turning cookbook labs into inquiry labs

Teaching Inquiry-‐Based Science Labs

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITYFEBRUARY 24, 2011

Susan Elrod, PhDExecutive Director, Project Kaleidoscope @ AAC&U

http://www.aacu.org/pkal [email protected]

http://www.scribd.com/susan_elrod

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

http://www.aacu.org/pkal

http://www.aacu.org/pkal

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

What Is Learning In STEM?

Result

Process

Condi0ons


CASE STUDIES TO SET THE STAGE

A graduate teaching assistant is the instructor for one sec1on of a lower division biology lab course where students follow the direc1ons in their lab books to carry out the assigned experiment on enzyme ac1vity. Students are provided with all the reagents they need, plus detailed step-‐by-‐step instruc1ons to carry out the desired reac1ons which are measured by a pH change in the reac1on.

During the class, a student walks up to the TA with a reac1on tube that has turned from clear to yellow. He asks the TA what the yellow color means. The TA diligently explains that the yellow color is an indica1on of a pH change resul1ng from the ac1vity of the enzyme in the tube. The student returns to their lab bench and diligently starts wri1ng in the lab notebook.

Copyright 2011 All rights reserved. Susan Elrod


Learning

Factual Knowledge remember and recall factual information

Comprehension demonstrate understanding of ideas

Application apply comprehension to unfamiliar situations

Analysis break down concepts into parts

Synthesis transform, combine ideas to create something new

Evaluation think critically about and defend a position

BLOOM FINK


THE CYCLE OF LEARNING AND ADULT DEVELOPMENT

Mature thinker:Cri$cally

Autonomous, Self Authoring

EPISODES OF LEARNING

INTERVENTIONS OF TEACHING

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Cognitive Development: Perry, Kegan, Baxter-‐Magolda



Learning builds on exis,ng knowledge; is built progressively

Learning requires ac,ve cogni0ve challenges; transi,ons novices toward expert thinking & conceptual frameworks

Knowledge and understanding are constructed by the learner

Learning occurs best in context & when it is relevant to the learner

Reflec0on (metacogni,on) is a cri,cal process for promo,ng learning

Learning is an ac0ve, social process

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT LEARNING

National Research Council. Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. eds (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.


TEACHING AND LEARNING

How will we know?

How shall we teach?

What do students know?

What should students know?

How will they know?

How will they learn?

Goal: Inten$onal and Deliberate TeachingCopyright 2011 All rights reserved. Susan Elrod


STEM Education’s Challenge

“The largest gain in learning produc,vity in STEM will come from convincing the large majority of STEM faculty that currently teaches by lecturing to use any form of ac0ve or collabora0ve instruc0on.”

-‐-‐ James Fairweather (2009), Report to the NaFonal Academies Board on Science EducaFon


W. Wood, Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 2009. 25:5.1–5.20

Learning inquiry involves “explicit instruction” about the process of science that is connected to active learning of science.


What Is Inquiry?

What is scien$fic inquiry, from a research perspec$ve? Define key steps in the process.

What is scien$fic inquiry, from a learning perspec$ve? Define the key steps in the process.



HOW LEARNING HAPPENS

We must abandon the implicit assump,on that all brains are the same and so passing along what is clear to us (experts) will be clear to the novice student, and if it fails, it is an indica,on that the students are simply incapable. We must instead come to recognize that mastery of a subject is much more a process of restructuring the brain than simply of transferring knowledge. -‐-‐ Carl Weiman (The Curse of Knowledge (2007) The Back Page, APS News, 16 #10)

Concrete experience

Active Testing

Reflective observation

Abstract hypothesis

Learning is a discovery process for the learner.

Observation of natural world

Experiment

Make predictions

Generate hypothesis



Scientific Inquiry Learning Outcomes

Identify questions and concepts that guide scientific investigations.

Design and conduct scientific investigations.

Use technology and mathematics to improve investigations and communications.

Formulate and revise scientific explanations and models using logic and evidence.

Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and models.

Communicate and defend a scientific argument.

Now write your own inquiry outcomes! Modified from: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=4962


http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=4962

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=4962

COOKBOOK TO INQUIRY


Brainstorm

Using a current lab exercise, brainstorm ways to convert it to an inquiry lab. ✦ Start with an observa,on or a ques,on. ✦ Have students come up with the hypothesis being tested and predict the

possible outcomes of the exercise and how they will validate or invalidate the hypothesis.

✦ Have everyone write their data on the board and discuss, addressing problems, limita,ons, and posi,ve results.

✦ Have students make a flow chart of the lab procedure. ✦ Don’t give the expected answer! ✦ Have students use data from the class to draw their own conclusions,

addressing all observa,ons (including mistakes). ✦ Hold each student accountable.



Converting a cookbook lab to an inquiry lab

Using a lab exercise you teach, apply what we have discussed and convert it into a more inquiry-‐based investigation (handout).



EFFECTIVE TEACHING


Research-‐based Teaching, Learning, Assessment

Modified from : W. Wood, Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 2009. 25:5.1–5.20

TRADITIONAL RESEARCH-‐BASED ✴ Topical content

✴ Students work individually and competitively

✴ Summative assessments

✴ Learning is passive (lecture)

✴ Students are depend on text and instructor for content

✴ TAs as graders

✴ Verification/cookbook labs

✴ Concept and outcomes based

✴ Students work cooperatively

✴ Frequent feedback that is both formative and summative

✴ Learning is active (guided)

✴ Students use multiple sources, construct knowledge

✴ TAs as peer leaders

✴ Inquiry-‐based labs


Factual Knowledge remember and recall factual information

Comprehension demonstrate understanding of ideas

Application apply comprehension to unfamiliar situations

Analysis break down concepts into parts

Synthesis transform, combine ideas to create something new

Evaluation think critically about and defend a position

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Hoellwarth, et al., American Journal of Physics (2011)


STUDENT-CENTERED

Respec1ng students as thinkers means we need to reveal, not hide, the intellectual journeys we have taken, and make transparent the intellectual transformaBons we have undergone. Respec1ng students as thinkers thus involves a number of changes, including meeBng students where they are, so that they trust us to develop their intellectual skills and expand their knowledge base.

-‐-‐ Tim Clydesdale (Wake Up and Smell the New Epistemology, Chronicle of Higher Educa,on, January 23, 2009)


ONE MINUTE WRAP UP

What is the most important thing you learned this evening?


turning cookbook labs into inquiry labs

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