Scientific Teaching

Jo Handelsman Sarah Miller Christine Pfund

Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching

supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Professors Program

Today’s Agenda

• What is scientific teaching?• Why do we need scientific teaching?• Scientific teaching in the classroom:

– Active learning– Assessment– Diversity

• Scientific teaching in the research lab– mentoring

• the classroom should reflect the process of science

• the classroom should capture the rigor, iterative nature, and spirit of discovery of science at its best

• the content should be scientific

• the classroom should include all students

Scientific Teaching

Handelsman et al., 2004 Science 304:521-522.

Reasons For Change

• Students not learning the content of science

• Students not learning the true nature of science

• Students leaving science

Sobering Facts

• Widespread scientific illiteracy

• Inability of science students to engage in conceptual & analytical thinking

• Poor retention (10-20% lecture content)

• Exit of students from college science (biology majors ~60%)

• Greater loss of certain ethnic minorities

Recommendations from “Science for All Americans” “From Analysis to Action”“Bio2010”

• Capture the spirit of “that thing we call science” in the classroom

• Engage students in research

• Recognize diverse cognitive styles

• Train the next generation of teachers to teach using proven methods

• Convert passive to active

History of Active Learning

• Plato

• John Dewey – “students are not empty vessels to be filled….”

• David Ausubel – constructivism– learning is a process of adjusting our models to

accommodate new information– knowledge is constructed, not absorbed

Active learning in the classroomStudents contribute and act

– Students solve problems– Student think, discuss, and question

Inquiry-based learning– Students ask questions and answer them– Students engage in the process of science

Assessment- Determine whether students are learning- Provide opportunities for students to assess their own learning

Cooperative/group learning– Students work in groups– Teacher is facilitator

Research on Cooperative Learning

• Deutsch, M. 1949 Coop learning fosters:

interdependence, achievement pressurehigher productivity, more ideas

• Okebukola, P.A. 1984 1,025 9th graders

Cooperative mode--intellectual achievementCompetitive mode--practical lab skills

• Johnson, D.W. et al. 1981 -- 122 studies

Cooperative = higher achievement higher order thinking

• Swisher, K. and others in the 1990s

Cooperative learning = higher achievementNative Americans (Navajo, Cherokee)African AmericansFemale Americans

Examples of Active Learning

• Think-pair-share (in lecture)• Notecards (in lecture)• Clickers (in lecture)• Case studies (in lecture/discussion/lab)• Experiments (in lecture or lab)

• What would you like know about…..?• How would you…..?• Why do you think…..?

Figure 2. Mean change scores on spring 1993 concept test, by question. Error bars represent one standard error (*p<0.05; **p< 0.01; ***p<0.001; n.s. p> 0.05).

From: “Teaching More by Lecturing Less” Jennifer K. Knight and William B. Wood

Cell Biol Educ 4(4): 298-310 2005

With “clickers”

•Learning gains increased 9%

•Increase greatest for best students

•Increase greater for women than men

Examples of Active Learning

• Think-pair-share (in lecture)• Notecards (in lecture)• Clickers (in lecture)• Case studies (in lecture/discussion/lab)• Experiments (in lecture or lab)

• What would you like know about…..?• How would you…..?• Why do you think…..?

12-Minute Active Learning in Lecture

Topics• Parts of the cell• Nucleic acid structure• Gene regulation• Hormone action

Active Learning Strategies• Question• Hypothesis• Experimental design• Interpretation of data• Develop an analogy• Paradox• Political dilemma

Active Learning

• Stimulates curiosity

• Helps students construct their own knowledge

• Improves understanding

• Enhances retention of content

Today’s Agenda

• What is scientific teaching?• Why do we need scientific teaching?• Scientific teaching in the classroom:

– Active learning– Assessment– Diversity

• Scientific teaching in the research lab– mentoring

Why Assessment?

• Apply the rigor of science – ask questions rather than make assumptions

• Enable students to monitor their own learning

• Enable instructor to monitor student progress

• Integrate into every class session

A Tiny World

What does A Tiny World tell us about student understanding and attitudes?

How might this guide our assessment of student learning?

Principles of Assessment

• Use it often (don’t wait for exams)

• Varied techniques

• Application of knowledge to problems

• Students need to use language

Examples of Active Learning

• Think-pair-share (in lecture)• Notecards (in lecture)• Clickers (in lecture)• Case studies (in lecture/discussion/lab)• Experiments (in lecture or lab)

• What would you like know about…..?• How would you…..?• Why do you think…..?

