lecture material.

Attendance

This is a discussion class, so attendance is mandatory. You are allowed to miss one of the 15 sessions of the class, but please notify the instructors ahead of time. You will also need to arrange to pick up the paper for the next week from the course instructor. If you need to miss a second class, you must talk to the instructors ahead of time so we can arrange an appropriate make-up assignment.

Assignments

Class participants are required to lead a discussion session with currently enrolled introductory biology students. There are writing assignments based on preparation work for these discussion sessions. Participants will also be required to give several oral presentations on class readings and run a selected concept discussion during a portion of the seminar.

Grading

The course is pass/fail. Participation in class discussion, completion of the assignments above, and satisfactory attendance will result in a passing grade.

Calendar

Course schedule.
SES #	TOPICS	In Class ActivitIES
1	Introduction - The Importance of Scientific Teaching and Mentoring
2	Reforming Undergraduate Biology Education	Ask the students to brainstorm a list of individuals they would want included on an undergraduate biology curriculum panel. Compare and contrast their list and the panel involved in Bio2010. Discuss the pros and cons of each individual.
3	Confronting Student Misconceptions	Ask the students to come up with a concept taught in introductory-level biology. Write the concept on the board and have the class break the statement down into individual concepts. Discuss how students in an intro class can get confused by complex ideas that we take for granted and the levels of understanding it takes to explain the original concept.
4	Teaching Complex Material as a Series of Basic Concepts	Activity 1 Ask the class to come up with a list of topics they feel are vital for students to learn in introductory biology. Write down all topics on the board whether or not everyone agrees. Go through the list one by one and discuss whether or not the entire class agrees on the inclusion of the topic. Discuss how this exercise represents the problems faced when establishing a national curriculum. Activity 2 (Time Permitting) The shape game.
5	Multiple Intelligences	Go around the room and ask each student to decide which intelligence most accurately reflects them. Encourage them to give multiple categories if they think their personality is reflected by more than one. Write all the categories on the board. Discuss as a class any trends observed in the categories and whether or not they feel biology majors tend to be a particular intelligence.
6	Usability Testing
7	Cooperative Learning	Ask the students to think of the different ways they were assigned to groups and write down the methods on the board. Discuss the pros and cons of each method and what their personal impressions were of each style.
8	Case Studies	Have the students brainstorm possible topics in biology that would lend themselves to case study format. Make the students choose one topic and design a scenario for it in the classroom.
9	Concept Mapping	Ask the students to develop a crude concept map using the basic concepts of biology under the headings "Genetics", "Biochemistry", and "Molecular Biology." Discuss the possible impact of such maps on student understand of the big picture in introductory biology.
10	Concept-based Laboratories and Lecture Connections	Ask the students to brainstorm the different ways in which a laboratory could be incorporated into a school curriculum as a stand alone class, in addition to lecture, as a project lab, etc. Discuss the pros and cons of each format. Ask the class to come to a consensus as to which is the best method.
11	Predictors of Success in College Science	Ask the class to brainstorm topics we covered in high school physics. Discuss what we do and don't remember and discuss if asking college students to remember high school is the best way to assess predictors of college success.
12	Assessment	Ask the students to brainstorm the different ways in which they have been graded in the past. Discuss the type of class in which these methods were used and which method they feel was most effective in determining how much they learned.
13	Student Self-assessment	Have the students grade a mock exam of all types of questions including true/false, multiple choice, short answer, matching, fill in, etc. Have the students evaluate each type of question for clarity, ease of grading, and assessment of concept knowledge.
14	Teaching Evolution	Have the students design their own end-of-term evaluation sheet. Have them copy the evaluation down and submit it after class. Be sure to emphasize that all points of view are important and valid!
15	Wrap-up

