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| astro300_f13:day12 [2013/11/06 09:03] – [Design-A-Section Assignment (30 minutes)] a_lee | astro300_f13:day12 [2013/11/07 01:14] (current) – [Design-A-Section Assignment (30 minutes)] a_lee |
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| ====General Takeaways==== | ====General Takeaways==== |
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| - blah | - Students do come into a class with misconceptions related to the course material and how to learn/approach it. |
| - blah | - Thinking about misconceptions as a misapplication of student resources can be useful in helping to address misconceptions. |
| | - Students not only have conceptual resources but epistemological ones as well. |
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| =====Section Recap (20 minutes)===== | =====Section Recap (20 minutes)===== |
| A reminder on what Design-A-Section entails: | A reminder on what Design-A-Section entails: |
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| This project is meant to be a culmination of everything that we have learned together in Ay375. It is a means for you to develop a mini-lecture, activity, and method of assessment that targets a particular topic and your learning objectives. Your project will include the following: | This project is meant to be a culmination of everything that we have learned together in Ay375. It is a means for you to develop a "significant learning experience" for your (possibly hypothetical) students, and will involve a mini-lecture, activity, and method of assessment that targets a particular topic and your learning objectives. On December 4, you'll be giving a ~15 minute presentation that showcases your work. This presentation should include a 5-10 minute lecture, a description of the section activity that would accompany the lecture, any handouts/worksheets you would provide to your students, and a statement of your learning objectives and how you would assess them. |
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| At the beginning of December, you'll be given a ~15 minute presentation that showcases your work. | |
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| For homework, we asked you to consider some topics that you might want to develop a section around. Today, we want to spend a little time coming up with milestones you'll work towards every week until it is time for presentations. | For homework last week, we asked you to consider some topics that you might want to develop a section around. Today, we want to spend a little time discussing this project and outlining the first milestone you'll work on this week. |
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| When designing your section, your goal will be to create an "Integrated Section Design", adopting a phrase from L. Dee Fink (links are provided on the supplemental page). The steps in designing an integrated section require you to (1) identify the situational factors, (2) formulate the learning goals, (3) design the feedback and assessment procedures, and (4) select the teaching/learning activities. These four components are all inter-related, and we'll consider each in turn. | When designing your section, your goal will be to create an "Integrated Section Design", adopting a phrase from L. Dee Fink (links are provided on the supplemental page). The steps in designing an integrated section require you to (1) identify the situational factors, (2) formulate the learning goals, (3) design the feedback and assessment procedures, and (4) select the teaching/learning activities. These four components are all inter-related, and we'll consider each in turn. |
| //Teaching/Learning Activities// - We have argued throughout the course that active learning is the best way to learn for students, when active learning is defined as "involving students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing." As more-expert physics students, we have learned how to perform these activities ourselves, but some students need assistance and motivation to engage in this sort of active reflection and participation with the material. In class this could include group activities, debates, simulations, or dramatizations, to name a few. What sorts of activities will get your students engaged, so that they are "doing" something with the material? Even if you have a lecture component, how can your students be engaged? | //Teaching/Learning Activities// - We have argued throughout the course that active learning is the best way to learn for students, when active learning is defined as "involving students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing." As more-expert physics students, we have learned how to perform these activities ourselves, but some students need assistance and motivation to engage in this sort of active reflection and participation with the material. In class this could include group activities, debates, simulations, or dramatizations, to name a few. What sorts of activities will get your students engaged, so that they are "doing" something with the material? Even if you have a lecture component, how can your students be engaged? |
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| | We'll end with an example of poorly integrated sections. |
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| | **Example:** A GSI says he wants his students to "learn all the important concepts" and "learn how to think critically about astronomy." THese are the learning goals. But when we observe his sections, we find that he spends his time lecturing almost exclusively (this is his "teaching/learning activity"). This creates a problem: His teaching/learning activity is not aligned with the learning goals. The students are not getting practice and feedback in learning how to think critically. When the GSI has to write a quiz for the section, he is fine to ask do-you-remember type questions, but can he ask critical thinking questions? If he does, the assessment part of section is properly connected to the learning goals, but not aligned with the teaching/learning activities. However, if he chooses not to ask critical thinking questions, the assessment is not consistent with the learning goals (though now consistent with the teaching/learning activities). This section design is flawed! |