Today’s Agenda

• What is scientific teaching?• Why do we need scientific teaching?• Scientific teaching in the classroom:

– Active learning– Assessment– Diversity

• Scientific teaching in the research lab– mentoring

• the classroom should reflect the process of science

• the classroom should capture the rigor, iterative nature, and spirit of discovery of science at its best

• the content should be scientific

• the classroom should include all students

Scientific Teaching

Handelsman et al., 2004 Science 304:521-522.

Why do students leave science?

Tobias, S. 1990 They’re not dumb, they’re different.climate, facts vs. concepts, what vs. why

Hewitt, N. and Seymour, E. 1991.poor teaching, no support; weed-out mentality

Malcolm, S. 1991 and other studies.atmosphere, discrimination, alienation, exclusiveness

NOT THE ANSWER: lack of intelligence, personal problems, laziness, poor TAs

The Greatest Fears……

• Are we losing better minds than we are retaining?

• Are we losing “different” thinkers?

• Are we losing the most curious students?

• Are reducing the quality of education?

Human diversity leads to…..

• Better academic experience (Milem, 2001)

• More feasible and effective solutions to problems (Cox, 1993; McLeod, 1996)

• Better, more defensible decisions (Nemeth, 1985; 1995)

• More innovation in teams (Kanter, 1983)

• Best teams in science and theater (Science, 2005)

What do we need to know to diversify the scientific community?

Diversity

Cognitive Style

Learning Style

Gender, Race, and Style

Prejudice and Bias in the Classroom

Cognitive and Learning Styles

Cognitive style

Process of thinking, perceiving, and remembering (McFadden, 1986)

Cognitive StylesRiding and Cheema (1991)

• Wholists see information in a whole and have a better understanding of the big picture. They have difficulty breaking down elements into small, distinct parts. Diagrams with some text are helpful in demonstrating the whole picture to this learner.

• Analytics can break down information well into distinct parts, but have difficulty understanding the big picture. These learners like to see things broken down over a number of screens or pages and then may follow up with the whole unit.

• Verbalizers prefer to have information presented as words or verbal associations. The learner can easily create mental images of the material being presented, therefore they are comfortable with heavy text or verbal presentations. They may prefer to be presented with main points of the process.

• Imagers see things in the form of pictures and prefer material to be presented in vivid context. Unfamiliar terms should be descriptive and illustrated.

Cognitive and Learning Styles

Cognitive style

Process of thinking, perceiving, and remembering (McFadden, 1986)

Learning Style

Preferred way to learn (Gregorc, 1979)

Behaviors associated with learning (Kocinski, 1984)

Learning Styles – Multiple Intelligences

• Body/kinesthetic• Interpersonal/intra-

personal• Logical/mathematical• Musical/rhythmic• Verbal/linguistic• Visual/spatial

“Seven Ways of Knowing: Teaching for Multiple Intelligences”

by David Lazear. 1991.

Social Learning Style

• Competitive vs. cooperative• Group vs. individual• “Spotlight” vs. blending into team

Gender, Race, and Learning Style

Compared with white men, women and minorities more often prefer:

• Cooperative settings to competitive ones

• Relevance to the human experience

• Avoiding showing up others or being the “star”

http://www.berghuis.co.nz/abiator/lsi/lsiframe.html

http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/ILSpage.html

Diversity in the Classroom• Cognitive styles• Learning styles• Unconscious bias

Do we treat all of our students the same?

What does the research say about bias and prejudice?

• Blind, randomized trials

• Real life studies

Blind, randomized trials

• Give each group of evaluators pictures, words, or applications with a racial or gender indicator

• Compare evaluations

Isolate gender or ethnicity as sole variable

Research on Bias

• When shown photographs of people who are the same height, evaluators overestimated the heights of male subjects and underestimated the heights of female subjects.

• When shown photographs of men with similar athletic ability, evaluators rated the athletic ability of African American men higher than that of white men.

• When asked to rate the quality of verbal skills indicated by a short text, evaluators rated the skills as lower if they were told an African American wrote the text than if a they were told a white person wrote it, and gave lower ratings when told a woman wrote it than when told a man wrote it.

Biernat et al., 1991; Biernat and Manis, 1995

Hiring

• Have evaluators review credentials of job applicant

• Substantially more likely to hire the person if there is a man’s name on application

• More likely to hire if a “masculine” scent put on the materials

Research on Bias

• Meta-analysis of studies of hiring—

Aggregate of 1,842 subjects over 19 studies

Applications assigned male or female name

Reviewers hired male candidates more often (Olian et al., 1988)

• Review of description of job performance

Rated the same job performance lower if told it was performed by a woman (Dovidio and Gaertner, 2000)

Difference was substantially greater when evaluator was busy or distracted (Martell, 1991)

Research on Bias

• In every study, significant effect of gender or race of person evaluated

• NO significant effect of gender or race of person doing the evaluation

What does the research say?

