Motivating Students Beyond the Classroom: Science/Medicine/Mathematics

1. Motivating Students Beyond the Classroom:Science/Medicine/Mathematics Dr. Scott Revers PGA IAPP 2012 University of Warwick

2. Learning Outcomes: • By the end of this session you should be able to: • 1) Identify and evaluate methods for motivating students beyond the classroom • 2) Consider appropriate strategies to encourage this within your own specific teaching situations

3. Brain storming Activity: • Key questions: • Why is learning outside the classroom important? • How might this be achieved? • Consider in this regard: What helped you learn?

4. Motivating Students • Students who actively prepare outside of the classroom before coming to class are generally more motivated, better informed, and more confident in producing good work… • They are also more likely to be more directed in relation to their concerns (whether towards the production of research, employment, etc.) • Nevertheless, many students arrive in class under-prepared.

5. Why is learning outside the classroom important? • Understanding the broader context in which problems are to be assessed and understood. • Development of critical and creative faculties (These are crucial in developing research skills) • Development of abilities to express knowledge at different levels of engagement. • The latter ability is crucial in future social and employment related situations.

6. Assessing Motivation in the lab.

7. Qu.Whatare the problems for students in laboratory exercises?

8. Problems include: • 1) The ‘cookbook approach’ by some students • What are the problems with this? • …the difference between following directions and understanding why a particular sequence of steps produces the desired result? • They operate as technicians driven by directions rather than by concept-driven enquiry or understanding.

9. Why does this happen? • Students are given too much information in a short time just before the exercise. • Students are not required to do anything in preparation for lab. work.

10. What to aim for: • (i) to motivate students to acquire the necessary basic knowledge before the laboratory exercises; • (ii) to shift the time burden from post-laboratory to pre-laboratory work; • (iii) to improve student performance at the final exam; • All of these should be achieved with no extra time burden for students and teaching assistants.

11. How to Improve Motivation: • Getting the students to think about the experiment prior to entering into class. • How might this be done?

12. Motivation: Carrot or stick?

13. Improving Motivation: Suggestions • Setting questions in advance • Getting students to work in small groups together on problems outside of class • …then selecting at random student groups to write the answers to these problems on the board in front of the class. • This kind of approach has been applied to chemistry classes and mathematics classes.

14. Motivation: Reward Strategies • Also where possible: • creating reward strategies • By awarding points to students for successful completion of tasks that go towards their overall mark or • for asking relevant and valuable questions in class.

15. Things to also attend to… • Helping students to think about why they are doing what they are doing – its relevance. • Understanding the bigger picture! • In other words consider the importance of context dependent memory for students • Use of Questions: Why an experiment works? What if it were applied in the same way to different criteria? How might a concept or problem be otherwise understood or applied?

16. Things to also attend to… • The relationship of the lectures to the demonstrations or support classes • Be clear on thematic coherence and consistency! • Thematic coherence is key to helping students grasp the conceptual background and relevance of the practicals. • Contact with the course leader/lecturer is important here…

17. ‘Where there is a will…’ • These strategies often may require discussion with course leader but remember: • Courses are not simply fixed and often encourage teaching innovation; • Enthusiasm and success in pursuing new approaches can provide a positive reference with regard to your own CV!

18. Tips: What’s happening elsewhere? • Also look at courses run in the same area as your own at other institutions. • See what other people are doing and critically assess how this might work in your own situation…

19. Tips: What’s happening elsewhere? • For example: • “Laboratory throws away cookbooks in pursuit of discovery” • “At Vanderbilt’s alternative introductory biology laboratory students are asked to design experiments as well as to conduct them.” • This is indicative of an increasing feature of research-led teaching… • http://blogs.vanderbilt.edu/research/2011/05/laboratory-throws-away-cookbooks-in-pursuit-of-discovery/

20. A Study: What happens when some of these ideas are implemented?

21. Let’s Consider a Study on Implementation of Strategies for Increasing Learning Outside Classroom…(see Appendix) • The Study*: • Pre-laboratory exercises were prepared and handed to students a week prior to the relevant exercise. • The students were asked to return answers 3 days later. • Students were free to seek assistance where required of tutors, fellow students in answering questions. • The answers were graded and returned to students at the beginning of the relevant laboratory class. • * Barnes, R. and Thornton, B. (1998) Preparing for Laboratory Work. In Black, B. and Stanley, N. (Eds), Teaching and Learning in Changing Times, 28-3.

22. Study Example: • Model answers were made available to students after they had handed in their answers. • The answers were discussed in the pre-laboratory lecture. • Any prevailing misconceptions from students answers would also be addressed.

23. Survey Results of the study showed: • 1) It helped them understand relevance of what they were working on in lab. • 2) Have better understanding pre-lab. demonstration • 3) They felt more confident in the lab. • 4) Made writing the lab report easier. • 5) It also highlighted that it resulted for students in a more positive attitude towards lab. work.

24. What does this highlight? • That preparation outside of the classroom is key to: • 1) Enhancing student understanding • 2) It provides a contextual horizon that serves as platform for potentiating their critical awareness • 3) It also increases their enthusiasm towards their work

25. Remember: • The balance between increased workloads and supplying tools to help students is a fine one. • However, studies have shown that where students understand the benefits of introducing tasks for them to work on outside the classroom they respond well!

26. Final Thoughts • 1) Make sure of coherence of your classes with the lecturer – be in touch with the course leader. • 2) Ask students questions that stimulate them to understand the bigger picture, the contextual horizon of a problem. • 3) Provide questions to prep them for the next class. • 4) Stimulate them into working in groups outside of class where possible. • 5) Where possible provide rewardsfor their preparation outside of class • 6) Also in this regard be aware of the value of peer pressure as a motivation.

27. Conclusion • Creating an active and engaged learner outside of the classroom produces a more reflective, more engaged and enthusiastic learner inside the classroom! • For consideration: • What other practical examples can we think of to promote student engagement?

28. Appendix: Useful Web References • Barnes, R. and Thornton, B. (1998) Preparing for Laboratory Work. In Black, B. and Stanley, N. (Eds), Teaching and Learning in Changing Times, 28-3. • Pogacnik, L. and Cigic, B. (2006) How To Motivate Students To Study before They Enter the Lab. , Journal of Chemical Education, 83, 1094–1098. • O’Brien, G., and Melanie Cameron, M., (2008) Pre-laboratory Activities to Enhance the Laboratory Learning Experience, Uniserve Science. • McKelvy,G. M., (2000) Preparing for the Chemistry Laboratory:An Internet Presentation and Assessment Tool, University Chemistry Education, 4, (2).

29. Appendix: Research-led teaching • Chang, H., (2005) Turning an Undergraduate Class into a Professional Research Community, Teaching in Higher Education, Vol. 10, No. 3, 387/394. • Examples of research-led teaching depts. see: • King’s College, London, Biohealth research teaching. • Russell International Excellence Group,Summary of Research-led Learning