It takes a village to raise a scientist

1. It takes a village to raise a scientist Craig Ogilvie, Iowa State University • Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant (2010-14) • Engaging all 1st and 2nd year STEM students @ ISU in authentic science projects • General lessons for large scale education reform cogilvie@iastate.edu

2. Loss of STEM majors @ ISU Loss mainly in 1st and 2nd year Presidential Council (PCAST) Report 7 Feb 2012 “…increasing the retention of STEM majors from 40% to 50% would generate three-quarters of the targeted 1 million additional STEM degrees over the next decade. cogilvie@iastate.edu

3. Confronting reasons that students leave STEM • Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences. Seymour and Hewitt, 1997 • Loss of interest in the subject matter of science • Belief that a non-science major would offer a better education • Losses occur among the best qualified students • Losses occur also due to math challenges, low-resilience,… • PCAST recommendations: Engage to excel • Widespread adoption of empirically validated teaching practices; • Replace standard laboratory courses with discovery-based research courses; • Improving retention will also improve quality STEM education cogilvie@iastate.edu

4. Inquiry intro labs: each >1000 students B A • Biology • A, Cookbook: identification labels and detailed lab instructions • B, Inquiry: Identify plants 1, 2, 3. What are key phyla differences? • Physics • A, Cookbook: measure P, V, T of gas and plot P vs V etc. • B, Inquiry: Determine if air exhibits properties of an ideal gas. cogilvie@iastate.edu

5. Class as scientific community Teaching Assistant training on using inquiry processes is vital. cogilvie@iastate.edu

6. Student research • Classic model: 1-on-1 mentoring • Scale? • Additional model, courses 20-300 students • 5-6 week research project in lab courses ROLE project, UPR-Mayaguez cogilvie@iastate.edu

7. Course-based student research @ISU • Freshman chemistry major lab (Chem201) • Design and test CO2 reduction processes and catalysts as part of a faculty’s chemistry research program. • In Geology 100, students characterize the local watershed via high-tech diagnostic wells 12 research-lab courses @ ISU: Over 850 students/year cogilvie@iastate.edu

8. Student engagement in large “lectures”: Flipped classes Use face-to-face class time for tasks that require a community • Wrestle with new concepts via group discussions • Scaffold skills, complex problems Students work on lower-level skills, video clips, before/afterclass In Class Out of Class From RobertTalbert cogilvie@iastate.edu

9. Village Large face-to-face meeting Lab 1 Lab 1 Lab II Lab II Inquiry lab Research lab Lab 1 Lab 1 Lab II Lab 1 Upper 1 Upper I Lab II Upper II Upper II cogilvie@iastate.edu

10. 8500 students impacted/year cogilvie@iastate.edu

11. Assessment • Students’ understanding of Nature of Science after research labs • Consistent increase • Encouraging since lack of creativity was one reason for leaving • Gains also on content knowledge (bio), but no changes in efficacy cogilvie@iastate.edu

12. Retention Uptick post reform, hard to prove cause Kept 3% c.f. prior 25% loss, changed 1 in 9 students’ decision cogilvie@iastate.edu

13. Lesson I: Emergent change, learning organization • Faculty Learning Communities • Time/space to discuss what change is needed • Support during implementation • 80+ faculty involved • Science educator postdocs • Bring energy, time, expertise and short-timescale • Graduate TA Learning Communities (GTALC) • How students learn • Led by senior TAs and postdocs cogilvie@iastate.edu

14. Lesson II: Productive TensionExperiential learning vs calls to lower costs What skills do graduates need to help solve 21st century challenges? • Innovation • Team – work • Ongoing drive to learn/adapt • Communication Experiential learning can help develop these skills • Research experiences • Extra-curricular student groups Considerable concern about costs of higher ed, tuition, debt…. Resolution? Redirect existing activities into experiential learningwith little extra costs, courses, extra-curricular projects,…. http://www.aacu.org/leap/documents/2013_EmployerSurvey.pdf cogilvie@iastate.edu

15. Invest in experiential learning as higher priority than student admin, dorms, rec centers,… • Student Innovation Center @ ISU (proposed) • Out of dark basements into prime real-estate • Competitive advantage for residential university Canon Design cogilvie@iastate.edu

16. Invest resources in experiential learning • Lab-space for course-based research • Space for extra-curricula organizations, cross-fertilization Canon Design cogilvie@iastate.edu

17. Conclusions • Refocused our science labs at ISU • Inquiry rather than cookbook when ~1000 students • 5-6 week research projects when 20-300 students • Higher-level cognitive work in large class meetings (flip) • Lessons • Emergent change • Faculty learning communities: time/space to plan • Postdocs bring in energy, expertise • Productive tension: experiential learning vs calls to reduce costs • Impact more students at similar cost • Projects improve quality: innovation, team-work, communication cogilvie@iastate.edu