Readings

Reading files.
SES #	TOPICS	OVERVIEWS	READINGS
1	Introduction - The Importance of Scientific Teaching and Mentoring	We will begin by introducing ourselves and talking about what each of us hopes to get out of the class, our backgrounds and sources of interest in the subject of the seminar. We will discuss the importance of being a good teacher/mentor in the biological sciences and will read the "Scientific Teaching" article. By doing so we will set out the overall goals of the class. We will go over the discussion class options between 7.014 or 7.02. You will be required to choose one of the two classes by Friday, two days after Ses #1 and email the instructor your decision.	Handelsman, J., D. Ebert-May, R. Beichner, P. Bruns, A. Chang, R. Dehaan, J. Gentile, S. Lauffer, J. Stewart, S. M. Tilghman, and W. B. Wood. "Scientific Teaching." Science 304 (2004): 521-522.
2	Reforming Undergraduate Biology Education	It is widely recognized that current undergraduate curricula do not adequately prepare our students for successful research careers in the biomedical sciences. The National Academy of Sciences issued a report in 2003 that called for major reform in the overall training and preparation of our students. We talk about the recommendations of the reform committee and how they may be implemented in the college classroom. Class Discussion Notes (PDF)	Morgan, Elisa. "Bio2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists." National Academy of Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003. ISBN: 0309085357.
3	Confronting Student Misconceptions	Whether it is our every day experience with falling objects, or our intuitive knowledge of heredity ("it's in his blood"), we all enter classroom with pre-conceived notions of the concepts at the core of the subject. Some of these pre-conceived notions are in fact misconceptions. Students who learn "over" the misconceptions tend to revert to their original, wrong, ideas after the course is over. It is increasingly becoming an accepted notion that effective teaching identifies and confronts student misconceptions. Class Discussion Notes (PDF)	Alparslan, C., C. Tekkaya, and O. Geban. "Using the conceptual change instruction to improve learning." Journal of Biological Education 37 (2003): 133-7. Tanner, K. and D. Allen. "Approached to Biology Teaching and Learning: Understanding the Wrong Answers-Teaching Towards Conceptual Change." Cell Biology Education 4 (2005): 112-117.
4	Teaching Complex Material as a Series of Basic Concepts	As experts, we often lose site of the fact that we only understand a complex fact because we truly understand the multiple concepts behind it. We will perform an exercise that will demonstrate just how complex biology can be and we will look at a paper that works to break-down MIT introductory biology into smaller concepts. Class Discussion Notes (PDF)	Khodor, J., D. G. Halme, and G. C. Walker. "A Hierarchical Biology Concept Framework." Cell Biology Education 3 (2004): 111-112.
5	Multiple Intelligences	In 1983 Howard Gardner formulated his theory of Multiple Intelligences. Since then, many books and articles have been written on the subject of MI itself and, more recently, on how it applies to the educational endeavor. Our discussion will focus on how to apply the principles of MI in the college environment, where large lecture-based courses are the norm. Class Discussion Notes (PDF)	Mbuva, James. "Implementation of the Multiple Intelligences Theory in the 21st Century Teaching and Learning Environments: A New Tool for Effective Teaching and Learning in All Levels." Report (2003).
6	Usability Testing
7	Cooperative Learning	One of the buzz words in education today cooperative or group learning. Many flavors of this type of learning exist, most with an emphasis on creating an environment where students accomplish more in a group format than any individual can accomplish by his- or herself. Some models, like the guild model discussed in today's paper, explicitly encourage the group to capitalize on each individual member's strengths to accomplish the overall goal. We will discuss applicability of various forms of group work to a number of educational environments. We will also discuss the balance between covering content and developing skills students need to acquire content on their own. Class Discussion Notes (PDF)	Wright, R., and J. Boggs. "Learning Cell Biology as a Team: A Project-Based Approach to Upper-Division Cell Biology." Cell Biology Education 1 (2002): 145-53.
8	Case Studies	Case method is a method of instruction that focuses on using real-world or made-up cases (case studies) as the main vehicle for learning. The goal is for students to learn through practice. Ideally, the cases are complex and even controversial, such that the students are engaged and motivated to explore the subject. We will discuss the use of cases as a tool, as well as the difference between pure case method and sporadic use of cases in the curriculum. Class Discussion Notes (PDF)	Richmond, G., and B. Neureither. "Making a Case for Cases." American Biology Teacher 60, no. 5 (1998): 335-42. Additional Readings Smith, R. A., and S. K. Murphy. "Using Case Studies to Increase Learning and Interest in Biology." American Biology Teacher 60, no. 4 (1998): 265-8.
