SABER 2013- Univ. Minnesota, Twin Cities

SABER 2013- Univ. Minnesota, Twin Cities

POSTERS

(alpha by presenter last name)

Elucidating the reasoning used by novices and experts when graphing biological data

Presenter: Aakanksha Angra: poster, FRI--49

Aakanksha Angra, Stephanie M. Gardner (Purdue University)

The Vision and Change and HHMI’s Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians documents state that development of graphical competency is an essential skill for students across all disciplines. The purpose of our study is to understand the reasoning implemented by novice undergraduate students and expert faculty when creating and choosing appropriate graphical representations of biological data. We used a triangulated study design, grounded in the constructivist theoretical framework, which included a self-efficacy survey, graphing procedure outline, and a semi-structured, think aloud interview. Coding of student and faculty responses was done using grounded theory and initial analysis of verbatim interview transcripts suggests several differences in the reasoning used by students and faculty. When asked to explain the reason behind choosing the particular type of graph for data, faculty members often responded from their past knowledge and research experiences, whereas students relied upon rules-based and implicit knowledge learned in grade school. When constructing the graph, we discovered that unlike faculty, students often translated the entire table of raw values into the graph matrix. Students also had a difficult time explaining the reasoning behind labeling axes in terms of variables. When asked to critique a graph made from the same data set, both students and faculty realized that the graph was improperly constructed. When asked to explain the weaknesses of this graph, students were less likely to articulate specific reasons and instead heavily focused on graph aesthetics and mechanics, reporting the absence of a title, axes labels, units, and key. When the same question was posed to the faculty, they noted that the graph was conveying meaningless information and suggested that the graph be constructed in another manner. The findings from this study will provide a rich source of insight to improve instructional approaches and assessment at the undergraduate and secondary school levels.

Show me the data: An exploration of photographical data representation in undergraduate life sciences

Presenter: Jessie Arneson: poster, FRI--50

Jessie Arneson, Erika Offerdahl (North Dakota State University)

There has been a recent nationwide call for developing undergraduate students’ understanding and application of the disciplinary practices of scientists. One practice critical to the realm of science is visual thinking – the ability to interpret and communicate via scientific visualizations. While practicing scientists frequently utilize visual representations to convey scientific data, the development of visual thinking skills is not currently an explicit learning objective in undergraduate science curricula. Students are often limited to the visualizations that are provided within textbooks, lecture slides, and instructional models, and as a result, they may not get the opportunity to develop expertise in interpreting and representing data visually if the images provided do not resemble expert representations. The goal of this study, therefore, is to examine the degree to which undergraduate textbooks expose students to pictorial data representation in the life sciences.

We characterized expert visualizations to determine how practicing scientists represent data and compared them to textbook figures in undergraduate introductory biology and junior-level biochemistry courses. In the primary literature, data is most commonly visualized as graphs, schematics, and realistic images (e.g. micrographs). As realistic images also make up a significant portion of the representations found within undergraduate textbooks – up to 51% in biology –we chose to focus solely on those abstractions for this study. We hypothesized that realistic images in textbooks are more often used to explicate content rather than convey data.

Preliminary findings show a disconnect in the underlying purpose of realistic images in textbooks versus primary literature. While photographs in primary literature generally represent data, the majority of those found in the undergraduate textbooks have a decorative or explanatory function. These results suggest there may be a lack of scaffolding across the undergraduate life science curricula that would allow for students to gain skills in authentically interpreting and representing data.