• Blind, randomized trials

• Real life studies

Research on Bias

Auditions for symphony orchestra positions

• Started using a screen, carpeting to hide gender of person auditioning

• Resulted in as much as a 60% increase in frequency of women being selected

Goldin and Rouse, 1997

Swedish Postdoc Fellowship Study

• Compared “competency rating” with “publication impact rating”

Swedish Postdoc Fellowship Study

Wenneras and Wold, 1997. Nature 387:341.

Research on Bias

• Postdoc fellowships panel—Women needed substantially more publication power (the equivalent of 3 more papers in Nature or Science or 20 more papers in specialty journals such as Infection and Immunity or Neuroscience) to achieve the same rating as men unless they knew someone on the panel personally

Wenneras, Christine and Agnes Wold. "Nepotism and Sexism in Peer-Review." Nature (May 1997).

Research on Bias

• CVs of real woman assigned a male or female name, randomly, and sent to 238 academic psychologists – CV at time of job application– CV at time of early tenure decision

• Respondents more likely to hire if male name• Gender of applicant had no effect on

respondents’ likelihood of granting tenureSteinpreis et al., 1999

Research on Bias

There were “cautionary comments” in margins of tenure package four times more often on those with woman’s name:

“We would have to see her job talk.”“It is impossible to make such a judgment without

teaching evaluations.”“I would need to see evidence that she had

gotten those grants and publications on her own.”

Steinpreis et al., 1999

What could minimize the effects of bias?

• Hold ourselves accountable

• Discuss bias with colleagues, TAs, graders

• Instruct not to be biased

• Integrate images of women and minorities

• Diversify teaching methods

Diversity

Cognitive Style

Learning Style

Gender, Race, and Style

Prejudice and Bias in the Classroom

Scientific Teaching

An comprehensive strategy

Themes of Scientific Teaching• Active learning

• Assessment

• Diversity

Backward Design

• Identify learning goals and outcomes

• Plan assessment of learning

• Plan class content and activities

• Align goals, assessment and content

• Realign, adjust, ensure diversityWiggins and McTighe

Modified by Miller and Handelsman

Mentoring

Can mentoring be taught?

• Can you teach someone to be a doctor or a scientist?

• Can you teach someone to write?

• Can you teach someone to teach?

Each of these skills is a combination of passion, intuition, experience, and knowledge.

The Wisconsin Mentoring Seminar

• Eight-week seminar

• Optimized for people currently mentoring undergraduate researchers

• Combination of reading, writing, discussion

labmgmt@hhmi.org

Mentoring Topics• Getting Started

• Learning to Communicate

• Goals and Expectations

• Identifying Challenges and Issues

• Resolving Challenges and Issues

• Evaluating Our Progress

• Elements of Good Mentoring

• Mentoring Philosophy

Teaching Tools• Reading

• Short writing assignments

• Discussion of case studies

• Discussion of mentors’ situations

• Assigned activities– interview mentee– determine whether your mentee understands

you– discuss mentoring challenge with advisor

Case Study

A case about trust

Case Study

A graduate student mentor was frustrated because her student was not running successful experiments. While the undergraduate had great enthusiasm for the project, each experiment failed because of some sloppy error—forgetting to pH the gel buffer, forgetting to add a reagent to a reaction, or forgetting to turn down the voltage on a gel box. After a month of discussions, and careful attempts to teach the student habits that would compensate for his forgetfulness, the graduate student was ready to give up. She spoke with her adviser and asked for advice, hoping that she could fix the problem and start getting useful data from her undergraduate. The adviser offered to work with the undergraduate mentee. When the undergraduate walked into his office, the faculty member said, “I hear you’re a slob in the lab. You gotta clean up your act if we’re going to get any data out of you.” Seeing the crushed and humiliated look on the undergraduate’s face, he quickly added, “I’m a slob too—that’s why I’m in here pushing papers around and not in the lab doing the hard stuff like you guys!”

Why should you teach this seminar?

• Become a better mentor

• Teach your advisor to be a better mentor

• Help the faculty in your department be more appreciated by their graduate students

• Get fabulous teaching evaluations!!!

• Have FUN