Teaching College-Level Science

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Teaching College-Level Science posted by member7_php on 2/16/2009

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Abstract/Syllabus

Courseware/Lectures

Test/Tutorials

Teaching College-Level Science

Spring 2006

Strategic teaching is a way of making decisions about a course, an individual class, even an entire curriculum that begins with an analysis of key variables in the teaching situation. These variables include the characteristics of learner, the learning objectives, and the instructional preferences of the teacher. Once these variables have been analyzed, informed decisions can be made about course content, structure, methods of assessment, and other key components. (Image by Dr. Lori Breslow.)

Course Highlights

This course features assignments and an extensive readings list.

Course Description

This seminar focuses on the knowledge and skills necessary for teaching science and engineering in higher education. Topics include: using current research in student learning to improve teaching; developing courses; lecturing; promoting students' ability to think critically and solve problems; communicating with a diverse student body; using educational technology; creating effective assignments and tests; and utilizing feedback to improve instruction. Students research and teach a topic of particular interest. This subject is appropriate for both novices and those with teaching experience.

Syllabus

Course Description

This seminar was created in response to a request by science graduate students planning to pursue careers as academics. They wanted to complement the training they were receiving in research with the opportunity to improve their ability to teach. Thus, this course was developed to demystify such topics as: using the latest research in student learning to improve teaching; developing a course; promoting active learning, problem solving and critical thinking; designing exams and assignments; and using educational technology - with an emphasis on teaching science and engineering.

One of the most important findings in educational research is that students learn best by doing. In this class, you will be doing a good portion of the teaching by researching topics that interest you, and preparing interactive lessons to educate each other. I'll help you with the preparation of the class, following guidelines we'll discuss, and you'll receive constructive feedback on your efforts from me and your classmates.

I hope this course will aid you in developing your professional identity as a teacher by giving you insights into how things work in the academy, and by providing opportunities for you to practice your professional skills.

Learning Objectives*

If I've done a good job as the instructor and you've put effort into the course, by the end of the semester, you should be able to:

Define the major research streams in learning in higher education (cognitive psychology, constructivism, expert-novice studies, etc.).
Describe three or four ways that research can be applied to STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) teaching.
Demonstrate a set of teaching skills, including:
- construct a set of learning objective
- write problems for problem sets and exams
- give students feedback
- lecture
- lead a discussion or an interactive exercise.
Discuss how to address some of the challenges that come with teaching college students.
Write a teaching philosophy statement.

*We will talk about how to write learning objectives. What do you notice about the characteristics of this list? For example, how is each learning objective phrased?

Expectations

Because I hope this is a class in which you will learn from one another as well as from me, my expectations about our work together this semester include:

That you are willing to share your knowledge, opinions, and ideas in class.
That you will provide one another with clear, honest, concrete, and sensitive feedback on work that is done.
That any concept that is unclear or confusing will be explored and examined.

Texts and Materials

MIT students will be provided with a Course Reader (Note: Not available to OCW users. Please refer to readings section for a list of the materials that were included in the Course Reader.)

In addition, there are two textbooks that I recommend for beginning teachers:

Davis, Barbara Gross. Tools for Teaching. 1st ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993. ISBN: 9781555425685.

McKeachie, Wilbert J., et al. Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers. 9th ed. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1994. ISBN: 9780669194340.

And three texts I can recommend that focus specifically on STEM teaching, learning, and academic careers:

Davidson, Cliff I., and Susan A. Ambrose. The New Professor's Handbook: A Guide to Teaching and Research in Engineering and Science. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1994. ISBN: 9781882982011.

Reis, Richard M. Tomorrow's Professor: Preparing for Academic Careers in Science and Engineering. New York, NY: IEEE Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780780311367.

Wankat, Phillip C., and Frank S. Oreovicz. Teaching Engineering. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1992. ISBN: 9780070681545.

Please also buy one DVD because at least a portion of the class you lead will be recorded. There may also be additional readings handed out in class. Finally, I would like you to subscribe to the Tomorrows-Professor Listserv, which is managed by Richard Reis, a Stanford engineering professor. You can do that by going to: Information Technology Services and following the directions.

