1. Designing Effective Science Courses
Preparing a Syllabus
“Once you have a sound course design, your syllabus almost writes itself.”
-Teaching at its Best
L. Nilson, 1998
Preparing a syllabus is often the first thing that triggers course design… and yet it should follow some other steps that are critical to good teaching!
Be careful… here are some of the hidden triggers and traps in course design:
Text decision… triggered by the bookstore months before you are ready to start
Syllabus development… triggered by the recognition that class starts in a few weeks and you haven’t looked at the detailed calendar.

2. Content-Centered Learning-Centered What Will I Cover?
What Will They Learn?

3. The General Design Consider your audience
Define instructional objectives & skills
Evaluate content options and appropriate readings
Determine class format
Develop assessments
and FINALLY the Syllabus!

4. ? Consider your audience!
What preparation will most students bring? Do prerequisites guarantee this?
Attitudes? Required course? Elective?
What are the student expectations? Are these appropriate? Can they be incorporated into your teaching plan?
Student long-range goals?
Can flexibility be built in to accommodate this? ?

5. Define instructional objectives
First define your “ultimate” end-of-course objectives
Then work backwards…what will students have to be able to do before they can accomplish each “ultimate” objective?
Continue working backwards to the most basic performances they must master to achieve the above

6. Instructional Objectives
(for a specific group of students)
Skills
(what these students will be able to do to demonstrate attainment of learning goal)
Content
Class Format
Assessment Format
Syllabus
Does your syllabus share with your students the thinking process that you followed to design this course?

7. Designing Courses “Backwards”
Objectives
Content
Skills

8. Bloom’s Taxonomy Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956)
Define instructional objectives
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956)

9. Fink’s Taxonomy To Improve the Academy (2001)
Define instructional objectives
Learning how to learn
Integration
Application
Foundational Knowledge
Human Dimension
Motivation
Fink’s Taxonomy
To Improve the Academy (2001)

10. Define Instructional Objectives
“Students will learn to appreciate their natural surroundings and will know that underlying geologic structures control the landforms we see”

11. from Mager (1975) in Diamond (1998)
Define Instructional Objectives
Many Fewer
Interpretations Interpretations
To know To write
To understand To recite
To really understand To identify
To appreciate To sort
To fully appreciate To solve
To grasp significance of To construct
To enjoy To build
To believe To compare
To have faith in To contrast
from Mager (1975) in Diamond (1998)

12. Translate fuzzy language to skills!
“After working with slide images and through field experiences, students will be able to locate and identify faults, fractures and folds present in an unfamiliar landscape.”

13. Instructional Objectives
(for a specific group of students)
Skills
(what these students will be able to do to demonstrate attainment of learning goal)
Content
Class Format
Assessment Format
Syllabus
Does your syllabus share with your students the thinking process that you followed to design this course?

14. Evaluate content options
Rank the topics
(rank highly your “essentials” AND those that meet student needs or expectations)
Slash, burn & distill
(this always hurts, but designing courses backwards will help establish priorities)
Compare to your “full array” of content options
is something missing that you value? Are you missing a major learning goal?

15. Evaluate readings
Consider the level (and financial resources!) of your students
What is the purpose of the reading? How will it support the course? How often will students use this resource?
Read a variety of texts
...unless you wrote the text, you won’t find exactly what you need… BUT...
Is a course reader better?
...can better suit to your needs...but takes a huge effort to integrate well...

16. Determine the class format
Lecture based?
Discussion based?
Need labs or experiential components?
How and when will student inquiry take place?

17. Develop an assessment plan
For Them
When will students get feedback about their learning?
What have your students learned? Have they acquired the skills you value?
Let the course objectives shine through your assessment… end-of-course objectives should map out your projects, homework, exams, etc.

18. Develop an assessment plan
For You
Options for getting feedback… (CATs) Classroom Assessment Techniques
Mid-term formative evaluations
Professional feedback… classroom consultations, videos, etc.