Re-designing Science Courses for Non-majors using Hands-on Learning Experiences

1. Re-designing Science Courses for Non-majors using Hands-on Learning Experiences Harry Pylypiw1, Marshall Sternberg1, and Frances Rowe2 Quinnipiac University 1Department of Chemistry and Physical Sciences 2QU-Online Hamden, CT 06518

2. Course Design and Teaching “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.” Benjamin Franklin

3. The Learning Pyramid Authentic assessment and the online student: Moving from information transmission to learner engagement. Brian Salerno http://www.digitalpedagog.org/?p=620

4. Traditional Learning • Classroom Lectures • Textbook • Chapter readings • Problems • Written assignments • Laboratory Experiments • Lab Manual • Observations & data collection • Submission of results or written report

5. Alternative Learning • Online or Hybrid Course Delivery • No fixed or set meeting time • Short virtual lectures or demonstrations • Assignments • Problems and written assessments • Group presentations – VoiceThread • Formative and summative assessments • Hands-on activities • No laboratory or equipment • Virtual observations & data collection • Summative assessments

6. Online Course Delivery • Advantages • Student driven learning • Pace of learning geared to the student • Activities are available for repetitive use • Formative assessments reinforce activities • Disadvantages • Hands-on activities limited • Expensive equipment needed for testing • Virtual chemistry experiments have limited availability when compared to other disciplines

7. Course Re-design • Emphasize problem solving and critical thinking • Explore learning through doing • Use of student controlled lab simulations • Topics must maintain student interest • Virtual experiments must be interesting • Formative assessments add to learning • Reinforce concepts presented by the activity • Students receive feedback for all answers • Frustration with incorrect answers avoided • Students learn from their mistakes – multiple attempts are possible

8. Our Choices of Activities • Courses for non-science majors • SCI-162 Consumer Chemistry • Focus on the environment • The Ozone Layer • Global Warming • SCI-102 Physical Sciences • Focus on Chemistry and Geology • Density & chemical reactions • Earthquakes & the age of the Earth

9. Interactive Presentations • Useful for reinforcement of concepts • Precipitation Reactions • Ionic Equations • Solubility Rules • Formative Questions – Self-test • Making an Aqueous Solution • Molarity Calculations • Laboratory Techniques • Formative Questions – Self-test

10. Interactive Presentation Screen shot of presentation. Follow the link below to activate the presentation http://breeze.quinnipiac.edu/p56636755/

11. Interactive Presentation Click here to activate presentation Screen shot of presentation. To activate the presentation, click here: http://breeze.quinnipiac.edu/p27943886/

12. Interactive Presentations • Useful for reinforcement of lecture concepts • Why is the Ozone Layer Important? • Protection against damaging Sun radiation • What are UV-A, UV-B, UV-C rays? • How does ozone help against radiation? • Ultraviolet Rays affect your skin • Are UV rays good or bad? • Do we need to protect ourselves from UV rays?

13. Interactive PresentationUV A, B, & C Rays Screen shot of presentation. Follow the link below to activate the presentation http://breeze.quinnipiac.edu/p89251017/

14. Interactive PresentationUV and You Screen shot of presentation. Follow the link below to activate the presentation http://breeze.quinnipiac.edu/p60567148/

15. Non-Interactive Tutorials • These tutorials serve as short lectures or as pre-lab assistance • Key Features • Usually short – 1 to 4 minutes • Slides contain notable portions of either the text or the lab exercise • Navigation bar allows the viewer to advance or rerun a slide or portion of the tutorial

16. Non-Interactive Tutorial Screen shot of presentation. Follow the link below to activate the presentation http://breeze.quinnipiac.edu/p70478869/

17. Breeze Server Dashboard

18. Breeze Server Dashboard

19. Sources of Tutorials • Instructor created demonstrations • Institutional/individual licensed software • Captivate • http://www.acrobatprocx.com/products/captivate.html • Jing • http://www.techsmith.com/Jing • Camtasia Relay • http://www.techsmith.com/CamtasiaRelay • Narration in PowerPoint

20. Sources of Tutorials • Publisher provided materials • Licensed on publisher servers • McGraw-Hill • http://www.mharis.com • Educational/institution servers • Blackboard • Macromedia Breeze • Citrix

21. Sources of Tutorials • Freely available on the Internet • Nobelprize.org • http://nobelprize.org/educational/chemistry/chiral/ • Howard Hughes Medical Institute • http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/vlabs/ • HippoCampus • http://www.hippocampus.org/

22. References Dağ, Funda, and AynurGeçer. "Relations between Online Learning and Learning Styles." Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 1.1 (2009): 862-71. Ke, Fengfeng, and KuiXie. "Toward Deep Learning for Adult Students in Online Courses." The Internet and Higher Education 12.3-4 (2009): 136-45. Kerr, Marcel S., Kimberly Rynearson, and Marcus C. Kerr. "Student Characteristics for Online Learning Success." The Internet and Higher Education 9.2 (2006): 91-105. Kim, Kyong-Jee, Shijuan Liu, and Curtis J. Bonk. "Online MBA Students' Perceptions of Online Learning: Benefits, Challenges, and Suggestions." The Internet and Higher Education 8.4 (2005): 335-44. Seng, Lau, and FitriSurayaMohamad. "Online Learning: Is it Meant for Science Courses?" The Internet and Higher Education 5.2 (2002): 109-18. Spannagel, Christian, et al. "Animated Demonstrations and Training Wheels Interfaces in a Complex Learning Environment." Interacting with Computers 20.1 (2008): 97-111.