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Engaging Staff and Students through Problem-Based Learning. Derek Raine Director, CETL (Leicester). Implementing and Sustaining Change in the Higher Education Sector: The CETL initiative, 2005-2010 Sheffield Hallam, May 20 2010.
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Engaging Staff and Students through Problem-Based Learning Derek Raine Director, CETL (Leicester) Implementing and Sustaining Change in the Higher Education Sector: The CETL initiative, 2005-2010 Sheffield Hallam, May 20 2010
CETL (Physics Innovations) Interactive Screen experiment Remote telescope e-marking e-learning Image banks • Open University • Reading • Leicester Problem-based learning Physics Interdisciplinary Science Annual Summer Workshop (12-14 July) http://physics.le.ac.uk/PBLSummerSchool/
Problem-Based Learning - What is PBL? • Chocolate factory example Grenada Chocolate Company “Real” Problems -- Groups –– Authentic Assessment
Example: Traditional Approach • (a) A coil of length 10 cm, radius 1.5 cm has 1000 windings. What is its inductance? • (b) Calculate the capacitances for two tuned LC circuits, frequencies 160 kHz and 500 kHz using the inductor in part (a). • (c) A parallel plate capacitor has plate area 10 cm2 . What plate separations are required to obtain the capacitances in part (b)? • (d) What is the Q-value of a circuit with L = 10mH, C = 1 F and R = k. • (e) What resistance placed in series will be required to ensure the two signals are separated in the tuned circuits of part (b)?
PBL Approach The control of the size of sugar particles is important in chocolate manufacture. The Granada Chocolate Company is a small company in the Caribbean which might benefit from semi-automating the grinding process. To do this is it would be necessary to check the granularity of the sugar being introduced to the mix. It has been suggested by your research department that a simple way to check the granule size is to measure the bulk dielectric constant of the granulated sugar. Your task is to investigate if the granularity of sugar can be checked by determining its dielectric constant using an LCR circuit. “Real” Problems -- Groups –– Authentic Assessment
Integrated Physics: from standard laboratories to Group Research Projects UltraKleene White Knuckle Ride Otherton Airport Chocolate factory Insurance scam? Telescopes NanoAerosols Planetary Cratering Air quality Spacecraft Imaging Water in the desert Traffic Lights Stellar types Remote Stereovision Imaging Craters Spectroscopy Nanoparticles Speed of Sound Space Environment Elastomers Time travel Searching for Black Holes Lasers Clusters of Galaxies Magnetospheres Robotics Scanning Probe Microscopy SemiConductor Nanostructures Shortwave radio Mars Sample Return
Staff Engagement “The best thing I do” “You’ve changed my life” “Better than baby-sitting a lab class” • Development (Essential CETL) • Summer development programme (graduates) • Implementation
Student Engagement ‘A good way into lab work … working from a practical base’ ‘Closer to real life … especially in the practical field’ ‘It was stressful …. I was never clear what we were supposed to be doing … or how much was ‘enough’’ ‘More satisfying, more fun, more hands-on’ ‘It’s a modern way of teaching Physics, applying what you have learned, and relevant to future research’ External Impact: Gradual interest in PBL in Physics e.g. Liverpool, Bath, Salford, Birmingham
I-Science “Entirely” PBL Interdisciplinary Problem (5 week module) ~ 4 hours per week Facilitator Contact ~ 2 lectures per week ~8 hours labs per week ~2 Maths classes per week ~Weekly Computing class Weekly individual worksheets Group deliverable • A new model for Science UG teaching (Essential CETL) “Entirely” Paperless Impact - close to zero in UK - 6 Canadian Universities
PBL for 1 (Distance Learning) • How to revise subject knowledge for mature returners to PGCE? • Advantages of PBL: focus; repetition; basic material from a new stance Impact: ~ 40 student physics teachers per year ~ live in hope!
CETL PBL Environment Flexible IT Environment Projects Laboratory First Year Groupwork Room Open Groupwork Room PhysicsLaboratory IT Teaching & Conferencing Media Suite
Learning Communities • Learning spaces promote interaction between groups; within groups; with staff • Joint modules (e.g. Sustainability) promotes interaction amongst students (Iscience, Physics, Chemistry...) and amongst staff (ESD module: Education, Bioscience, Physics, Student Support) • Impact: growing - I hope!