Student-Centered Education in the Molecular and Life Sciences II University of Richmond July 20, 2011

1. Active-Learning Strategies Hal White University of Delaware Student-Centered Education in the Molecular and Life Sciences II University of Richmond July 20, 2011

2. 5 Core Concepts 6 Core Competencies Apply Science Process Evolution Quantitative Reasoning Structure and Function Modeling and Simulation Information Flow Transformation of Energy and Matter Interdisciplinary Nature of Science Systems Communicate and Collaborate Science and Society

3. Vision and Change - Recommendations • Integrate Core Concepts and Competencies throughout the Curriculum • Focus on Student-Centered Learning • Promote Campuswide Commitment to Change. • Engage the Biology Community in the Implementation of Change.

4. Should be required reading for all STEM teaching faculty

5. A large body of evidence shows that humans achieve greater conceptual understanding and retain information longer when they are actively involved—a process that enables them to construct knowledge. For a majority of students, lecturing is not the most effective mode of instruction.

6. Active-Learning Strategies Workshop Outline • Description & Comparison of PXnL Pedagogies • Groups and Group Formation • Classic Articles as Problems • Concept Mapping • Assessment – IFAT Quizzes • Peer Facilitators • Q & A

7. The PXnL Pedagogies of Engagement: PBL, PLTL, & POGIL

8. PBL Problem-Based Learning In PBL, students work together in small groups to solve real-world problems. PBL is an active and iterative process that engages students to identify what they know, and more importantly, what they don't know. Their motivation to solve a problem becomes their motivation to find and apply knowledge. http://www.udel.edu/inst/why-pbl.html

9. PLTL Peer-Led Team Learning PLTL is an active-learning strategy to help students interact with course material on a personal level. Carefully designed Workshops are created to accompany the lecture course. These Workshops replace traditional Teaching Assistant led recitation sessions. Each Workshop has a Peer Leader, who previously did well in the course, and a small group of 6 to 8 students. Workshops meet each week to work through a set of problems carefully designed by the professor to cover important topics discussed in lecture and the text. http://chem.chem.rochester.edu/~workshop/

10. POGIL Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning POGIL is a classroom and laboratory technique that seeks to simultaneously teach content and key process skills such as the ability to think analytically and work effectively as part of a collaborative team. Students work in small groups on specially designed guided inquiry materials that supply students with data or information followed by leading questions designed to guide them toward formulation of their own valid conclusions—essentially a recapitulation of the scientific method. The instructor serves as facilitator, observing and periodically addressing individual and classroom-wide needs. http://www.pogil.org/about

11. All PXnLs are designed to: • Promote higher-order thinking skills; • Help students learn to reason though problems, instead of using algorithmic approaches; • Build conceptual understanding through active engagement with the material; • Foster growth in teamwork and collaborative problem-solving skills.

12. PXnLs Attempt to Breach the Perception Filter Perception Filter Long-Term Memory Working Memory Space An “infinite” expandable long-term storage space Storing Limited thinking- holding space Incoming Information Retrieving “5 ± 2” Feedback Loop for Perception Filter Adapted from: Johnstone (1996) J. Chem Educ. 27, 262.

13. Comparisons among PXnLs

14. Comparisons among PXnLs-2

15. Comparisons among PXnLs-3

16. Groups and Group Formation

17. Problem-Solving Ability in Groups Impossible Can’t Solve Might Solve Problem Difficulty Solution obvious Trivial A B C D Group Potential Group Members Problem solving is what you do when you don’t know what to do, otherwise it is not a problem. Wheatley (1984)

18. Forming GroupsHomogeneous vs. Heterogeneous Student “Homogeneous” Groups Selected Instructor Selected Your Class “Heterogeneous” Groups

19. What Aspects of Heterogeneity are Important for You? Skills? Major? Age? Personality Type? Gender? Ethnicity? Learning Style? Academic Record?

20. If you know you want to form heterogeneous groups, but don’t know critical information about your students, what can you do? Let the students help you.

21. Forming Heterogeneous Groups Without Prior Information • Never been to a workshop on active learning, add 25 - • Been to ≥ 1 POGIL, PLTL, or PBL Workshop, add 50 - • Have tried a “PXnL” strategies in my classroom, add 75 - • Teach with a “PXnL” pedagogy regularly, add 100 100 • If you are Male, add 100 100 • If you are Female, add 200 - • I teach at a University, add 200 200 • I teach at a Liberal Arts College, add 400 - • Sum the last 4 digits of your office Phone Number 19 • GRAND TOTAL (Your Number) 419 When you have calculated “Your Number”, line up in numerical order.

