As a scientist, I aim to inspire curiosity, because I have seen time and again that nurturing curiosity leads to the generation of an authentic scientific process. To initiate organic scientific inquiry at the K-12 level, the Next Generation Science Standards have introduced the classroom study of phenomena, or observable events that occur in the universe and that we can use science knowledge to explain or predict. It was not until March 2019, when participating in the CA Environmental Phenomena Summit, that I realized that this teaching technique was phenomena-based inquiry.
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These activities successfully generated more student questions-and, in particular, questions about how to understand the material, rather than simply how to complete the lab. This was as simple as presenting a photo or graph and giving students time to do a think-pair-share activity in which they discussed any patterns they could see and causes that might be driving these patterns. However, taking just a couple of minutes for students to make observations and discuss in pairs led to more student questions and class discussion of the material. We hope that engagement with the material will occur during the lab activities after the students are fully prepared to complete the lab. Bio1B lab instructors have a limited amount of time to present material in the lab introduction, and often default to a lecture-style presentation with instructions for how to complete the lab activities. One of the differences that seemed to be the most effective was to let the students make observations first. To see if I could increase student participation in the lab, I decided to try to present some of the material as if we were in the field. However, I later realized that the difference might also be the way we taught in the field vs. At first, I assumed that just being outside was the difference.
By contrast, this same class exhibited almost 100% participation on the weekend class field trips. In the beginning of the class, we had relatively low participation in our labs: approximately the same 15-25% of students asked questions and engaged in discussion from week to week. In Fall 2018 I co-taught the field section and lab of General Biology (Bio1B). I was able to successfully increase class participation using phenomena-based inquiry.
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Faculty Advisers for GSI Affairs & Professional Developers of GSIsīy Rachael Olliff Yang, Integrative Biology Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2019Īt the beginning of every class, instructors are faced with the challenge of encouraging participation.Support for Pedagogy Courses for First-Time GSIs.Language & Teaching Resources for International GSIs.Campus Resources for Teaching & Learning.Fostering Your Professional Development.Academic Misconduct: Cheating, Plagiarism, & Other Forms.
Teaching Conference for First-Time GSIs.
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