Pedagogical Design |
Hypothesis | Course Goals | Conveying Content | Building Process |
Hypothesis: I tested the hypothesis that engagement of students in specific research projects that allow them to experience activities that science professionals routinely perform will 1)
promote student interest in and mastery of sophisticated science content
I prefixed
such projects as "mock experiential" because through diverse role-playing
experiences in these projects, students link classroom learning with the
practice of science in the scientific community.
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Course
Goals:
Content: 1.
Understand why and how cells are the units of life and why you should care
about cells
Process: 3.
Increase student engagement in the world of contemporary biology research
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Conveying
Content:
Most of the course's content is conveyed via classroom lectures and discussions. As a primary textbook, I use Essential Cell Biology in near entirety. For one week near the beginning of the semester, students take full instructional responsibility to discuss The Double Helix, two primary articles, and an essay reflecting Rosalind Franklin. Together, these works examine the fundamental discoveries that established the central dogma of molecular biology and the scientific culture of that time. I provide content packets for every classroom session, so that instead of taking notes, students listen, ask questions, and initiate discussions. To evaluate proficiency, I conduct numerous quizzes and two exams. The projects described later also provide content by requiring students to research topics learned in the classroom in considerable depth.
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Building
Process:
Process
skills are imparted via five laboratory experiments during the first half
of the course and five mock experiential research projects during
the second half . Students perform experiments from five laboratory modules
as showwn in the syllabus. Each year, one of these lab modules is expanded
into an investigative lab carried out over multiple weeks; the others remain
single session labs. Evaluation of laboratory work involves traditional
and non-traditional components. As traditional assessment, I grade student
laboratory notebooks twice for completeness, organization, data presentation
and analysis, and strength of discussion. As non-traditional assessment,
I require that students only write one report in the form of a primary
research article for the multiweek investigative lab (further elaborated
as the fifth mock experiential research project (5th project ).
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