Course Redesign: The redesign of an introductory biology course

Dr. Donald P. FrenchProfessor of Zoology

Coordinator, University Faculty Preparation ProgramOklahoma State University

Workshop on Academic Transformation and Collaboration:Reimagining Higher Education in Missouri 26 October 2010

Funding for various portions of this work was provided in part by

the National Science Foundation, the Howard Hughes

Medical Institute, and OSU

Disclaimer

• Ph.D. in Ethology@ Indiana University studied behavior and ecology of

fish

@ U. Maryland studied behavior and ecology of crabs

@ OSU study behavior and ecology of students

• Learned education like science– From literature

– From colleagues

– From experimenting

Setting

• Land Grant Institution• Research Primary Focus• Introductory Biology for Majors and Non-majors• Six – Seven Faculty teach 6-7 lecture sections• Approximately 1600 students/yr• Admission Requirements

– ACT 21 is minimum score for regular admission (officially) OR

– Top 1/3 of graduating classes (officially)• Graduating class could be 500 or 7!!

SCST Position Statement

The major goals of introductory college science courses are

• “to contribute to the scientific literacy and critical thinking capability of all college students and…

• to provide a conceptual base for subsequent courses taken in the disciplines.”

www.scst.org

Why do we teach the way we do?

• It is the way we were taught.• We find that style most

comfortable.• We think it is the most efficient.• We are constrained by time, space,

money.• It’s easy for us.

But are those good reasons?

What is good for the students is not always what is good for the professors.

-- Bob Tallitsch, Augustana College

Why do instructors think lectures work?

If we throw “bricks” of knowledge at the heads of students, why are we surprised when the students duck?

--Jeff Weld,

University of Northern Iowa

How People Learn• People are not blank slates or empty vessels

to be filled

They don’t retain isolated information

They must organized it

But how does this organization arise?

Organization reflects connectionsConcept

Concept

fact fact

Fact

Concept

Experts…

• notice features and meaningful patterns of information• have considerable content knowledge organized to

reflect a deep understanding of the concepts. (Big Ideas)• treat knowledge NOT as set of isolated facts, but as sets

of information relevant to particular circumstances or problems that experts know when to use

• can quickly retrieve relevant knowledge with little attention.

• have varying levels of flexibility in their approach to new situations.

Students

• should develop competence when they:– have deep foundation of factual knowledge– understand those facts in a conceptual

framework– organize knowledge to allow retrieval and

application

Students

• arrive with preconceptions of how things work. • may not grasp new concepts and information,

especially for the long term, if their initial understanding of each concept is not engaged.

Students

• are more successful if they learn to identify their own learning goals and monitor their progress (metacognition; reflection).

What should a class look like?

We didn’t always teach like this!

• Biology 1114-general education (non-majors) covering Ecology, Genetics(Mendelian), Evolution; 4 sections of 140 students (approx.) per semester, common 2hr lab (Zoology/Botany)

• Biology 1214-general-education (non-majors) covering Chemistry, Cells, Genetics(Molecular), Plants & Animal systems; 1-2 sections of 100 students (approx.) per semester; common 2hr lab (Microbiology/Botany/Zoology)

• Biology 1304-general education (majors) covering, Cells, Chemistry, Ecology, Genetics (Mendelian & Molecular), Evolution; 3 Sections of 100 (approx.) per semester; common 2hr lab (Zoology/Botany/Microbiology)

Traditional Course Pedagogy

• Expository format - in textbook order • chalkboard/overheads; multimedia-

overheads in one non-majors course• Emphasis on recall (facts/min)• Lecture assessment – 3 quarterly exam;

cumulative final

Motivation for change?

• Faculty Thought– Students lack

reasoning skills

– Students perform poorly

– Students have poor attitude

• Students Thought– Course lacks relevance

– Faculty can't teach

– Only memorization

– boring.....

