What makes a good teaching activity? (T-P-S) In your experience, what are the components of your most successful teaching activities….????

Review Questions: (Goal is to have a collection of strong activities…) Do the course components and activities fully address the state goals? Does the course/activity have a mechanism for engaging students and motivating their learning? Does the course/activity allow students to build from what they know, practice using new skills and concepts, and reflect on the progress they are making? Are there opportunities for timely feedback and improvement? Does the assessment meaningfully address the goals?

Attributes of an effective teaching activity Clear articulation of learning goals Content, concepts, skills (technical, life-long) Affective (values and attitudes about subject) Metacognition, learning to learn Preparation For students: Readings, demonstrations, examples... What should students know and be able to do to successfully complete the activity? For faculty: materials are available, equipment and software work, personal understanding is sound enough to actually do the calculations, deal with the unexpected, know where to find more information…

Attributes of an effective teaching activity, cont’d Motivating students to learn (Edelson, 2001) Curiosity (this is so cool I need to know) Need (personal or societal impact) Be aware of affective domain (barriers to learning, cultural bias, fear,…cognition and affect are closely linked!) Active Learning Learning science by doing science Inquiry, discovery, co-discovery (faculty as co-learners, “I don’t know but let’s find out!”) Engage students: recognizing diversity of learning styles, interests, abilities (help everyone succeed in their own way!) Peer learning? Collaborative or cooperative learning?

Attributes of an effective teaching activity, cont’d Pedagogy Does the pedagogy promote desired learning outcomes? Is the activity developed in accord with learning theory and research (e.g. constructivism…) Are pre- and mis-conceptions anticipated; barriers to learning or “sticking points” identified (as tips for other instructors)? Use of data, evidence? Quantititative skills, concepts? Representations of results Graphing, sketching, annotating, writing…. Alignment (Boyle, 2007) Awareness of student preferences and needs, use a variety of ways to reach the students, multi-modal approaches; align course goals with delivery and assessment

Attributes of an effective teaching activity cont’d Details, details… The activity is scientifically valid The pedogogy is sound It works—all information, materials, procedures, software etc. work reasonably well Supporting materials are identified (URLs, documents, tutorials, etc.) Can an instructor readily determine if this is appropriate for use in their class? Are helpful teaching tips provided?

Attributes of an effective teaching activity, cont’d Assessment Closely tracks with learning goals Student expectations are clear Embedded formative assessements Are students on right track? How do you know? Make corrections in progress.l. Opportunities for students to incrementally improve their understanding? Self-regulated learning? Scoring rubrics, examples Assessment allows instructor to determine if the learning outcomes have been met. Reflection Group Synthesis and discussion Personal (some metacognitive thoughts) What did I learn? What don’t I still understand? Next time, how can I do better?