Mentoring interdisciplinary undergraduate students via a team effort     

Karsai I  Knisley J  Knisley D  Yampolsky L  Godbole A 《CBE life sciences education》2011,10(3):250-258

We describe how a team approach that we developed as a mentoring strategy can be used to recruit, advance, and guide students to be more interested in the interdisciplinary field of mathematical biology, and lead to success in undergraduate research in this field. Students are introduced to research in their first semester via lab rotations. Their participation in the research of four faculty members-two from biology and two from mathematics-gives them a first-hand overview of research in quantitative biology and also some initial experience in research itself. However, one of the primary goals of the lab rotation experience is that of developing teams of students and faculty that combine mathematics and statistics with biology and the life sciences, teams that subsequently mentor undergraduate research in genuine interdisciplinary environments. Thus, the team concept serves not only as a means of establishing interdisciplinary research, but also as a means of incorporating new students into existing research efforts that will then track those students into meaningful research of their own. We report how the team concept is used to support undergraduate research in mathematical biology and what types of team-building strategies have worked for us.  相似文献   

Exploring prospective teachers' assessment practices: Noticing and interpreting student understanding in the assessment of written work     

Vicente Talanquer  Molly Bolger  Debra Tomanek 《科学教学研究杂志》2015,52(5):585-609

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Propagation from the start: the spread of a concept-based instructional tool     

Debra M. Friedrichsen  Christina Smith  Milo D. Koretsky 《Educational technology research and development : ETR & D》2017,65(1):177-202

We describe the propagation of a technology-based educational innovation through its first 3 years of public use. The innovation studied is the Concept Warehouse (CW), a database-driven website developed to support the use of concept-based pedagogies. This tool was initially developed for instructors in undergraduate chemical engineering courses, but has spread to other disciplines as well. In this time, it has grown to over 650 registered instructors representing over 170 institutions. While this study is specific to a particular case, the intent of this article is to provide an exemplar of real-time propagation that informs other researchers and developers. We frame our analysis with Diffusion of Innovation Theory and use a design research methodology that focuses on communication channels, types of knowledge, and stages of the innovation-decision process. Data sources include usage records and survey responses which are analyzed with network diagrams and non-parametric statistics. We find that in comparison to mass media, interpersonal communications tended to result in higher proportions of how-to knowledge and implementation. Three types of opinion leaders were identified through user data and network diagrams. All played critical roles in the tool’s propagation, especially the project collaborators—opinion leaders who actively promoted the CW, in part, because it also propagates their own innovations. Finally, users with self-identified prior principles knowledge showed statistically significantly greater progress in gaining how-to knowledge, but no significant difference in progressing to the implementation stage of the innovation-decision process when compared to users without.  相似文献   

Formative assessment of procedural skills: students’ responses to the Objective Structured Clinical Examination and the Integrated Performance Procedural Instrument     

Debra Nestel  Roger Kneebone  Carmel Nolan  Kash Akhtar  Ara Darzi 《Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education》2011,36(2):171-183

Assessment of clinical skills is a critical element of undergraduate medical education. We compare a traditional approach to procedural skills assessment – the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) with the Integrated Performance Procedural Instrument (IPPI). In both approaches, students work through ‘stations’ or ‘scenarios’ undertaking defined tasks. In the IPPI, all tasks are contextualised, requiring students to integrate technical, communication and other professional skills. The aim of this study was to explore students’ responses to these two assessments. Third‐year medical students participated in formative OSCE and IPPI sessions on consecutive days. Although performance data were collected in both assessments, quantitative data are not presented here. Group interviews with students were conducted by independent researchers. Data were analysed thematically. The OSCE and the IPPI were both valued, but for different reasons. Preference for the OSCE reflected the format of the summative assessment. The IPPI was valued for the opportunity to practise patient‐centred care in a simulated setting which integrated technical, communication and other professional skills. We posit that scenario‐based assessments such as the IPPI reflect real‐world issues of patient‐centred care. Although the limitations of this study prevent wide extrapolation, we encourage curriculum developers to consider the influence of assessments on what and how their students learn.  相似文献   

Changes in instructors' assessment thinking related to experimentation with new strategies     

Erika G. Offerdahl  Debra Tomanek 《Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education》2011,36(7):781-795