Impact of courses

• Surveyed students “attitude toward biology” before and after each semester

• Russell and Hollander (1975)

• 14 questions

• 5 point Likert scale

• Sum scores and subtract pre- from post-course -4

-3

-2

-1

0

non-majors majors

Course

Mea

n P

re-P

ost

atit

ud

e ch

ange

We looked elswhere

• Non-majors courses– Gogolin and Swartz (1992)– Sundberg & Dini (1992)– Ebert-May et. al. (1997)– Rogers & Ford (1997)

• All found that non-majors were less negatively affected by their courses.

Reform begins when

Skeptics True-believers

Shared vision

How did we proceed?

• First step– Form a committee!

• First step for the committee– Argue about content!

Not Surprising

Starting Point (typical)• For a course

– Individual professor selects topics either• based on the textbook• or on personal preferences

– Make up some tests

• For a Program– Either

• Committee, which then– Argues about content

• Leave it to individual professors (specialty/retirement)

Starting Point (as it should be)

• Identify Learning Outcomes– What should a student know (content)– What should a student be able to do (process, skills)– What should be a student’s habits of mind?

• Develop Assessments• Develop Activities and Exercises• This is referred to as Backwards Design

Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Characteristics of Curricula

• sufficient rigor – (demanding concepts),

• focus – (concentration on a few topics to be covered in depth),

• coherence – (organization of the topics and identifiable

connections among the topics and processes)

Consider: How People Learn

• Students arrive with knowledge and misconceptions

• Students need deep factual knowledge and a means of organizing that knowledge

• Students need to develop metacognitive practices

Consider Cognitive Development

Even in college -

• 15-25% Concrete Thinkers

• 50-60% are in transition between Concrete and Formal (abstract) thinking

• 25% are Formal Thinkers

Disconnect in Overall Goals

• Faculty set them as – Concept Mastery– Critical Thinking

• But test– Knowledge Acquisition (Basic)– Communication Skills

• Students set them as– Job Preparedness

GuidelinesPromote critical thinking, higher ordercognitive skills, and a capacity forproblem solving and decision making.

work collaboratively on meaningfultasks,

requires intellectual rigor based on an in depth understanding of essentialcontent and its relevant contextualframework.

diagnose and attend to student's learning styles…, prior knowledge and alternative conceptions.

foster the nature of the thinking required to acquire and integrate both procedural and declarative knowledge.

•Use the language & concepts of science appropriately, and effectively

•Use methods & models of science to select, define, solve & evaluate problems in-dependently & collaboratively.

•Design, conduct, communicate, and evaluate.… meaningful experiments.

•Make scientifically based decisions and solve problems

Evaluate critically evidence, interpretations, results and solutions in a real life context.

•Explain scientifically related knowledge

•Ask meaningful questions

Selecting Content

• Biology may be a set of disciplines – – Fragmented fields and departments

• Nature of the discipline results in few guiding principles– Could it be Evolution?– Emergent Properties?

• Much of biology might still be considered descriptive in nature

Our simple approach

• Provide Stories or Situations for Context

• About topics to which students can relate

• using concepts faculty used in their research

• introduced on a Need-to-Know Basis

• to solve problems

• that indicated that Science is Fun!

More Recent & Sophisticated

• Hierarchical Framework (Khodor, Halme & Walker 2004)– 1. Enduring Understanding– 2-3. Important– 4. Familiar

• Learning-Goals-Driven Design (Krajcik, Mcneil Reiser 2008)– Unpack components from standards– Develop Learning Performances (Content X Practice)– Align Goals, Activities, Assessment

• Attention to Sequence (Crow & Harless 2006)

Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology

Education: A Call to Action

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ORGANIZED BY THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT

OF SCIENCEWITH SUPPORT FROM THE

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATIONJuly 2009

http://visionandchange.org/

Vision and Change: Core Concepts

General agreement:• Evolution• Pathways and transformations of energy and

matter• Information flow, exchange, and storage• Structure and function• Systems

http://visionandchange.org/files/2010/03/VC_report.pdf

Vision and Change: Beyond Content

• Nature of Science– the process of science– the interdisciplinary nature of biology– how science is closely integrated within society

