Transformative Experience for Graduate Students [Future Faculty] in Research-Based Teaching Workshops 21 st BCCE, U. North Texas Christopher F. Bauer (Univ. of New Hampshire) Maureen Scharberg (San Jose State Univ.) Dan Libby (Moravian College) NSF DUE CCLI-2 SITES Top ranked departments 2 private, 2 public Lack strong program for future faculty or chem ed PARTICIPANTS 35 at first three; 20 at fourth Full registration in one day 2:1 to 1:2 grad-to-postdoc The Day (8:30 to 4) Out-of-field POGIL activity (seated in groups by research area) Organic/inorganic do “Interlaboratory Comparisons” (analytical) Physical do “Chirality” (organic) Analytical/biochem do “The Ideal Solution” (physical) Critical Thinking Questions: describe structure of activity, role of instructor, skills other than content being developed DEPARTMENTAL CONVERSATIONS I have talked with a few like-minded graduate student colleagues about our desire to focus on teaching. Overall, though, talking about teaching at a place like * can get you into trouble, since people will often interpret discussions on teaching as one not being as focused on research We had many discussions amongst those who attended the workshop in the days following the workshop. We talked about the positive and negative impacts that POGIL learning might have on students and how different aspects could be implemented into a course as a first year professor. PARTICIPANT OUTCOMES (in their words) Exploration of Research Base (jigsaw structure) Group reads excerpts on one topic: metacognition, motivation, constructivism, cooperative learning Group explores topic using guided discussion questions Re-organize: one member from each topic join into new group Work through questions on how theory supports POGIL approach Discuss importance of theory to progress in education List journals to go to (typically they can only list 1 or 2) TRANSFORMATIONAL I have incorporated it, however, into my own learning and education. Trained in the traditional rote memorization school of chemistry, I now try to remind myself as often as possible to focus on the process of acquiring knowledge. The workshop has encouraged me to allow the students to struggle through concepts on their own instead of giving them the right answer. Before, I was nervous if I didn't know the answer, or couldn't explain it well the first time, but now, I'm more willing to try different questions Now my focus in teaching has shifted from clear and accessible presentation of facts to motivation-oriented teaching. Providing an environment free of judgement may allow people to feel more comfortable and become more involved than they would otherwise. I see that it's important to have a dialog with students Before the workshop I was oriented towards institutions with mainly research duties for my future work. In fact, I have decided to work at a undergraduate institution. I plan to discuss POGIL in my teaching philosophy statement. Some universities will not be interested... I think if a Univeristy has it in place, I am not opposed to taking more workshops and working on teaching in that sort of construct. Afternoon applications and extensions Toulmin argument analysis: rank explanations, examine Toulmin model, revisit rankings Shared data lab: How is boiling point related to structure? Misconceptions & clickers: using Mulford & Robinson, JCE 2002 Heat & temperature questions (poll, discuss, poll) Four others: Predict the most popular wrong answer Predict amount of change over semester (overestimate gains) INFORMATIONAL understanding a bit more about how people learn will help me to be a better teacher and allow my students to be more receptive to what I have to share when I "played the student", the classroom can always surprise. The concrete examples from the workshop have given me a much more thorough understanding of both the process and application to chemistry. much more comfortable thinking explicitly about pedagogy. I have learned that students learn better by doing I realized that most students learn slowly I was surprised about how many misconceptions survive