1. Scientific Teaching: Perspectives from an Early Career Teacher
Lisa R. Wilken
Assistant Professor
Biological & Agricultural Engineering
Kansas State University
“Tell me and I’ll forget; Show me and I may remember; Involve me and I’ll understand.” -Chinese proverb

2. 1) Backward design facilitates learning: Teach as if it were a science.
Learning goals and outcomes
Diversity and inclusion
Learning activity
Assessment
Scientific Teaching
Be inclusive
Whoever does the work, learns.
Handelsman, J. et al Scientific Teaching. W.H. Freeman and Co. New York, NY.

3. 1) Backward design facilitates learning
Identify desired results (learning goals)
Determine evidence for learning (outcomes and assessments)
Plan learning experiences and instruction (activities)
“Objectives (learning goals) are important to establish in a pedagogical interchange so that teachers and students alike understand the purpose of that interchange.
Teachers can benefit from using frameworks to organize objectives Organizing objectives helps to clarify objectives for themselves and for students.”
Having an organized set of objectives helps teachers to:
“plan and deliver appropriate instruction”;
“design valid assessment tasks and strategies”;and
“ensure that instruction and assessment are aligned with the objectives.”
Handelsman, J. et al Scientific Teaching. W.H. Freeman and Co. New York, NY.

4. 2) Whoever does the work, learns...
Focus on difficult concepts, common misconceptions, and/or fundamentals
34% of students fail introductory STEM courses in traditional lectures
For most, failure results in dropping out of STEM majors entirely
Closes the achievement gap between underrepresented students and their classmates
In traditional lecture….that is the instructor…active learning classroom shifts to students
Grades improve by half a letter grade with active learning
Best way to learn….is to teach a course…
33.8% failure rate of traditional lectures, 21.8% under active learning must read, write, discuss, or be engaged in solving problems
important, to be actively involved, students must engage in such higher-order thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation
each faculty member should engage in self-reflection, exploring personal willingness to experiment with alternative approaches \Can be most difficult to decide what concepts are most important to convert from traditional lecture to active learning.
Students are actively using the knowledge from that day.
Everybody does better with active classroom….disproportionate benefit for students who are underprepared when they get to college!!
Freeman, S. et al PNAS. 111(23):

5. 2) Whoever does the work, learns...
If goal is for students to recall, memorize, define, etc., lecture may be adequate
If goal is to have students analyze, apply, or evaluate new problems based on concepts, active learning is more effective

6. 3) Be inclusive… www.culturalorganizing.org
Each student will experience the classroom differently from everyone else, prepares students more effectively for the global community, more creative
Treating everyone the same is ignoring the inherent diversity in every situation

7. 3) Be inclusive Strategies Define roles with group Apply jigsaw
Various methods for data analysis
Apply jigsaw
Provides essential part to each team member
Reduces anxiety and improves feeling of inclusion
Encourages listening, engagement, and empathy
Integrate culturally diverse and relevant examples
Wait time (1.5 s to 3-5 s)
Tanner, K CBE Life Sci Educ. Fall; 12(3): 322–331.

8. Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 1, 2, 3, and 4 of reading assignment (each different part).. Or alternatively, could be same reading then use different forms of expression to summarize (written summary, drawing summary, connecting with prior class topics or knowledge, key points/take home message/write questions)
Graph, draw, use words to explain data, etc.
Part 4

9. Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

10. Address the challenges…
Classrooms are not suitable!
Address the challenges…
Takes too much class time!
Set expectations early
Emphasize that work is required to learn
Provide justification through data
Consider content vs. understanding
Justification through data….Students in classes with active learning were 1.5 times less likely to fail than students in classes with traditional lecturing

11. Summary Backward design facilitates learning.
Teach as if it were a science.
Whoever does the work, learns.
Activities tap into existing pathways, integrate and connect concepts, and provide experiential learning
Be inclusive.
Take proactive approach when designing course materials
treating students in a fair -- but not equal -- way works
treat them in ways that are most appropriate to their needs

12. Acknowledgements Ruth Dyer and Kansas State Office of the Provost
Summer Institute for Scientific Teaching (Northstar, University of Minnesota) sponsored by HHMI, NSF, Helmsley Foundation