Research Based Undergraduate Science Teaching by
Research in Science Education (RISE) Volume 6, Research Based Undergraduate Science Teaching examines research, theory, and practice concerning issues of teaching science with undergraduates. This RISE volume addresses higher education faculty and all who teach entry level science. The focus is on helping undergraduates develop a basic science literacy leading to scientific expertise. RISE Volume 6 focuses on research-based reforms leading to best practices in teaching undergraduates in science and engineering. The goal of this volume is to provide a research foundation for the professional development of faculty teaching undergraduate science. Such science instruction should have short- and longterm impacts on student outcomes. The goal was carried out through a series of events over several years. The website at http://nseus.org documents materials from these events. The international call for manuscripts for this volume requested the inclusion of major priorities and critical research areas, methodological concerns, and results of implementation of faculty professional development programs and reform in teaching in undergraduate science classrooms. In developing research manuscripts to be reviewed for RISE, Volume 6, researchers were asked to consider the status and effectiveness of current and experimental practices for reforming undergraduate science courses involving all undergraduates, including groups of students who are not always well represented in STEM education. To influence practice, it is important to understand how research based practice is made and how it is implemented. The volume should be considered as a first step in thinking through what reform in undergraduate science teaching might look like and how we help faculty to implement such reform.
Exemplary College Science Teaching by
If you're looking for inspiration to alter your teaching methods to match new standards and new times, this book is for you. As the first in the Exemplary Science series to focus exclusively on college science teaching, this book offers 16 examples of college teaching that builds on what students learned in high school. Understanding that college does not exist in a vacuum, the chapter authors demonstrate how to adapt the methods and frameworks under which secondary students have been working and make them their own for the college classroom, adding new technologies when appropriate and letting the students take an active role in their learning. Among the innovative topics and techniques the essays in this book explore are:
• Lecture-free college science teaching
• Peer-led study groups as learning communities
• Jigsaw techniques that enhance learning
• Inquiry incorporated into large-group settings
• Interactive video conferences for assessing student attitudes and behaviors
The clichéd image of the professor droning on before a packed lecture hall is a thing of the past. The essays in this book explain why—and offer the promise of a better future.
Models-Based Science Teaching by
Humans perceive the world by constructing mental models—telling a story, interpreting a map, reading a book. Every way we interact with the world involves mental models, whether creating new ones or building on existing models with the introduction of new information. In Models-Based Science Teaching, author and educator Steven Gilbert explores the concept of mental models in relation to the learning of science, and how we can apply this understanding when we teach science. Practicing science teachers at all levels who want to explore new and better ways to frame and model science will find value in this book. Models-Based Science Teaching is concerned with building models of learning that helps students of all ages understand four basic ideas: • When they learn something, they are constructing mental models that are by nature simplified and subject to change. • These models are adopted because they work and not necessarily because they are the only true and most effective ways of understanding the world. • No one has a complete grasp of any model, and most of the time we are working with approximations of a situation. • What we create when we communicate are expressions of our inner mental models. Rather than advocating a rigid curriculum, Gilbert asserts that models-based science teaching embraces the creativity inherent in science and in learning, saying, “The best way to engage students in the creativity of science is engage them in inquiry, beginning with the creation of a problem and ending with a completed expressed model.”
Science Stories: Using case studies to teach critical thinking by
section 1. The nature of science -- section 2. Historical cases -- section 3. Experimental design -- section 4. The scientific method meets unusual claims -- section 5. Science and society -- section 6. Science and the media -- section 7. Ethics and the scientific process
Good Practice in Science Teaching by
This book offers a comprehensive overview of the major areas of research and scholarship in science education and discusses the significance, reliability and implications for the practice of science teaching.