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| | To fix the section design and keep the learning goals as they are, he should re-structure his sections to allow more opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking tasks. With the practice and feedback, he can then assess the learning through quizzes, quizzes that can ask both conceptual and critical thinking questions. |
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| **Milestone 1** | **Milestone 1** |
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| We want to create a "significant learning experience," and this capstone project will get us doing just that. For the first milestone, you'll tackle five important questions. At the end of this step, you will have a draft for your Design-A-Section. | We want to create a "significant learning experience," and this capstone project will get us doing just that. For the first milestone, we want you to think about five important questions. This will help you create a skeleton lesson plan for your lecture/section activity. |
| - **Step 1: What are the situational factors present?** | |
| | * **Step 0: What general concept/question/idea are you designing a section around?** |
| | * **Step 1: What are the situational factors present?** |
| * What is expected from the students? From the professor? How many students? | * What is expected from the students? From the professor? How many students? |
| * How does your topic (and, once you have one, the specific activities) fit into the course goals? | * How does your topic (and, once you have one, the specific activities) fit into the course goals? |
| * Are there special challenges for this particular course? | * Are there special challenges for this particular course? |
| - **Step 2: What do you want students to learn? What are your learning goals?** | * **Step 2: What do you want students to learn? What are your learning goals?** |
| * Think expansively, beyond "understand" or "remember". | * Think expansively, beyond "understand" or "remember". |
| * Suggestion: Try finishing the sentence "At the end of this section, I want my students to be able to ..." | * Suggestion: Try finishing the sentence "At the end of this section, I want my students to be able to ..." Come up with at least two or three learning goals. |
| * Suggestion: Use Bloom (Lecture X). Remember, be specific. | * Suggestion: Use Bloom (Class 5 and see Handouts on main page). Remember, be specific. |
| - **Step 3: What will the students have to do, to demonstrate that they have achieved the learning goals?** | * **Step 3: Draft a skeleton lesson plan that accomplishes your learning goals outlined in Step 2** |
| * What can do you that will help students learn as well as give you a basis for assessing understanding? | |
| * Go beyond what Duncan (Lecture X) would frown upon ("Does everyone understand?") | |
| - **Step 4: What has to happen during section for students to do well on the feedback and assessment you have designed?** | |
| * Think creatively for ways of involving students that will support your learning goals. | * Think creatively for ways of involving students that will support your learning goals. |
| * Suggestion: Consider active learning techniques to create richer learning environments (Lectures X and X). | * What topics do you want to include in your lecture? Will you include active learning activities? |
| - **Step 5: Determine whether all these components are integrated.** | * In terms of section activities, what could you do to reinforce the lecture material? Small group or class discussion? |
| * The material you come up with in Steps 1-4 should be consistent with and support each other. | * Suggestion: Consider active learning techniques to create richer learning environments (Classes 4-6). |
| | * **Step 4: In thinking about these activities, how are your activities going to help assess their understanding? ** |
| | * Go beyond what Duncan (Class 5 and see Suggested Readings) would frown upon ("Does everyone understand?") |
| | * **Step 5: Determine whether all these components are integrated.** |
| | * The material you come up with in Steps 1-4 should be consistent with and support each other. |
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| | For next week, please bring hardcopies of the following: |
| | - Answer: What is the topic you are covering? Why are you choosing this topic (e.g., it was discussed poorly in lecture, it is something tangential you really want to introduce, etc.). |
| | - A draft lesson plan, which should include clearly stated learning goals and an estimate of how much time (in your 50 minute section) you will be spending on each component. |
| | - An outline for the main parts of your lecture and ideas for your activities. |
| | - Make some notes about how these various activities tie back to your learning objectives and how you will assess this. |
| =====Break (few minutes)===== | =====Break (few minutes)===== |
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| - How do we incorporate these exercises of metacognitive learning into a course that is already saturated with conceptual material? | - How do we incorporate these exercises of metacognitive learning into a course that is already saturated with conceptual material? |
| ===== Homework For Next Time===== | ===== Homework For Next Time===== |
| -Complete first part of Design-A-Section | -Complete the first milestone of Design-A-Section. |
| -Read "The Hidden Curriculum" by Reddish. | -Read "The Hidden Curriculum" by Redish. |
| -Final round to taping - ask if this week is ok (no midterm review). | -Final round of taping - ask if this week is ok (no midterm review). |
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