Assignments/Grading

There are five assignments in this class:

List your goals for this course.
Write a teaching philosophy statement.
Analyze a class in your discipline.
Develop and teach a topic of interest to you in class.
Revisit your goals for this course and your teaching philosophy statement.

I would like to know the topic of your class beforehand, so we can work on the learning objectives and performance criteria for it.

Grading criteria.
ACTIVITIES	PERCENTAGES
Five Short Assignments (10% each)	50%
The Class You Will Teach	40%
Effort, Enthusiasm, and General Good Will	10%

Each of these assignments is explained in more detail in the assignments section.

Course Calendar

Course schedule.
SES #	TOPICS	KEY DATES
1	Introductions (to the Course and Each Other) Setting the Context: A Short History of Teaching and Learning in the American University The Impact of College on Students The Student-Teacher Relationship
2	What We Know about Student Learning in Higher Education	Assignment 1 due
3	Constructing a Syllabus (with Special Emphasis on Learning Objectives and Performance Criteria)	Assignment 2 due
4	Teaching Methodologies (with a Special Emphasis on Lecturing and Active Learning)	Assignment 3 due
5	Diversity in the Classroom
6	Assessing for Learning
7-11	Student Presentations	Assignment 4 due in Ses #8
12	Course Wrap-up	Assignment 5 due

Readings

This section contains documents created from scanned original files and other documents that could not be made accessible to screen reader software. A "#" symbol is used to denote such documents.

SES #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introductions (to the Course and Each Other) Setting the Context: A Short History of Teaching and Learning in the American University The Impact of College on Students The Student-Teacher Relationship	Bok, Derek. "The Evolution of American Colleges," and "Purposes." In Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why they Should be Learning More. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780691125961 (hardcover). Pascarella, Ernest T., and Patrick T. Terenzini. "Studying College Outcomes in the 1990s: Overview and Organization of Research." In How College Affects Students. Vol 2. A Third Decade of Research. 1st ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2005. ISBN: 9780787910440 (alk. paper). Cooper, Lane. "Louis Agassiz as a Teacher." In Teaching and the Case Method: Text, Cases, and Readings. Edited by C. Roland Christensen and Abby J. Hansen. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780071032216 (hardcover).
2	What We Know about Student Learning in Higher Education	Ewell, Peter T. "Organizing for Learning: A Point of Entry." Prepared for the AAHE Summer Academy (1997), January 24, 2006, pp. 1-10. Pellegrino, James W., Naomi Chudowsky, Robert Glaser, and National Research Council. "Advances in the Sciences of Thinking and Learning." In Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment. Edited by James W. Pellegrino and Naomi Chudowsky. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780309072724 (hardcover). Rhem, James. "Deep/Surface Approaches to Learning: An Introduction." The National Teaching and Learning Forum 5, no. 1 (1995): 1-5. Optional Kolb, David A. "Learning Styles and Disciplinary Differences." In The Modern American College: Responding to the New Realities of Diverse Students and a Changing Society. Edited by Chickering, Arthur W., et al. 1st ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc. Pub., 1981. ISBN: 9780875894669 (hardcover). Ramsden, Paul. "Approaches to Learning." In Learning to Teach in Higher Education. London, NY: Routledge, 1991. ISBN: 9780415064149 and ISBN: 9780415064156 (paperback).
3	Constructing a Syllabus (with Special Emphasis on Learning Objectives and Performance Criteria)	Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. "What Is Backward Design?" In Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1998. ISBN: 9780871203137 (paperback). Perkins, David. "What Is Understanding?" In Teaching for Understanding: Linking Research with Practice. Edited by Martha Stone Wiske. 1st ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1997. ISBN: 9780787910020 (alk. paper). Breslow, Lori. "Strategic Teaching," "The Implicit Contract," and "Learning Objectives."MIT Teaching and Learning Laboratory, 2004.
4	Teaching Methodologies (with a Special Emphasis on Lecturing and Active Learning)	Bain, Ken. "What Makes Great Teachers Great?" The Chronicle of Higher Education 50, no. 31. (April 9, 2004): B7. Bligh, Donald A. "Lecture Organization" and "Lecture Styles." In What's the Use of Lectures? 1st ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2000. ISBN: 9780787951627 (paperback, alk. paper). (1st U.S. edition; first published in the U.K. in 1971). Smith, Karl A., Sheri D. Sheppard, David W. Johnson, and Roger T. Johnson. "Pedagogies of Engagement: Classroom-Based Practices." Journal of Engineering Education 94, no. 1 (2005): 87-101. Christensen, C. Roland. "The Discussion Teacher in Action: Questioning, Listening and Response." In Education for Judgment: The Artistry of Discussion Leadership. Edited by C. Roland Christensen, David A. Garvin, and Ann Sweet. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780875842554 (alk. paper).
5	Diversity in the Classroom	Clinchy, Blythe. "On Critical Thinking and Connected Knowing." Liberal Education 75, no. 5 (November/December 1989): 15-19. Gurin, Patricia, Eric L. Dey, Sylvia Hartado, and Gerald Gurin. "Diversity and Higher Education: Theory and Impact on Educational Outcomes." In Race and Higher Education: Rethinking Pedagogy in Diverse College Classrooms. Reprint series 36. Edited by Annie Howell and Frank Tuitt. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Review, 2003. Krupnick, Catherine G. "Women and Men in the Classroom: Inequality and Its Remedies." In On Teaching and Learning. Edited by Margaret Morganroth Gullette. Cambridge, MA: Harvard-Danforth Center, 1985. Steele, Claude M. "Thin Ice: 'Stereotype Threat' and Black College Students." The Atlantic Monthly, August 1999. Treisman, Uri. "Studying Students Studying Calculus: A Look at the Lives of Minority Mathematics Students in College." The College Mathematics Journal 23, no. 5 (1992): 362-372.
6	Assessing for Learning	Forsyth, Donelson R. "Testing: Strategies and Skills for Evaluating Learning," and "Grading (and Aiding): Helping Students Reach Their Learning Goals." In The Professor's Guide to Teaching: Psychological Principles and Practices. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2002. ISBN: 9781557989604.
7-11	Class Presentations
12	Course Wrap-up

