A SoTL Collaboration on Teaching the Habits of Critical Inquiry Rachel Nisselson, Nancy Chick, Lily Claiborne, Andrea Hearn, & Catesby Yant Vanderbilt University

Who Are We? Initially, 6 members Commonalities: pre-major Academic Advisors, instructors of First-Year Writing Seminars Differences: academic departments, content of courses Later: Nancy Chick, Center for Teaching

SoTL Commons Conference March 27-29, 2013 Savannah, GA

Our project allowed us to reflect on a cross-disciplinary question: What are the important habits of mind that are necessary for academic inquiry? think / pair / share

Habits of Academic Inquiry disciplinary : working within the standards of a formal discipline communal : engaging with shared problems or ideas evidentiary : appealing to evidence for argumentative claims knowledge-based: aiming to contribute to collective understanding critical: maintaining a critical perspective imaginative: attempting to imagine new ways of approaching problems Before the study, our group came up with the following:

The Study Design Three iterations of the lesson First-Year Writing Seminars in Anthropology, Philosophy, & Geology 15 students in each class Third week of classes Several observers in each classroom to record classroom events

Learning Goals of the Lesson Students begin to understand AI as a concept/habit Students recognize elements of AI Students begin to conceptualize effective vs. ineffective AI Long term: Students start to see our classroom tasks as AI and see themselves (and authors of everything they read) as academic inquirers

The Lesson

Pre-Class Homework You have been assigned two texts for class. Read them not just for the content of the articles (What are they about?) but also for their discursive strategies and effects (What and how [well] do they argue?). Use the two questions below to guide your reading and annotate them in the article: At what moments in the article are you convinced? What moments in the article are unconvincing?

In-Class Activities Instructor introduces lesson on “academic inquiry.” For small groups, assign roles: note-taker, time keeper, reporter, task-master. Small Group Meeting 1 Students each share one moment and why. Group chooses one moment to share with large group.

In-Class Activities Large Group Discussion 1 Each group shares chosen moment. Class and instructor create list of elements of academic inquiry.

In-Class Activities Individual re-annotation Small Group Meeting 2 Each student shares one moment with group. Do all of the moments your group discusses in this second article fit within the terms of academic inquiry on the board or have you found something new or different? If it is new or different, consider: what is happening in this passage? What’s effective or ineffective about it? What would you call it? Choose one moment to share with large group. Large Group Discussion 2 Class and instructor add to list of elements of academic inquiry.

Homework Write a one- to two-page take-home reflection that addresses these questions: Based on today’s class, how would you define or explain academic inquiry? Which of the two texts do you find a stronger example of academic inquiry and why?

Data Collected Classroom observations (small and large group) Lists of elements of academic inquiry from board Annotated articles Homework reflection papers

How We Met Goals Pedagogical Goals (Anthropology) Using Disney films as a lens to analyze American constructions of family, race, gender Develop writing skills and habits Why This Worked Students engaged with ideas, rather than merely reading for content Began to realize that evidence can be interpreted differently Students returned to the A.I. terms throughout semester

How We Met Goals Pedagogical Goals (Philosophy) Show philosophers engaged in problem solving, and invite students to become philosophical problem solvers. Introduce students to philosophy as a historical, social, and embodied discipline. Learn some basic trans-disciplinary writing and thinking skills that they will need to be successful college students. Why This Worked (not an exhaustive list) Helped students see themselves as participants in academic inquiry: they saw parallels between the moves the authors made in inquiry and their own inquiry into the texts. Identified students’ preconceptions about philosophy as a form of academic inquiry, allowing me to address these preconceptions in future classes.

How We Met Goals Pedagogical Goals (Geology) Understand scientific process and think critically about science Develop writing skills and habits Why This Worked Recognized difference in opinion and idea backed up by evidence Identified and evaluated efficacy of tools for writing Empowered to think critically when reading science

Metacognition “Creating curricula that help students to develop an awareness of their inquiry process and an ability to reflect on it could enable students to improve their learning expertise while also acquiring subject matter expertise.” (White & Frederiksen, 1998, p. 4) Resnick, 1987 Collins & Ferguson, 1993 White & Frederiksen, 1998 Pintrich, 2002 Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000 Tanner, 2012 et al.

Looking at Data Looking at the student quotes, consider the following question: What are some of the teaching & learning issues that emerge from your analysis of these student responses to the lesson about AI?  FFT: What kinds of comments would students make in other disciplines?

Questions?

Thank you!