CREATE Cornerstone: Introduction to Scientific Thinking,a New Course for STEM-Interested Freshmen,Demystifies Scientific Thinking through Analysis of Scientific Literature

The Consider, Read, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze and interpret data, Think of the next Experiment (CREATE) strategy for teaching and learning uses intensive analysis of primary literature to improve students’ critical-thinking and content integration abilities, as well as their self-rated science attitudes, understanding, and confidence. CREATE also supports maturation of undergraduates’ epistemological beliefs about science. This approach, originally tested with upper-level students, has been adapted in Introduction to Scientific Thinking, a new course for freshmen. Results from this course''s initial semesters indicate that freshmen in a one-semester introductory course that uses a narrowly focused set of readings to promote development of analytical skills made significant gains in critical-thinking and experimental design abilities. Students also reported significant gains in their ability to think scientifically and understand primary literature. Their perceptions and understanding of science improved, and multiple aspects of their epistemological beliefs about science gained sophistication. The course has no laboratory component, is relatively inexpensive to run, and could be adapted to any area of scientific study.     

“This Dual Mandate”

The national initiative that undergraduate students receive education in public health is well-aligned with the philosophy of liberal education which recommends that baccalaureate students receive a wide breadth of knowledge, adaptable skills, principled values, and a sense of societal responsibility. This article explores this new application of liberal education and its implications for the baccalaureate student and faculty. The author describes one university's response to this initiative by providing a relative framework for a course that may serve as a model for other liberal arts institutions that are attempting to heed this call for an educated public.     

The Subject Specialist Librarian's Role in Providing Distance Learning Services

ABSTRACT

Subject specialist librarians play a role in providing resources and services to distance students. The authors surveyed subject librarians and distance librarians, examining how and to what extent subject librarians provide service to distance learners.     

Comment on “The Impact of Online Assessment on Grades in Community College Distance Education Mathematics Courses” by Ronald W. Yates and Brian Beaudrie

Abstract

This article comments on an earlier article by professors Yates and Beaudrie (2009 Yates, R. W. and Beaudrie, B. 2009. The impact of online assessment on grades in community college distance education mathematics courses. The American Journal of Distance Education, 23(2): 62–70. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar])who examined whether online assessment facilitates student cheating and found no evidence of such a greater prevalence of cheating. Professors Yates and Beaudrie are commended for their contribution to this increasingly important area of research. The analysis indicates that professor Yates and Beaudrie's (2009 Yates, R. W. and Beaudrie, B. 2009. The impact of online assessment on grades in community college distance education mathematics courses. The American Journal of Distance Education, 23(2): 62–70. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) conclusion may have been influenced by (1) a failure to adequately account for student ability, leading to potential selection bias; (2) their use of course grades, rather than exam grades as the key measure of student performance; (3) possible differences in precautions that instructors may have deployed in the unproctored sections in order to discourage cheating; and (4) the evolution of distance learning resources and methods over their long period of study.     

Developing an effective education reform model for indigenous and other minoritized students

Educational disparities between indigenous Maori students and those of the majority continue to be a major issue in New Zealand. Te Kotahitanga, an iterative research and development programme, which commenced in 2001, supports teachers to implement a relationship-based pedagogy in their classrooms in order to improve Maori students' achievement in mainstream secondary schools. This article addresses the question of how gains in Maori students' achievement can be sustained and expanded. Schools, from an earlier phase of the project, in their 6th and 7th year of the programme were examined, using a theory-based model designed to evaluate and promote dimensions necessary for effective institutional support of the teaching innovation. This article demonstrates that schools that have been the most effective implementers of the intervention have seen the greatest gains made by Maori students in the 1st year of national assessments. This article then discusses effective leadership for addressing problems schools encountered while implementing the pedagogic reform.     

School reform and opportunity throughout the lifecourse: the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

The long-term effects of secondary-school reforms in the first half of the 20th century are investigated through the long-term follow up of a sample of people born in Scotland in 1936 who were first surveyed in 1947. Members of the sample who were living in the Lothian region of Scotland were re-interviewed in 2004–2007, providing information about their occupational status and educational achievement. The occupational status and educational attainment of respondents’ parents were collected in the follow up, as was information about school attended by respondents. Respondents completed the same intelligence test as they sat in 1947. The main research question is whether attempts by policy makers in the early 20th century to widen access to secondary schooling had long-term effects on the social distribution of educational and occupational opportunities.     

Interdisciplinary Lessons for the Teaching of Biology from the Practice of Evo-Devo

Evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-devo) is a vibrant area of contemporary life science that should be (and is) increasingly incorporated into teaching curricula. Although the inclusion of this content is important for biological pedagogy at multiple levels of instruction, there are also philosophical lessons that can be drawn from the scientific practices found in Evo-devo. One feature of particular significance is the interdisciplinary nature of Evo-devo investigations and their resulting explanations. Instead of a single disciplinary approach being the most explanatory or fundamental, different methodologies from biological disciplines must be synthesized to generate empirically adequate explanations. Thus, Evo-devo points toward a non-reductionist epistemology in biology. I review three areas where these synthetic efforts become manifest as a result of Evo-devo’s practices (form versus function reasoning styles; problem-structured investigations; idealizations related to studying model organisms), and then sketch some possible applications to teaching biology. These philosophical considerations provide resources for life science educators to address (and challenge) key aspects of the National Science Education Standards and Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy.     

Pedagogy of Science Teaching Tests: Formative assessments of science teaching orientations

A critical aspect of teacher education is gaining pedagogical content knowledge of how to teach science for conceptual understanding. Given the time limitations of college methods courses, it is difficult to touch on more than a fraction of the science topics potentially taught across grades K-8, particularly in the context of relevant pedagogies. This research and development work centers on constructing a formative assessment resource to help expose pre-service teachers to a greater number of science topics within teaching episodes using various modes of instruction. To this end, 100 problem-based, science pedagogy assessment items were developed via expert group discussions and pilot testing. Each item contains a classroom vignette followed by response choices carefully crafted to include four basic pedagogies (didactic direct, active direct, guided inquiry, and open inquiry). The brief but numerous items allow a substantial increase in the number of science topics that pre-service students may consider. The intention is that students and teachers will be able to share and discuss particular responses to individual items, or else record their responses to collections of items and thereby create a snapshot profile of their teaching orientations. Subsets of items were piloted with students in pre-service science methods courses, and the quantitative results of student responses were spread sufficiently to suggest that the items can be effective for their intended purpose.