By Jackie Stewart on September 23, 2018
I was invited to attend the NSF-funded TRESTLE annual meeting, which took place last week at the University of Kansas. TRESTLE (TRansforming Education, Stimulating Teaching and Learning Excellence) is is a multi-institution, NSF-funded project for improving STEM education through discipline-based education experts and other models. Gülnur Birol and Warren Code of Skylight lead UBC’s involvement in the network. UBC’s main role in the project is to act as a mentor institution, sharing the lessons learned from the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI). TRESTLE is affiliated with the Bay View Alliance, of which UBC is also a member.
I presented the Chemistry 233 Choice Project at a round-table teaching demonstration (thanks to Jane Maxwell for helping me design this assignment). As I anticipated, the group was somewhat interested in my assignment and VERY interested in the ComPAIR software I use for peer review.
My very brief reflections and “take-aways” are:
- The existence of TRESTLE and other networks is an indication that the rate of transformation of higher education STEM courses and departments is increasing. Momentum is building!
- There are several models for STEM course transformation. Three common models are: 1) Discipline-based experts (PhDs in the STEM discipline with training in how people learn and course design/assessment work with faculty as catalysts for change – the model used by the CWSEI 2) Faculty members from Education units partner with STEM faculty, and may work with graduate students to carry out course transformations – a model working well at UTSA, and 3) Teaching-focussed permanent faculty members drive course transformations in their departments – this is the model adopted by UC Davis. My epiphany at the meeting was that there are several models for course transformation, and if a model doesn’t appeal to a particular department or isn’t working, maybe we should consider switching models instead of trying to convince faculty members to work within the model that isn’t easily adopted.
- I spend a lot of time thinking about theories of learning, but hardly any time thinking about theories of pedagogy. It was a pleasure to meet Joan Middendorf from Indiana University and discuss the pedagogical theory she has developed with her colleagues, Decoding the Disciplines. I am eager to read her new book, Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks.
- A fellow workshop participant identified as a “warm demander” and we had an interesting discussion about how this concept has helped her balance her desire to be supportive and also have high expectations for students.
- KU has developed a rubric to evaluate teaching effectiveness in a project led by Andrea Greenhoot and funded by NSF. This rubric looks very useful for formative and summative reviews of teaching at UBC.
I am looking forward to seeing more encouraging results from TRESTLE-supported course transformations!
Posted in Conferences | Tagged with course transformation
By Jackie Stewart on September 19, 2018
Those involved in chemistry education research (CER) met at our inaugural department-wide CER group meeting Monday Sept. 10th, 2018.
Anka Lekhi presented some of her work investigating the relationship between first-year international students’ personal epistemologies and problem solving approaches. She found that students’ successful completion of a conceptual problem in chemistry is positively linked to the student view that conceptual understanding as more important than pattern-matching approach. The results of her work suggest that chemistry educators should be explicit about the benefits of conceptual understanding and the purpose of learning activities in developing personal epistemologies. For example, it is worthwhile to foster students’ beliefs that their peers are a source of knowledge, as this will help them in their studies.
I wish everyone a great term!
Jackie
Posted in Group Meeting | Tagged with epistemology, first-year chemistry, international students, research
By Jane M on January 12, 2017
Years ago, UBC’s non-majors Organic Chemistry course, CHEM 233, used to strike fear in the hearts of undergraduates. However, Ubyssey reporter and recent CHEM 233 student Rocio Hollmann suggests that recent changes to the course, including the adoption of a “flipped” learning sequence, have rendered that reputation obsolete.
“There have been many changes to get CHEM 233 to where it is now, one of them being adopting the flipped classroom model. This switch in classroom pedagogy was inspired by current-day educational research — research that has been saying, for some time now, that traditional lectures are outdated and ineffective in comparison to newer, active style classrooms where students are more engaged with their learning.”
(Hollman, R. (2016, January 6). Flipping out: What it’s like in a “backwards” classroom. Retrieved from http://www.ubyssey.ca/science/flipped-organic-chemistry/)
Read the complete article to learn more about CHEM 233 and student perspectives on the course.
Posted in Articles | Tagged with organic chemistry
By Jane Maxwell on October 28, 2015
An article describing the development, testing, and evaluation of a new guided-inquiry experiment for UBC’s second-year analytical chemistry course (CHEM 211) has just been published in the Journal of Chemical Education!
The CHEM 211 labs have seen many exciting changes over the past few years, including the introduction of several guided-inquiry experiments in which students research and develop their own designs and procedures for tackling an analytical problem. In the “Build your own Photometer” experiment, students research fundamental concepts in spectrophotometry, then apply their findings to design, build, and test a submersible photometer that can be used to monitor colour-change reactions such as titrations. You can read all about the experiment here.