Examination of Faculty Instructional Practices and Perceptions in the Context of Reform

Presenter: Anna Jo Auerbach: poster, SAT--13

Anna Jo Auerbach, Elisabeth Schussler (University of Tennessee)

The University of Tennessee, Division of Biology, is in the process of implementing curriculum changes to their introductory biology courses as outlined by the Vision and Change report (2011) of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Our goals are to identify the current instructional practices used by faculty, the class time students spend actively engaged, and faculty perception of their instruction and student engagement. These aspects will be tracked as curriculum changes are implemented in two introductory courses for majors (Cell Biology and Biodiversity) over the next three years. Observational and interview data collection began in fall 2012, and were used to provide a snapshot of current instructional practices, generate open communication between instructors concerning instructional strategies, and create a network of classroom resources and activities. Observations were conducted once a month, with instructor consent, unannounced. Types of instructional strategies used in the classroom were recorded (i.e. clicker questions, small group work), as well as their frequency of occurrence. Engagement was also measured by recording individuals engaged (i.e. instructor only, no one, a subset of students, entire class) at the end of 5-minute intervals. Interviews with faculty associated with the observed courses were performed once a semester. For fall 2012, we found that instructors all used clicker questions and verbal questions to engage students. Four instructors used small groups and only two instructors used hands-on activities. The time students spent engaged in class ranged from 10% - 48%, depending on the class and the instructor. Faculty perceptions of their instructional strategies were accurate, however, their estimates of student engagement were both under and overestimated.

Targeted pre-readings: Get students to read the textbook before class!

Presenter: Amanda Banet: poster, FRI--4

Amanda Banet, Cynthia Heiner (University of British Columbia)

Research has shown that students can follow classroom material better, ask cognitively deeper questions, and participate more often during class if they are introduced to the material beforehand. However, studies have found that even when pages are assigned, most students do not read the textbook before class, and do not feel textbook readings are helpful to their learning. Our goal was to create a pre-class reading assignment that holds students accountable for reading while also helping them recognize the benefits of preparing for class. In this presentation, we discuss our implementation of directed pre-reading assignments with an associated online quiz in two science classes - one biology and one physics - and investigate if this structured approach results in more students reading the textbook and preparing for class. Student surveys showed similar results in both courses: more than 90% of students reported using the textbook before class, with a notable 80% of students reading the textbook on a regular basis -- far more successful than observed in previous work. Using electronic records, we establish that > 90% of the self-reports are accurate, lending further support to the survey results. Moreover, open-ended survey questions show that the majority of students believe reading prior to class is helpful to their learning.

Formative Assessment in an Online Graduate Science Education Course

Presenter: Aekam Barot: poster, SAT--45

Aekam Barot, David Rudge (Western Michigan University)

The proposed poster will share the preliminary findings from a science education study investigating formative assessment (FA) in an online graduate level course intended to introduce in-service K12 teachers to history and philosophy of science. Feedback plays a vital role in formative assessment, yet little is known about how students use feedback or the alignment between student and instructor expectations and interpretations of feedback. This alignment is especially important in an online environment where students only interaction with the instructor may be through written feedback on assignments. Additionally, formative assessment has been shown to improve science learning outcomes, yet is under-investigated in situ. Using a case-study based methodology student and instructor experiences with feedback in an online course are investigated. During the course, which serves as teacher professional development and aims to develop pedagogical knowledge of science teachers, students are tasked to write a lesson plan using the history and philosophy of science to teach both science content and the nature of science. In writing this lesson students are required to submit drafts and receive feedback on each draft. These drafts, the feedback, the final project and reflection essays along with interviews of the students and instructor serve as data for the study. In analyzing the data through a constructivist theoretical framework, student’s use and perceptions of feedback are determined. The findings of this study will help to contribute to the body of science education research by adding to the understanding of how formative assessment is used by students. Additionally the methods used in this study will be of wide interest to science education researchers conducting exploratory research, and research into the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Deviating from the Standard: Infusing Statistical Analysis and Experimental Design into Undergraduate Life Sciences

Presenter: Edward Bartlett: poster, FRI--5

Edward Bartlett, James Forney,Stephanie Gardner, Kari Clase (Purdue University)

