Improving Science Education Elizabeth Blackburn (UCSF) Nobel laureate in NYT 2013: “I think that the thing science educators have to do is teach one important lesson: that science requires immersion. A lot of teaching is about setting up these little projects. But real science happens when you’re really immersed in a question… The way we teach it now, with an hour of instruction here and a laboratory class there, it doesn’t allow for what has been my experience: that immersion is the essence of scientific discovery. Science just isn’t something you can do in one-hour-and-a-half bits. Digging deep is what makes people actually productive. If I could change one thing, it would be to build this idea into the curriculum.”

Where does immersion happen? Low immersion High immersion Adapted from Weaver et al. 2008; Wood, 2009

MonTuesWedThursFri Lecture Lab Traditional

MonTuesWedThursFri Lecture Lab MonTuesWedThursFri Class Fused Traditional

MonTuesWedThursFri Class Fused “ Workshops ”

Our Experimental Timeline 2011 & 2013 – Cellular Neuroscience (JR) Tues/Thurs for 2.5 hours Move between seminar room and lab nearby

Our Experimental Timeline 2011 & 2013 – Cellular Neuroscience (JR) Tues/Thurs for 2.5 hours Move between seminar room and lab nearby 2014 – Developmental Biology (BL) Tues/Thursday for 2.5 hours All discussion and experiments in renovated lab

ExperimentsDiscussion

The Learning Space

Things we liked Students can do multi-day techniques 2.5 hour blocks allow you to be creative with activities Discussions are more spontaneous, students can look up info on the spot Students can observe or do something right before or after talking about it

Mistakes we made Don’t try this at 8:00 AM Don’t have class sessions that are all discussion or all lab Don’t forget to hire a TA Don’t try to plug your old syllabus into the new format Don’t let the faster groups get bored

What do students say? “It really cemented the fact that science is not some isolated event that you go to a separate lab to complete.” “Lab didn't become something that I dreaded and I felt like it backed up the things we were learning about in lecture.” “It kept me actively engaged throughout the class and gave us the opportunity to see what we just learned.” “Sometimes it was hard to stay focused and engaged during lectures when I was looking forward to the lab activity.”

The Drawbacks It can be tough to justify teaching credits Class size must be small Not all students will love the new format You need to be OK with controlled chaos

How can we tell if fused classes are a good thing?

Not everyone can or should fuse their courses. What else can we do to increase immersion?

Questions? Jennifer Round Barbara Lom

Space matters! It is ideal to give your “mini-lectures” in the lab, but a nearby classroom will do. Benches must be big enough for experiments, note-taking, and computers Mobility and lines of sight are important for students and instructors