This experiment and article are the products of a collaboration between Instructional and Research Faculty, students, and the CWSEI. Dr. José Rodríguez Núñez (CHEM 211 lab director) and Dr. Russ Algar (CHEM 211 instructor and research faculty) developed the concept and basic plan, Jessie Wang (a UBC chemistry undergraduate) developed and refined the procedures, and I interviewed and surveyed students in order to evaluate the success of the experiment. I’m very proud of the resulting article, and of the fantastic collaboration that made it happen.
Continue reading “New article: Build Your Own Photometer: A Guided-Inquiry Experiment To Introduce Analytical Instrumentation”
Posted in Articles | Tagged with analytical chemistry, DIY, guided inquiry, labs
By Jane Maxwell on October 23, 2015
Photo by Jeff Pioquinto, SJ via Flickr
Now available in the UBC Chemistry learning resources section: “Examining Exams”. This workshop, which was originally offered as a part of our Chemistry Education Brown Bag Lunch series, combines results from the research literature with some local expertise to addresses the following questions:
- How can the design of an exam affect what it measures?
- How can we tell if an exam has met its goals?
- What can we learn from an exam once it’s over?
Full slides from the workshop are available here: Examining Exams.
Posted in Resources | Tagged with exams, workshop
By Jane Maxwell on October 23, 2015
Did you know that the UBC Chemistry Learning Lab Notebook hosts one of the world’s best* collections of analytical chemistry demonstrations?
This past June, analytical chemistry faculty from across Canada and the US gathered in a special session at the 2015 CSC to share their favourite teaching demonstrations. They also produced a series of videos that provide detailed instructions for anyone who would like to try these demonstrations themselves.
You can find all the videos and more information on our Analytical Chemistry: Teaching with Demonstrations page in our resources section.
* (in my opinion)
Posted in Resources | Tagged with analytical chemistry, demonstrations, videos
By Amber Richardson on October 2, 2015
Editor’s note: This guest post comes from Amber Richardson, a UBC chemistry undergraduate who spent part of the past year researching study strategies for organic chemistry.
One of the products of her research is a fantastic study guide! Students interested in using the guide can download a copy for personal use (not for distribution) here: Richardson 2015 – student guide to studying organic chemistry
It’s midterm season. For students, it’s a time for studying, countless cups of coffee, and lots of stress. For some students, their late nights pay off and they achieve good scores on their exams. For others, their methods don’t produce the grades they desired. Some may say that those students didn’t study enough, while others say that the students were studying ineffectively.
Now you may think, “How can someone study ineffectively? They’re studying– that can’t be ineffective.” I tackled this question last year while completing a Research Learning Experience project with Dr. Jackie Stewart. It turns out that chemistry students use a variety of strategies1, including some that many instructors, and the literature, don’t consider to be effective2.
Continue reading “Students overwhelmed? Maybe a guide on study strategies could help.”
Posted in Strategies | Tagged with organic chemistry, study strategies
By Jane Maxwell on June 5, 2015
“An improved design for in-class review,” has just been published in the Journal of College Science Teaching! I will post more on this later, but for now you can access the full text here.
Abstract: We present the theory and implementation of a review strategy based on testing rather than lecturing. We also show the results of a beginning-of-course review using the format of a two-stage examination, in which students complete a set of questions individually, then again as a group. This format offers several benefits compared with the typical lecture review: (a) students engage with the review topics much more deeply and more accurately gauge their own preparation; (b) students receive immediate, corrective feedback from their peers and clarify their understanding through discussion during the group stage; and (c) the instructor receives detailed information on students’ background understanding that can be used to tailor instruction. These proposed benefits are supported by the improved performance of groups during the second stage and by student opinions collected by survey several days after the review activity. The two-stage review therefore serves to both diagnose and remediate deficiencies in background understanding, leaving students and instructors better prepared for the course.
An Improved Design for In-Class Review
E. Jane Maxwell (Chemistry, UBC), Lisa McDonnell (Zoology, UBC), & Carl Wieman
Journal of College Science Teaching, Vol. 44(5), pp. 48-52 (2015)
Posted in Strategies | Tagged with collaborative learning, review, two-stage
By Jane Maxwell on June 4, 2015
Thanks to everyone who attended the workshop on this topic on June 2! The following post summarizes the major points of the workshop (minus the truly awful demonstration by Jane). You can also download a pdf version of this resource here.
Make a prediction: Which of the following resources will lead to the most learning: an animation of a dynamic process (e.g. a heart pumping blood), or a set of static images and descriptions for the same process?1
No really – make a prediction before you read any further!
Ready? It turns out that there is no significant difference in the learning gains achieved using animations and static images, so long as the two resources include the same content.2,3,4 To understand this counter-intuitive result, consider the reasons why students may fail to learn from a demonstration, video, animation, or simulation (referred to from now on as demo/video).
Continue reading “Making the most of demonstrations, videos, animations or simulations”
Posted in Strategies | Tagged with demonstrations, lecture, videos
By Jane Maxwell on June 1, 2015
Welcome to the Chemistry Learning Lab Notebook! We’ll be using this space to share ideas about teaching and learning Chemistry at UBC.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged with