Modern biologists need to generate and analyze data statistically and to interpret data with insight. Unfortunately, many students in bioscience programs do not understand the roles that statistics play in dealing with intrinsic biological variation and variation in experimental measurements. Life sciences programs at Purdue University collectively have promoted teaching biology from a statistical and quantitative perspective, funded by the HHMI. Efforts include four primary thrusts to advance quantitative skills: 1) create Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs); 2) generate and disseminate teaching modules for curriculum development; 3) support undergraduate research; and 4) advance K-12 life science teacher preparation. FLCs were initiated to assist faculty, postdoctoral scientists and graduate students to include statistical ideas in their courses and to design curricular enhancements (modules). To date, 28 individuals have participated in the FLCs. In cooperation with the FLCs, a large number of “plug and play” modules were developed on topics in data analysis and experimental design using real or student-generated biological data. Over 10 modules have been developed and used in classes, available on Purdue’s STEMEdHUB (http://stemedhub.org/groups/hhmibio). Summer undergraduate experiences analyzing authentic life science data demonstrated to students how to transfer the knowledge from instructor-led training sessions to their own summer research projects, resulting in two publications with student co-authors. Similar summer experiences helped grade 7-12 teachers to adapt their research experiences and training sessions into lesson templates to bring back to their classroom. Assessments have shown improvement in FLC participants’ attitudes and have profiled student abilities and progress using modules. Continued implementation and wider adoption of this program should yield better student outcomes and research outcomes as faculty and students alike embrace quantitative analysis as an integral and integrated part of life sciences training. Program components are flexible in content and complexity and may serve as a successful model for other universities.

Using Course Management System Data to Monitor Motivation in Introductory Biology

Presenter: Zachary Batz: poster, SAT--6

Zachary Batz, Michelle Smith,Farahad Dastoor, Brian Olsen (University of Maine)

Lack of study skills is a widespread problem among incoming freshmen and a leading contributor to students failing particularly in content-heavy courses like introductory biology. Although explicit instruction in studying habits can help students improve, the large lectures typical of introductory biology prevent professors from quickly identifying students in need of help. Furthermore, few reliable measurements exist for monitoring the effectiveness of study skills training in a large class. Here, we used a combination of individualized outreach and data collection through an online course management system to study students who are motivated to improve.

In this study, students who perform poorly on the first BIO100 exam received one of two personalized emails from the professor. Depending on their randomly selected treatment group, students were invited to either participate in a one time study skills boot camp with the professor or sign up for a once a week study skills and homework help group led by an upperclassman. Both intervention activities were voluntary and the subset of students who participated allowed us to identify a subpopulation of struggling students with strong drive to improve.

To determine if the poorly performing students who were motivated to improve showed any behavioral differences with students who did not seek extra help, we monitored student use of an online course management system. Specifically, we tracked behaviors such as how often students accessed notes, checked the gradebook, and watched lecture videos. By comparing these metrics between treatment groups and at different time points throughout the semester we were able to use non-grade metrics to monitor struggling students in a large introductory biology class and examine the effectiveness of academic interventions.

A scaffolded learning experience that engages freshmen in authentic research practices

Presenter: Greg J. Beitel: poster, FRI--37

Stanley M. Lo, Su L. Swarat,Luke C. Flores, Denise L. Drane (Northwestern University)

Undergraduate research experience has been shown to promote critical thinking skills, enhance students’ identification as scientists, and increase persistence in science. Unfortunately, students tend not to begin research until later years in college, and with a few exceptions, most research experiences are unstructured and depend largely on individual laboratories. To address these issues, we report a new program with scaffolded learning experiences that engage freshmen in research.

The program uses the theoretical framework of community of practice, i.e. situated learning and legitimate peripheral participation. Novices participate in communities (laboratories) by performing legitimate (authentic) tasks situated in native learning contexts (research). Students generate hypotheses, write proposals for their projects, and perform original research. Two courses provide conceptual and practical preparations for this experience. One examines societal impacts of scientific discoveries. The other guides students through the proposal writing process. Students are mentored by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, who are trained in mentoring by the program.