22. Ice BreakerMeet the other members of your Group • Make a list of four interesting things about yourself, one of which is false. • Each group member in turn share your list with the others in your group and see if they can guess which item is false. From Terry Platt

23. One of these statements about me is false • I have never owned a cell phone. • I played center on my high school basketball team. • I have written a book about dragonflies. • I drove a school bus to Mexico and back.

24. Teaching = Learning?

25. Introductory Science Courses Stereotype 1. Lecture format that is content-driven. 2. Abstract concepts introduced before concrete examples. 3. Enrollments typically more than 100. 4. Limited student-faculty interaction. 5. Grading based on a few multiple choice examinations that emphasize recall of information. 6. Reinforce intellectually immature students to a naïve view of knowledge.

26. Characteristics of Good Problems • Engage interest • Require decision and judgment • Need full group participation • Open-ended or controversial • Connected to prior knowledge • Incorporate content objectives

27. Classic Articles as PBL ProblemsAdvantages • Authentic (not contrived) • Complex • Relevant to the Discipline • Introduce Important Historical Figures • Encourage use of Library and Internet

28. Science as Literature? “There is no form of prose more difficult to understand and more tedious to read that the average scientific paper.” Francis Crick (1995)

29. Introduction to Biochemistry:An Article-Based PBL Course • 3 Credits, No Laboratory, 8:00 AM MWF • Theme - Hemoglobin and Sickle Cell Anemia • First Biochemistry Course for Sophomore Biochemistry Majors • Required for the Major • Taught in a PBL Classroom • Enrollment 20 - 35 • Uses Juniors and Seniors as Group Facilitators

30. Introduction to BiochemistryCourse Description • Heterogeneous groups of 4 discuss and work to understand about ten classic articles. • Articles presented in historical context, show the development of scientific understanding of protein structure and genetic disease. • Assignments and examinations emphasize conceptual understanding. • Instructor monitors progress, supervises tutors, presents demonstrations, and leads whole class discussions to summarize each article.

31. Constructing Meaning from Stokes (1864)Experience it yourself • What was done? Read Section 11 of the Stokes article. In the left-hand column of the work sheet, transform Stokes’ description into a multi-step protocol suitable for an undergraduate chemistry laboratory experiment. • What was seen? In the middle column, describe what observations students would make. • What happened chemically? In the last column, explain briefly in words the chemical basis for the observations. • How do we represent it?On the back of the work sheet, construct a diagram (model) that represents the chemistry.

32. Excerpt from Stokes, Section 11 This [the decomposition of cruorine and separation of hematin] may be easily effected on a small scale by adding to the watery extract from blood-clots about an equal volume of ether, and then some glacial acetic acid, and gently mixing, but not violently shaking for fear of forming an emulsion. When enough acetic acid has been added, the acid ether rises charged with nearly the whole of the colouring matter, while the substance which caused the precipitate remains in the acid watery layer below. The acid ether solution shows in perfection the characteristic spectrum fig. 3. When most of the acid is washed out the substance falls, remaining in the ether near the common surface. If after removing the wash-water a solution, even a weak one, of ammonia or carbonate of soda be added, the colouring matter readily dissolves in the alkali. G. G. Stokes (1864)

33. Transforming Section 11 of Stokes’ Article into a Laboratory Experiment

34. Decomposition of Cruorineand Extraction of Hematin An experiment described in Section 11 of G. G. Stokes “On the Oxidation and Reduction of the Colouring Matter of the Blood.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 13, 355-364 (1864)

35. Question for Group Work on Midterm Examination Prof. Essigsaure returned to his lab one night to prepare for a lecture demonstration based on the experiment presented in the second paragraph of Section 11 in Stokes’ 1864 article. Within minutes he was looking high and low for the glacial acetic acid and mumbling angrily about associates who don’t replace the things they use up. Frustrated, but undaunted, he figured any acid would do and substituted concentrated hydrochloric acid. After all, he reasoned, a stronger acid should work even better. — Not so. Sure enough the hemoglobin solution turned brown immediately upon addition of HCl but, much to his initial puzzlement, the resulting hematin did not extract into the ether layer. Explain in chemical terms why HCl cannot be substituted for glacial acetic acid in this experiment. Draw chemical structures and diagrams to support your argument. If you are uncertain of the explanation, please outline the possibilities you have considered or how you analyzed the problem.