Note: At mid-semester, students assume the responsibility of choosing topics and readings for class sessions. The following represents the selections of the students in the class in spring 2006.

Teaching in the Laboratory

Hofstein, Avi, and Vincent N. Lunetta. "The Laboratory in Science Education: Foundations for the Twenty-First Century." Science Education 88 (2004): 28-54.

Wankat, Phillip C., and Frank S. Oreovicz. "Laboratory Courses." In Teaching Engineering. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992. ISBN: 9780070681545.

Domin, Daniel S. "A Review of Laboratory Instruction Styles." Journal of Chemical Education 76, no. 4 (1999): 543-547.

Using Groupwork Inside and Outside of the Classroom

Smith, Karl A. "Cooperative Learning: Making 'Groupwork' Work." In Using Active learning in College Classes: A Full Range of Options for Faculty. Edited by Tracey E. Sutherland and Charles C. Bonwell. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No. 67. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996. ISBN: 9780787999339.

Creating a Comfortable Classroom Environment

McKeatchie, Wilbert J. "Meeting a Class for the First Time" and "Problem Situations and Problem Students." Teaching Tips. 9th ed. Lexington, MA: D.C. Health and Company, 1998. ISBN: 9780395903452.

McGlynn, Angela Provietera. Teaching Tips: Improving College Instruction. Trenton, NJ: Mercer County Community College Foundation, c1992.

Algorithmic versus Conceptual Learning in Math

Sfard, Anna. "On the Dual Nature of Mathematical Conceptions: Reflections on Processes and Objects as Different Sides of the Same Coin." Educational Studies in Mathematics 22 (1991): 1-36.