Formative assessment has been recognised as a critical element in teaching for conceptual development. A case study research design was employed to: (1) characterise the assessment thinking of three science instructors at a research‐based university; and (2) examine the complex relationship between instructor thinking and practice by encouraging experimentation with alternative assessment strategies. Interviews, reflective journals, field notes and course documents were the data sources used to create a single case study that documented the development of these university instructors’ assessment thinking during their experimentation with formative assessment strategies. Throughout two semesters of experimentation, the instructors’ assessment thinking became more sophisticated; they grew to view the purpose of assessment less as a summative activity used for the assignment of marks and more as a tool for diagnosing student learning. However, more sophisticated thinking was not associated with revisions in teaching practice based on formative assessment data. Further investigations are needed to more completely understand the nature of assessment thinking and how assessment thinking influences assessment practices. Implications for professional development of university‐level science instructors include personalised experiences through which instructors can become active participants in gathering evidence of student learning that promotes growth in assessment thinking.  相似文献   

Designing biomimetic robots: iterative development of an integrated technology design curriculum     

Bernstein  Debra  Puttick  Gillian  Wendell  Kristen  Shaw  Fayette  Danahy  Ethan  Cassidy  Michael 《Educational technology research and development : ETR & D》2022,70(1):119-147

Educational technology research and development - In most middle schools, learning is segregated by discipline. Yet interdisciplinary approaches have been shown to cultivate creative thinking,...  相似文献   

A Paradigm of Normal Birth: Teaching Through the Healthy Birth Practices     

Debra McAllister 《The Journal of perinatal education》2014,23(4):218-220

Debra McAllister, a childbirth educator with 9 years of experience as a labor and delivery nurse, provides commentary on how she teaches through the Six Healthy Birth Practices as a paradigm for normal birth.  相似文献   

Is Peer Interaction Necessary for Optimal Active Learning?     

Debra L. Linton  Jan Keith Farmer  Ernie Peterson 《CBE life sciences education》2014,13(2):243-252

Meta-analyses of active-learning research consistently show that active-learning techniques result in greater student performance than traditional lecture-based courses. However, some individual studies show no effect of active-learning interventions. This may be due to inexperienced implementation of active learning. To minimize the effect of inexperience, we should try to provide more explicit implementation recommendations based on research into the key components of effective active learning. We investigated the optimal implementation of active-learning exercises within a “lecture” course. Two sections of nonmajors biology were taught by the same instructor, in the same semester, using the same instructional materials and assessments. Students in one section completed in-class active-learning exercises in cooperative groups, while students in the other section completed the same activities individually. Performance on low-level, multiple-choice assessments was not significantly different between sections. However, students who worked in cooperative groups on the in-class activities significantly outperformed students who completed the activities individually on the higher-level, extended-response questions. Our results provide additional evidence that group processing of activities should be the recommended mode of implementation for in-class active-learning exercises.  相似文献   

Identifying Key Features of Effective Active Learning: The Effects of Writing and Peer Discussion     

Debra L. Linton  Wiline M. Pangle  Kevin H. Wyatt  Karli N. Powell  Rachel E. Sherwood 《CBE life sciences education》2014,13(3):469-477

We investigated some of the key features of effective active learning by comparing the outcomes of three different methods of implementing active-learning exercises in a majors introductory biology course. Students completed activities in one of three treatments: discussion, writing, and discussion + writing. Treatments were rotated weekly between three sections taught by three different instructors in a full factorial design. The data set was analyzed by generalized linear mixed-effect models with three independent variables: student aptitude, treatment, and instructor, and three dependent (assessment) variables: change in score on pre- and postactivity clicker questions, and coding scores on in-class writing and exam essays. All independent variables had significant effects on student performance for at least one of the dependent variables. Students with higher aptitude scored higher on all assessments. Student scores were higher on exam essay questions when the activity was implemented with a writing component compared with peer discussion only. There was a significant effect of instructor, with instructors showing different degrees of effectiveness with active-learning techniques. We suggest that individual writing should be implemented as part of active learning whenever possible and that instructors may need training and practice to become effective with active learning.  相似文献   

Besprechungen     

O. Grupe  R. Prohl  M. Krüger  G. Hoffmann 《Sportwissenschaft》1996,26(1):101-114

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