36. Introduction to BiochemistryStudent Assignments • Write an Abstract • Construct a Concept Map • Draw an Appropriate Illustration • Critique from a Modern Perspective • Find out about the Author • Explore a Cited Reference

37. What does it mean when a student says, I understand?.... Does it mean the same thing to him or her that it does to another student or to you?..… How can your students demonstrate their understanding to you?

38. Concept Mapping • What is a concept map? • What are the features of a concept map? • How do you construct a concept map?

39. Students Working on a Concept Map

40. laptop Linking Phrase Nodes (terms or concepts) needs a Linking Phrase Linking lines (usually with a unidirectional arrow) charge Linking Phrase Linking Phrase Linking Phrase Linking phrases Linking Phrase Propositions What is a Concept Map? A Concept Map Includes:

41. Short AssignmentArrange the following three terms and connect them with arrows and linking phrases Bacteria Pneumonia Antibiotics

42. A Mini Concept Map Caused by Pneumonia Bacteria Treated with Kill Antibiotics

43. Variations on a Theme Causedby Pneumonia Bacteria Antibiotics Treated with Kill Kill Treatment for Can cause Antibiotics Bacteria Pneumonia Can cause Bacteria Pneumonia By reversing the arrows, changing the linking words, and adding color, the focus and emphasis changes. Treatment for Killed by Antibiotics

44. Generate a concept map with a suitable title that uses the information in the following paragraphs. In the environment, the element iodine occurs naturally as 127I, a non-radioactive (stable) isotope. Humans require iodine as a micronutrient. It accumulates in the thyroid gland where it is incorporated into thyroxine, a thyroid hormone that activates transcription of particular genes and stimulates metabolic rate. Goiters, greatly enlarged thyroid glands that were formerly observed among people living in iodine-deficient areas of the United States, have been virtually eliminated by adding small amounts of potassium iodide to table salt (iodized salt). Significant increases in childhood thyroid cancer occurred following the 1986 Chernobyl accident due to the ingestion and inhalation of 131I, a short-lived (t½ ≈ 8 days) radioisotope of iodine derived from the fission of uranium in nuclear power plants and nuclear bombs. In order to reduce the chances of getting thyroid cancer, people exposed to radioactive fallout downwind from the nuclear reactors damaged by the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami, have been given potassium iodide tablets to take daily during exposure.

46. Generate 10 substantive, well-articulated learning issues relating to the paragraphs. • What is the structure of thyroxine? How is it biosynthesized? • How does throxine get from the thyroid gland where it is made to the nucleus of cells where it activates genes? • What genes does thyroxine activate? Are they involved in altering the metabolic rate, or do they affect other cellular functions? • Is the formation of thyroxine the only biochemical role for iodine in the body? • Why does the thyroid gland enlarge when there is an absence of iodine in the diet? One might think it would shrink. • Are there any hazards to consuming a large amount of potassium iodide? How does the body excrete iodine? • Are there stable isotopes of iodine other than 127I? • What parts of the US are iodine-deficient? Are there areas where there is too much iodine? • What are the daily requirements for iodine for humans? Is that value different for children and adults? How does that compare to other micronutrients? What are some other micronutrients? • Do all organisms require iodine as a micronutrient? • How does uranium generate 131I in a nuclear reactor? What are the products of 131I decay? Are they also radioactive? • Are there different types of nuclear reactors? Do all nuclear reactors generate 131I? • Why are children more likely to develop thyroid cancer than adults after exposure to radioactive iodine? What are the statistics from Chernobyl that show 131I is more dangerous for children than adults? • What radioisotopes, other than 131I, are produced in a nuclear reactor accident or nuclear bomb explosion are of special concern for human health? Or, are all radioactive isotopes of concern?

47. Transforming Words into Pictures Visualization

48. Allison, A. C., (1954) Brit. Med. J. 1, 290-294 Protection Afforded by Sickle-Cell Trait Against Subtertian Malarial Infection. Question for group consideration and subsequent class discussion: How might you demonstrate that people carrying one allele for sickle cell hemoglobin have increased resistance to malaria?

49. Quiz Time“Assessment”

50. Features of the IFAT Scoring Sheets • Multiple Choice Format • Lottery Ticket Design • Immediate Feedback • Partial Credit • Tremendous Discussion Stimulator • Students Like It • Potential for Multiple Use • http://www.epsteineducation.com/ • BAMBED 33, 261-2 (2005)