• Interpersonal Skills – communication – collaboration

• Analytical Skills– a certain level of quantitative competency – a basic ability to understand and interpret data– experience with modeling, simulation, and computational and

systems-level approaches to biological discovery and analysis, as well as with using large databases.

http://visionandchange.org/files/2010/03/VC_report.pdf

New Course

New BIOL 1114:• A single, one-

semester, general-education class suitable for majors– (that doesn't scare the

non-majors)

BIOL 1114

• Introductory Biology– For any major (science or

non-science)

• 4-7 Sections of 60-220 students– 1900 students/year

• 50 or 75 minute periods• 4-7 Lecture Professors• 24 Teaching Assistants

Provide context for learning

• 10 Scenarios– Stories or Situations– Provide meaningful context for concepts– Emphasize application

• Facts/Concepts on a need to know basis

• Integrated topics• Discuss topics at multiple levels:• Biochemical…cellular…sub-cellular …

community…organismal….ecosystem

BIOL 1114Scenarios

Fire & Ice

Psychics & Scientists

Rainbow Connection

Why do we care about fat?

Emerging Diseases

Out of the Rainforest

Family Reunion

Chemical Defenses

Marooned on the

Galapagos

Hogs & Chickens

Concepts applied in various situations

• Surface Area – to – Volume Ratio– Thermoregulation

– Osmoregulation

– Cell size and structure

– Photosynthesis

– Transpiration

Integrate-Connect Information

Tundra (Biome)

Thermoregulation

Respiration

Cellular Respiration

from different levelsfrom different levels

Promote Teacher-Student & Peer Interactions

• Students collaborate in groups of 3-4

• 35-63 groups/lecture section

• Same groups throughout semester in lecture and lab

• Students regularly given opportunity to discuss materials during lecture

• Students perform in-class group exercises

Active learning and formative evaluation

• Intersperse lectures and in-class exercises

• Duration:– 5 Minutes– 30 seconds– Longer periods

• Media– Cards– Clickers

A. They would shrink

B. They would expand

C. There would be no change

If the vacationing slug family's internal fluid salt concentration was 0.9% and that of the great salt lake was 5%, what affect would swimming have on their cells?

Exercises to promote higher order thinking

• Solve problem– Sample test questions

• Offer Opinions• Observe - Generalize• Observe and Propose

Hypotheses• Design Experiment

Laboratory

• Provide Question & Background in story form

• Students propose hypotheses before lab

• Students work in groups to design and conduct experiment

Provide Support

reviewed

have

some are

serve as serve as

help with

discussed

literallymeans

1st Step in

splits

into

produces

producesproduces

Goes to

Produces someproduces

produces

releases

completes breakdown of

carried away by

carried away by

Goes to

found in

have

inner

outer

called

with a

site of production(synthesis)

of

is

if ruptured stops synthesis of

Provides energy for synthesis of against it's

powered by e- carried by

requires

powered by e- carried by

down it's

through a

produces

is a series of

embedded in innermembrane of

Out of the Rainforest(Day 5)

(2/5)

MembranesProteins

Enzymes

"sorters"("Gatekeep

ers")

Channels

Organization

Glycolysis

"sugar splitting"

Cellular Respiration

Glucose

Pyruvid Acid (Pyruvate)

ATP

H+

Electrons (e-)

Krebs Cycle

CO2NAD & FAD as NADH+H and FADH2

Respiratory Chain (Electron

Transport Chain)

Mitochondrion

2 compartments

Matrix

Double-folded membrane

Cristae

Intermembrane Space

H+ is pumped across the membrane

ATP

Universal Energy

Currency

Concentration Gradient

Active Transport

Concentration Gradient

ATPase enzyme

Enzymes

Concepts:MembranesGlycolysisPyruvic AcidCellular RespirationChemiosmosisTransport CarriersElectron Transport ChainMitochondriaMatrixCristaeActive TransportATP SynthesisConcentration Gradient

• LRC•WWW•Tutorials•Facilitators•Organizers•Self-analysis

Assessment of Students

• “should be matched … to anticipated student outcomes”

• “cognitive and process gains, particularly those associated with higher order cognitive skills should be appropriately appraised”

• “Alternative … assessment should be … used for … outcomes that cannot be evaluated by traditional means.”