9	Concept Mapping	Concept mapping is a technique that asks individual learners to plot the concepts and facts together with their interrelationships in an organizational network that is meaningful to each learner. Based on the assimilation theory of cognitive learning, concept maps have the potential to illuminate student misconceptions and to present a coherent picture of student's knowledge base. We will discuss pluses and minuses of using concept maps in the context of a large lecture course or a smaller course. Class Discussion Notes (PDF)	Brown, D. S. "High School Biology: A Group Approach to Concept Mapping." The American Biology Teacher. 65, no. 3 (2003): 192-7.
10	Concept-based Laboratories and Lecture Connections	One of the recommendations defined by Bio2010 was to increase the amount of inquiry-based learning in the biological sciences. This is extremely difficult considering most students find themselves learning biology in large lecture environments with only a few hours of lab time. This week, we will look at an example of how small laboratories may be incorporated into large lecture classes to facilitate understanding and concept continuity. Class Discussion Notes (PDF)	Howard, D. R. and J. A. Miskowski. "Using a Module-based Laboratory to Incorporate Inquiry into a Large Cell Biology Course." Cell Biology Education 4 (2005): 249-260.
11	Predictors of Success in College Science	One of the most frustrating aspects of teaching is watching students who by all rights should succeed in your class fail miserably. What factors predicts student success in college level science? And what can be done to improve the chances of the students who do not come from the backgrounds likely to produce success in college science? Today's paper is focused on college level physics, but some conclusions likely transfer across the spectrum of college science. Class Discussion Notes (PDF)	Sadler, Philip M., and Robert H. Tai. "Success in Introductory College Physics: The Role of High School Preparation." Science Education 85, no. 2 (2001): 111-36.
12	Assessment	With all the new techniques and theories circulating in the educational world, we need to be able to assess whether or not our pedagogical changes are having any effect on student understanding and retention. This week we will discuss how we can evaluate the effectiveness of different teaching approaches and styles to subject matter comprehension. Class Discussion Notes (PDF)	Sundberg, M. D. "Assessing student learning." Cell Biology Education 1 (2002): 11-15.
13	Student Self-assessment	In addition to subject-matter assessment, it is often important to understand how the course affects students' self-perception. Did the student gain confidence in their ability to approach the subject matter or another related field? Are they more likely to pay attention when the subject matter of the course shows up in the media? Are they interested in applying what they learned in their everyday lives? SALG is an instrument that was developed to assess just such questions. We will discuss the instrument itself, as well as the benefits and limitations of using self-assessment. Class Discussion Notes (PDF)	Seymour E., D. J. Wiese, A. B. Hunter, and S. M. Daffinrud. "Creating a better mousetrap: On-line student assessment of their learning gains." Paper presented to the National meetings of the American Chemical Society Symposium, Using Real-World Questions to Promote Active Learning. San Francisco, CA. March 27, 2000.
14	Teaching Evolution	Evolution is one of the fundamental subjects of modern science. It is supported by evidence from a diverse set of disciplines. And yet, somehow, the teaching of evolution in the United States remains controversial. We will discuss what it means to teach evolution to the students who graduate from American high schools. Class Discussion Notes (PDF)	Rutledge, M. L., and M. A. Mitchell. "High School Biology Teachers' Knowledge Structure, Acceptance & Teaching of Evolution." The American Biology Teacher 64 (2002): 21-8. Alters, B. J., and C. E. Nelson. "Perspective: Teaching Evolution in Higher Education." Evolution 56 (2002): 1891-1901.
15	Wrap-up	We will talk about what we learned, how teaching discussion groups affected your view of biology and of teaching, and about how to improve this course.

Discussion Group

Educators, students, and self-learners interested in "Course 7.391 / 7.931: Concept-Centered Teaching" are invited to interact with others utilizing these materials in their teaching and learning through the Discussion Group for this course.

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