Using Big Problems to Reveal the Big Picture

1. Using Big Problems to Reveal the Big Picture Ellen Goldey Wofford College April Hill University of Richmond

2. Plan for Workshop • Context: Transformed First Year Curriculum • Scientific Teaching through “Big Problems” • Engaged/Active Pedagogy Examples • Authentic Research with First Year Students • Assessment of Targeted Learning Outcomes

3. Our Work to Transform First Year Biology Old Curriculum New Curriculum Courses designed around desired competencies Tests and assignments require higher-order thinking Low attrition Students build skills of the profession through practice Guided inquiry is 1° approach in class and lab Learning outcomes synergize with Gen Ed goals and Institutional Mission • Courses designed around textbook & content coverage • Tests rewarded Lower-order cognitive skills (e.g., recall) • High attrition • Students rarely practiced skills of professional scientists • Lectures were prevailing pedagogy • No link between learning outcomes and Gen Ed goals

4. Scientific TeachingEngage students in doing science as scientists do it. What does that mean for us in the classroom/lab? Handelsman et al., Scientific Teaching SCIENCE 304: 521-522, 2004.

5. What does it mean to “do science” from a professional’s perspective?

6. How do Professional Scientists Spend Their Time? • Reading primary literature (a lot of it!) & listening to scientific talks on primary work • Conducting research to construct new knowledge • Analyzing data, interpreting results • Communicating findings (writing, presenting) • Collaborating and cooperating • Helping solve “Big Problems” (at least our grads would, right?) How can we help undergraduates achieve these core competencies -- even first year students?

7. Malaria as a Big or “Wicked” Problem • Biological complexity – Complex life cycle, constantly adapting hosts and parasites • Geographic, economic, political, and cultural complexity • Solutions require transdisciplinary imagination; students need practice and they are interested!

8. Topics of Malaria In-class Guided Inquiry • Ecology and Phylogeny Anopheles and malaria species and hosts • Life Cycle/Reproduction/Cell Division Plasmodium (mitosis vs. meiosis in novel context) • Molecular evolution Plasmodium speciation, Anopheles adaptations, sickle cell trait, etc.

9. Engaged/Active Pedagogies

10. A glimpse into one inquiry-based classroom

11. Your resources for next activity: • An abbreviated version of an information packet provided to students -- “Study of Malaria Ecology” • “Team 1 Students” work on Questions 6 and 7 “Team 2 Students ” work on Questions 9 and 11 Your homework would have been to read the sections of the textbook and look through the information packet. Reflect on: What cognitive skills are students practicing?

12. Blooms Cognitive Skills (revised version) HOCS LOCS Recommended: “Biology in Bloom.” Crowe, Dirth, and Wenderoff, CBE 2008

13. How do Professional Scientists Spend Their Time? • Reading primary literature (a lot of it!) & listening to scientific talks on primary work • Conducting research to construct new knowledge • Analyzing data, interpreting results • Communicating findings (writing, presenting) • Collaborating and cooperating • Helping solve “Big Problems” (at least our grads would, right?) How can we help undergraduates achieve these core competencies -- even first year students?

14. Big Problem - Antibiotic Resistance “Desperately Seeking New Antibiotics” David J. Payne, Science 19 (Sept 2008)

16. “Click and Learn” Activity on Quorum Sensing Followed by in class discussion and summaries of experiments

17. Bonnie Bassler presents research on how quorum sensing systems can be targets for new classes of antibiotics that interfere with virulence without killing bacteria.

18. What hypothesis did Julian Davies put forth regarding the role of antibiotics during evolution? Does he have any data to support his ideas? • Discuss the 2002 study by Davies and Surette. What is the connection between antibiotics and gene regulation? • Discuss the work of Diane Newman who shows how antibiotics can function as electron shuttles and how her work might help deal with Pseudomonas infections. • Discuss the work of Miller, Martinez and Kolter as it relates to biofilm production and gene regulation.

20. How do Professional Scientists Spend Their Time? Authentic Inquiry = Scientific Research • Reading primary literature (a lot of it!) • Conducting research to construct new knowledge • Analyzing data, interpreting results • Communicating findings (writing, presenting) • Collaborating • Helping solve “wicked problems” (at least our grads would, right?) How can we help undergraduates achieve these core competencies -- even first year students?

21. Our “requirements” for Authentic Inquiry • Open-ended/unknown outcome • Contribute to construction of new knowledge • Scalable to large numbers of students and low cost • Data adequate for robust quantitative analysis • Students must work as team to prepare, predict, collect data, analyze, interpret and communicate findings

22. LAB THEME: Antibiotic Resistance • Agent-based simulation models to study disease transmission/antibiotic resistance • Conformational flexibility of antibiotic molecule: computer-aided molecular visualization & simulation • Studying microbial communities in marine sponges to see if there are bacteria resistant to antibiotics and producers of novel antimicrobial compounds • Synthesis of novel penicillin derivatives and testing for antimicrobial potential using zone of inhibition assays • Effects of UV light on mutation rates in bacteria leading to antibiotic resistance and DNA sequencing of resistant clones to identify structural changes to proteins

27. Assessment: Multifaceted = Multifunctional

28. Students follow the guidelines on this template to develop their poster

29. We provide this grading rubric to students before they develop their poster

30. Reflection on Research Products • Review example posters and rubrics • Identify and share key learning outcomes • How does this resonate with your students’ work? • How might you incorporate similar strategies?

31. Sample student feedback The assignments in this class were above anything I expected. While I hated with a passion working on the research posters, they were a great help. I know so much about the topics we did our posters on. This was one major change from high school; working with a group. Also, I have studied more for this class than any other science class. In high school, I was used to not studying until the night or morning of a test and making A’s. In this class I have learned to study a little each day and know the material inside and out. The assignments were much more challenging and required an actual thought process rather than just a regurgitation of facts. (Anonymous, 2010)

32. Assessment: Multifaceted = Multifunctional

33. CURE and SURE • Course Undergraduate Research Experience survey • Summer Undergraduate Research Experience survey • David Loppato’s work at Grinnell College

35. Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) salgsite.org – free, customizable, you get the data Recommendation: Use the questions on the CURE to guide the questions for your SALG

36. IQS outcomes

37. IQS outcomes

38. IQS outcomes

39. We share – just ask. Ellen Goldey Wofford College goldeyes@wofford.edu April Hill University of Richmond ahill2@richmond.edu