Assessment – Levels of thinking• Recall

– Define term or concept• Comprehension

– Explain term or concept• Application

– Solve problem; use concept in another context• Analyze & Interpret

– Compare/contrast; see implication; induction; identify cause and effect

• Synthesize– Combine ideas to form explanation

• Evaluate– Judge value of information

Bloom’s Taxonomy, 1956

Summative Evaluation of Students

• Common exams for all sections

• All exams cumulative

• Heavy emphasis on application+– Require students to propose hypotheses, make

predictions, interpret data

• Provide preview of material (scenarios)

At a crime scene, a detective gathers evidence to support her hypothesis that a man poisoned his wife with an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. Which of the following reports from the medical examiner would best support her hypothesis?

a) The woman died from paralysis and gradual loss of a) The woman died from paralysis and gradual loss of hear/lung function.hear/lung function.

b) The woman died because her neurons could no longer b) The woman died because her neurons could no longer secrete neurotransmitters.secrete neurotransmitters.

c) The woman died because the inhibitor made mitochondrial c) The woman died because the inhibitor made mitochondrial membranes permeable to protons.membranes permeable to protons.

d) The woman died from seizures and rapid contraction of d) The woman died from seizures and rapid contraction of both heart and breathing muscles.both heart and breathing muscles.

e) None of the above would support her hypothesis.e) None of the above would support her hypothesis.

Assessment: Instruments

• Compared Attitude and Content Knowledge– Beginning (pre-test) and End-of-Semester (post-test) surveys

(does not enter into course grade)• Selected 40 of the 80 question NABT/NSTA High School Biology Exit

Exam

• Attitude toward Biology Survey (Russell and Hollander, 1975)

– Demographic Data• Sex

• Class Standing (1st year, 2nd year, …)

• Major

• ACT Composite Scores

Conclusions of Reform Assessment

• Student-centered pedagogy improves attitudes toward biology– Significantly for all but a few groups– Improvement ranged from less negative to

more positive– Did not decline– Degree of improvement affected by ACT, sex,

class standing, major

Conclusions

• Student –centered pedagogy can be equally effective at conveying basic content knowledge– At the same level for majors– Declined for some non-majors– Effect of ACT, sex, class standing, & major

interact with course effect

Conclusions

• Trade-off seems positive– Majors will still “get what they need”– Students are not turned off by science; may

even like it– Students perform acceptably on application-

oriented & process skills assessments

N C

Grade Distributions

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

A B C D F W

Grade

% o

f C

lass

Pre-ReformPost-Reform33% v. 20%

Opinions of Course Components

• 48 question End of Semester Survey

• 5 point Likert Scale– Strongly Agree– Agree– Neither Agree nor Disagree– Disagree– Strongly Disagree

This class kept me more involved & attentive than if it were just lecture.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Agree Disagree

I like the idea of introducing concepts through scenarios

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Agree Disagree

I liked seeing how biological concepts and facts are related rather than just following the book.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Agree Disagree

C

Inquiry in two-year college

Nick Roster, Northwestern Michigan College

Treatments

• Traditional Lecture and Lab (TT)

• Traditional Lecture – Inquiry Lab (TI)

• Inquiry Lecture and Lab (II)

S

TT TI II

Attitude

Self-Efficacy

Science Reasoning

Summary

Behavior in Laboratories

Connie Russell

Angelo State University

Conclusions

Gender differences in participation in both hands-on activities and time spent talking on task that were found in traditional labs were not seen in inquiry labs

This suggests that the inquiry-based teaching style may be more equitable for females than the "cookbook" style without being detrimental to participation, attitude or achievement by males.

How to reform…..

• Create a shared vision

• Decide on the outcomes

• Design the assessments

• Design Engagements/Activities

• Use scholarship to shape practice

• Consider need for support (technology)

• Don’t be afraid to have fun

biol1114.okstate.edu dfrench@okstate.edu

Questions?