18. Acknowledgments • HHMI grant $1.6M 2010-2014 • Cinzia Cervato, Tom Greenbowe, Jo Anne Powell-Coffman, Gene Takle • Facilitators of Faculty Learning Communities • Charles Kerton, Stan Harpole, Bill Gallus, Nikki Pohl, Diane Bassham, Jim Colbert, Tom Greenbowe, Doug Gentile, Paula Siklody, Nancy Boury, David Vleck, Phil Becraft, Soeren Prell, Tom Holme, Alex Travesset, Jason Chen, Clark Coffman, Cinzia Cervato • HHMI Science Teaching Fellows • Now faculty: Liz Addis, Mike Slade, Glene’ Mynhardt • Current or Fall 13, Emily Elliot, Carol Chappel, Jenny Brigham • Deans of Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences • Chem education postdocs • Kim Linenberger, Jeff Raker • Community College Leaders • Jermaine Johnson, Sally Willson, Chris Russell • CESMEE staff • Patsey Reilly, Tracie Miller, Stacy Renfro cogilvie@iastate.edu

19. Backup slides cogilvie@iastate.edu

20. Iowa State University • Residential Land Grant university, 32,000 students Fall13 • 6000 more students than in 2005 • Rich tradition in agriculture, science, engineering,… • Learning communities, extra-curricular student groups cogilvie@iastate.edu

21. Student Reaction Inquiry introductory labs • "I really enjoyed that we were encouraged to answer our own experimental questions, even at the cost of finishing a planned activity for the lab. It enabled us to be interested in and take an active role in our learning, rather than simply following step by step the lab activities.” cogilvie@iastate.edu

22. SIC cogilvie@iastate.edu

23. cogilvie@iastate.edu

24. cogilvie@iastate.edu

25. Analytics • Use data on who is not being retained as science major at ISU • 1300 new science majors from HS • 70% stay as major after 1-year • 17% leave ISU after 1-year • 13% leave science after 1-year but stay at ISU • Science-switchers • Broad range of ACT scores • Lower math diagnostic scores (rational numbers, radicals) • Lower self-efficacy, confidence (MAP-works 5 week survey) • Predictive model of high-risk switchers? • Advising, bridge programs, pre-calc math….. cogilvie@iastate.edu

26. Inquiry introductory labs • TA training • Phys 501, two Graduate TA Learning Communities, Spring 13 • CIRTL www.cirtl.net cogilvie@iastate.edu

27. Intro bio lectures, bio 212: • National and ISU concern that courses were sequence of factoids • FLCs discussed, forged consensus on big-picture outcomes, e.g. 212 • Cellular / molecular basis of life, including an understanding of scale, biological membranes, and basic cellular structure and function • Transmission and expression of genetic information • Bioenergetics & carbon and nitrogen cycles • Compare and contrast plants, animals, and microbes • Understanding how science is conducted and why it is important. • Assess, teach for these big picture goals • Active learning in large lectures with undergraduate learning assistants • First results showed very little gain in student understanding • Some growth in student efficacy • Improve active learning materials, more attention to Karplus learning cycle cogilvie@iastate.edu

28. Research projects in lab courses cogilvie@iastate.edu

29. Increasing diversity • Many under-represented students start at community college • Challenge is transfer to 4-year + continue as science major • Potential key is student’s identity as a young scientist • ~10 students nominated by CC faculty • 8 weeks summer research-work in ISU faculty labs • Summer after first year of CC, return to CC for sophomore year • Math/bio coursework + field trips Summer 2012 scholars cogilvie@iastate.edu

30. SUSSI NoS: Student Understanding of Science and Scientific Inquiry (SUSSI, Liang et al, 2005) • 8 NoS categories • 4 questions with Likert scale • 1 short response • Pre and post test cogilvie@iastate.edu

31. Course-based student research (III of III) • Old organic lab: detailed instructions to make final “product” • New organic lab: Research of faculty, novel organic dyes • Student groups responsible for multi-step synthesis Thinking like a chemist cogilvie@iastate.edu

32. Lesson I: Large scale educational change • Research-based instructional strategies (RBIS) • Widely available, but not adopted • Develop, test, disseminate (run workshops, provide materials) Henderson, C., Dancy, M., & Niewiadomska-Bugaj, M. (submitted) The Use of Research-Based Instructional Strategies in Introductory Physics: Where do Faculty Leave the Innovation-Decision Process?. cogilvie@iastate.edu

33. Assessment (II of II) • Faculty engagement in teaching/learning • Increase in conversations about teaching within a dept 2011-2012 2009-2010 Faculty Learning Community Roles in network: 1) hubs of sub-groups, 2) connectors between groups strategically work with these individuals to facilitate change cogilvie@iastate.edu

34. HHMI 2.0 • RFP HHMI: Persistence in science • Anchored on PCAST “Engage to excel” • course-based research labs, active learning lectures,.. … • Tools to excel: math • Diversify pathways • Deadline Oct 1, 35 awards ~$2M each • Writing over summer cogilvie@iastate.edu

35. Vision for next proposal (I of II) cogilvie@iastate.edu

36. Vision for next proposal (II of II) Vision 2: Support Faculty, staff, graduate students as they grow from being good to great educators cogilvie@iastate.edu