Spring 2015: Active engagement techniques

In the spring 2015 term of Science Literacy Teaching Journal Club, we explored a variety of active engagement techniques together.


Week 1 – April 2 and 3

Reading:
For spring term, we took two weeks to explore each topic. Journal Club participants helped with planning and facilitation of the sessions. For week one, we read:

Greathouse, S.E. &  Rosen. L.H. (2015, March 20). The Best Post Wiki: A Tool for Promoting Collaborative Learning and Higher-Order Thinking [Faculty Focus Blog]. Retrieved from
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/instructional-design/best-post-wiki-tool-promoting-collaborative-learning-higher-order-thinking/

Bart, M. (2009, June 17). Using Twitter to Facilitate Classroom Discussions. [Faculty Focus Blog]. Retrieved from
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/using-twitter-to-facilitate-classroom-discussions/

Graba, B. (2014, April). Using Twitter in the Science Classroom.  PowerPoint presentation at the meeting of the National Science Teachers Association National Conference in Boston, MA.
http://www.slideshare.net/BradGraba/using-twitter-in-the-science-classroom

Anyone on Twitter was encouraged to browse #organellewars or @mr_graba.


Week 2 – April 9 and 10

For this week’s journal club we continued to explore using interactive and social media in college science classrooms. This week we simulated an out-of-class assignment. Participants’ job was to:

  1. Take a walk around campus (in our out of buildings) and find something with science in it,
  2. Take a picture of the object, action, place, etc.,
  3. Post that picture to the google doc accessible here,
  4. Write about the image, how it relates to science, and why you chose it, and
  5. Find and share resources for using interactive and social media resources in the classroom.
  6. (optional) If you are on Twitter or Facebook, post and tag @UOSciLit and #SLTJC or to the Science Literacy Program Facebook page.

 


Week 3 – April 16 and 17

Reading:
For this week’s journal club we discussed using drawing to learn. We asked participants to bring a problem that involves generating a drawing, graph, or illustration of some sort. For Week 3, we read:

Quillin, K., & Thomas, S. (2015). Drawing-to-Learn: A Framework for Using Drawings to Promote Model-Based Reasoning in Biology. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 14(1), es2.
http://www.lifescied.org/content/14/1/es2.full


Week 4 – April 23 and 24

Reading:
Thursday we were joined by Thomas Seager of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University who talked with us about using social media in his courses. To prepare we looked at his syllabus for a course on Engineering Business Practices and prepared questions about using social media to engage students.

Friday we explored a method for helping students engage with their readings. Before journal club, participants were asked to create a concept map about all the factors that contribute to or affect obesity and their connections. (Read about concept maps.)

Hoskins, S.G. (2010). “But if It’s in the Newspaper, Doesn’t That Mean It’s True?” Developing Critical Reading & Analysis Skills by Evaluating Newspaper Science with CREATE. The American Biology Teacher, 72(7), 415-420. Available from:
http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.1525/abt.2010.72.7.5

Rundle, R.L. (2005, October 6). Study links produce prices to obesity. The Wall Street Journal.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB112855170081961018


Week 5 – April 30 and May 1

Reading:
We read the following to get us thinking about Mary Pat Wenderoth’s research prior to her visit on May 5. Homework for the week was to observe a class participants were taking, teaching or visiting and notice how frequently women and men participate in class discussion.

Eddy, S. L., Brownell, S. E., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Gender Gaps in Achievement and Participation in Multiple Introductory Biology Classrooms. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 13(3), 478-492.
http://www.lifescied.org/content/13/3/478.full.pdf+html


Week 6 – May 7 and 8

Reading:
For this week we read and watched the following about Reacting to the Past:
Toppo, G. 2014. Role-playing history game gets students jazzed. USA Today 28 March 2015
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/03/28/history-reacting-past-game/24651641/

And looked through the Reacting to the Past STEM Games website:
https://sites.google.com/site/reactingscience/home


Week 7 – May 14 and 15

Reading:
This week the Science Literacy Program hosted a Communicating Science workshop run by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University.

For Thursday, we watched the Physics Slam Videos:
http://media.uoregon.edu/channel/2015/04/09/2015-physics-slam/

and read a piece about the Alda Center:
Chang, K. 2015 3 March. Attention, All Scientists: Do Improv, with Alan Alda’s Help. New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/science/attention-all-scientists-do-improv-with-alan-aldas-help.html?_r=0.


Week 8 – May 21 and 22

Reading:
This week in journal club we will try a role-playing exercise about genetically modified organisms (GMO).

For the GMO debate, you each participant has a role and takes a side on the issue. Roles are assigned by the first letter of your last name—see below. Read the appropriate short articles for your role and come prepared to discuss your side of the issue.

Molecular Biologists (Last name A-B)
Fedoroff, N.V. 2011 August 18. Engineering Food for All. New York Times.
http://nyti.ms/1HnP6cm

Casassus, B. 2013 November 29. Study Linking Genetically Modified Corn to Rat Tumors is Retracted. Scientific American.
http://bit.ly/sciam_GMO

Corporate Officials (Last name C-D)
Fraley, R.T. 2013 December 30. The Future of Agriculture Requires Dialogue. Huffington Post.
http://huff.to/1HcSnbY

Fraley, R.T. 2014 May 6. To Deal With Climate Change, We Need Agricultural Innovation – Now. Huffington Post.
http://huff.to/1FkjP9C

Economists  (Last name E-J)
Fields of Beaten Gold. 2013 December 7. The Economist
http://econ.st/1HcS5Sk

Monsanto: the parable of the sower. 2009 November 19. The Economist
http://bit.ly/manoa_GMO

Farmers  (Last name K-P)
Royte, E. 2013 December 6. The Post-GMO Economy. The Modern Farmer.
http://bit.ly/Mod_Farmer

This Farmer’s Perspective on GMOs. 2011 November 19. Son of a Farmer Blog.
http://bit.ly/Farmer_GMO

Ecologists & Conservationists  (Last name Q-S)

Achitoff, P. 2014 March 5. GMOs in Kauai: Not Just Another Day in Paradise. Huffington Post.
http://huff.to/1B8iNtm

Benbrook, C.M. 2012. Impacts of genetically engineered crops on pesticide use in the U.S. – the first sixteen years. Environmental Sciences Europe 24:24. (Just read the synopsis that comes up, not the full pdf.)
http://bit.ly/1GjWuXv

Genetic Engineering Risks and Impacts. Union of Concerned Scientists.
http://bit.ly/1B8j3Za

Public Interest Groups & Activists (Last name T-Z)

Tran, M. 2013 February 25. Vandana Shiva: ‘Seeds must be in the hands of farmers’. The Guardian.
http://bit.ly/1Ab9XQA

Ho, M.W. 2014 February 4. GMO labeling: the tide is turning. Ecologist.
http://bit.ly/1JtC9A4


Week 9 – May 28 and 29

Reading:
For the last two weeks of the term we focused on using games to teach science:
Samide, M. J., & Wilson, A. M. (2014). Games, Games, Games; Playing to Engage with Chemistry Concepts.
http://chemeducator.org/papers/0019001/19140167.pdf

Gutierrez, A. F. (2014). Development and Effectiveness of an Educational Card Game as Supplementary Material in Understanding Selected Topics in Biology.CBE-Life Sciences Education, 13(1), 76-82.
http://www.lifescied.org/content/13/1/76.full.pdf+html?with-ds=yes


Week 10 – June 4 and 5

This week, in the final Journal Club meetings of the year, we played some science-related word games: Taboo and Balderdash.