Successful Science and Engineering Teaching by
The intent of this book is to describe how a professor can provide a learning environment that assists students to come to grips with the nature of science and engineering, to understand science and engineering concepts, and to solve problems in science and engineering courses. As such, this book is intended to be useful for any science or engineering professor, who wants to change their course to include more effective teaching methods, to instructors at post-secondary institutions, who are beginning their careers, and as a handbook for TA’s. Since the book is based upon articles that I have had published in Science Educational Research and which are grounded in educational research that I have performed (both quantitative and qualitative) over many years, it will also be of interest to anyone engaged in research into teaching science and engineering at the post-secondary level. I have also tried to include enough background so that the book could be used as a textbook for a course in educational practice in science and engineering. The book has two main axes of development. Firstly, how do we get students to change their epistemology so that their outlook on the course material is not that it consists of a tool kit of assorted practices, classified according to problem type, but rather that the subject comprises a connected structure of concepts. Secondly, helping students to have a deeper understanding of science and engineering.
Rethinking the Way We Teach Science by
Offering a fresh take on inquiry, this book draws on current research and theory in science education, literacy, and educational psychology, as well as the history and philosophy of science, to make its case for transforming the way science is taught.
Re-thinking the Way We Teach Science addresses major themes in national reform documents and movements--how to place students at the center of what happens in the classroom; how to shift the focus from giving answers to building arguments; how to move beyond narrow disciplinary boundaries to integrated explorations of ideas and issues that connect directly with students; and most especially, the importance of engaging students in discussions of an interactive and explanatory character. Deeply anchored in the classroom, highly interactive, and relevant across grade levels and subject matter, above all this is a book about choosing to place the authority of reason over that of right answers.
Successful Science and Engineering Teaching in Colleges and Universities by
This book offers broad, practical strategies for teaching science and engineering courses and describes how faculty can provide a learning environment that helps students comprehend the nature of science, understand science concepts, and solve problems in science courses.
The student-centered approach focuses on two main themes: reflective writing and working in collaborative groups. When faculty incorporate methods into their courses that challenge their students to critically reflect, collaborate, and problem solve, students gain a better understanding of science as a connected structure of concepts rather than as a simple tool kit of assorted practices.
Contents include:
Reflective writing Writing to learn Constructing student knowledge Selected methods for using collaborative groups Changing students epistemologies Training students to solve problems Using technology to aid your teaching.
A Little Book on Teaching: A Beginner's Guide for Educators of Engineering and Applied Science by
It is often a challenging and overwhelming transition to go from being a student to being a teacher. Many new faculty members of engineering and science have to make this dramatic transition in a very short time. In the same closing months of your Ph.D. program you are trying to complete your research, finish and defend your dissertation, find a job, move to a new location, and start a new job as a faculty member. If you are lucky, you've had the opportunity to serve as a teaching assistant and possibly have taught a university-level course. If you have served as a research assistant, your teaching opportunities may have been limited. Somehow, in this quick transition from student to teacher, one is supposed to become a good teacher and be ready for the first day of school. This book is intended as a basic primer on college-level teaching and learning for a new faculty member of engineering and applied science. New faculty members in other disciplines will find much of the information applicable to their area of expertise as well. First and foremost, this book is about learning and teaching.However, it also provides helpful information on related topics such as mentorship, student challenges, graduate students, tenure, and promotion and accreditation. This book is also intended as a reference for seasoned professionals. It is a good reference for those mentoring the next generation of college educators.
The Unified Learning Model by
This cutting-edge synthesis of ideas and concepts from the cognitive, motivation, and neurobiological sciences sets out a unique theory of learning that should be of interest to everyone from education practitioners to neuroscientists. The authors base their Unified Learning Model, or ULM, on three core principles. Firstly, that learning requires working memory allocation (attention). Second, that working memory’s capacity for allocation is affected by prior knowledge. And finally, that working memory allocation is directed by motivation. These three principles guide a complete model of learning that synthesizes what is known from research in brain function, cognition, and motivation. This, then, is a book about how humans learn. Its focus is on classroom learning although the principles are, as the name of the book suggests, universal. The text’s scope covers learning from pre-school to post-graduate, as well as training in business, industrial and the military. It addresses all learning described by the word "thought", as well as anything we might try to teach, or instruct in formal educational settings. The book presents a model of learning that the authors offer as scientists rather than educators. They assert that more than enough is known to sustain a "scientific" model of learning. Rather than being a mere review of the literature, this work is a synthesis. Many scholars and teachers will have heard much if not most or even all of the information used to develop the model. What they will not have come across is a model – designed to be both accessible and usable – that puts together the information in just this way.
