Revitalizing Undergraduate Science: Why Some Things Work and Most Don’t

Tobias, Sheila; Holcomb, D. F.

doi:10.1119/1.17249

Cited by 84 publications

(85 citation statements)

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“…Drawing from prior research describing various characteristics of gatekeeper courses (Borden and Burton, 1999;Seymour and Hewitt, 1997;Tobias, 1990Tobias, , 1992Van Valkenberg, 1990), we defined gatekeeper courses as classes with at least ninety students. In addition, gatekeeper courses in this study were defined as the first (fall semester) or second (spring semester) course in a specific sequence of classes required for a major or general education requirement.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High levels of competition, large class sizes, and high failure rates characterize typical introductory or gatekeeper courses (Tobias, 1992;Van Valkenburg, 1990). Tobias (1990) suggests that professors of these courses generally have high expectations for first-year students and thus teach at a level that supersedes many students' actual abilities.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Closing the gate: Part‐Time faculty instruction in gatekeeper courses and first‐year persistence

Eagan

Jaeger

2008

New Drctns for Teach & Learn

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Closing the gate: Part‐Time faculty instruction in gatekeeper courses and first‐year persistence

Eagan

Jaeger

2008

New Drctns for Teach & Learn

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“…From the influential report, A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) with its "Imperative for Educational Reform," to the Boyer Commission (1998) and Glenn Commission (2000) studies, to the present, reports by the dozens, from individual experts and a welter of national associations, blue-ribbon panels and accrediting boards have called for improved science education in our nation's schools and colleges. Appearing over many years, at the rate of almost one a week during some periods according to Tobias (1992), these reports have been notable for their convergence on certain ideas. Among the most thoughtful and best documented of such studies is a series of reports by panels brought together under the auspices of the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academies (National Research Council, 1997, 1999a,b, 2000, 2002a,b, 2003a.…”

Section: What Has Recent Research In Education and The Cognitive Sciementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, the culture that rewards research productivity more than teaching effectiveness has changed little on many campuses in the past half century (NRC, 2003a). Tobias (1992) notes that even if an energetic and ardent fledgling campus counter-culture of educational reform appears, progress is always slow. "They shake but nothing moves" (p. 16).…”

Section: What Changes Are Needed In Institutions Of Higher Learning Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impending Revolution in Undergraduate Science Education

2005

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There is substantial evidence that scientific teaching in the sciences, i.e. teaching that employs instructional strategies that encourage undergraduates to become actively engaged in their own learning, can produce levels of understanding, retention and transfer of knowledge that are greater than those resulting from traditional lecture/lab classes. But widespread acceptance by university faculty of new pedagogies and curricular materials still lies in the future. In this essay we review recent literature that sheds light on the following questions:• What has evidence from education research and the cognitive sciences told us about undergraduate instruction and student learning in the sciences? • What role can undergraduate student research play in a science curriculum?• What benefits does information technology have to offer?• What changes are needed in institutions of higher learning to improve science teaching? We conclude that widespread promotion and adoption of the elements of scientific teaching by university science departments could have profound effects in promoting a scientifically literate society and a reinvigorated research enterprise.

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“…Over the past several decades, physics education research has shown that students were not learning the concepts and/or were not engaged by the methods used in "traditional" physics education. [1][2][3][4] Those and other studies have motivated a significant amount of research on physics education and much progress has been made. A significant body of physics education research has focused on developing and incorporating classroom techniques that reduce or eliminate lecture and replace it with active learning methods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active Learning Laboratories in a Restructured Engineering Physics–Mechanics

Garrison¹

2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings

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Over the past several years an engineering physics (mechanics) course has been completely restructured. Prior to the restructuring, the course had a traditional structure, consisting of a separate lecture (3 hours three times per week), laboratory (3 hours once a week) and recitation (1.5 hours once a week). Beginning in 2009, the traditional structure was discarded in favor of a single, blended class meeting 2.5 hours three times per week. Moreover, the new class was designed to operate as an active learning course (i.e. with very little lecture) by making use of several active learning methods including peer instruction (aka think-pair-share) and interactive peer laboratories. The implementation of the active learning methods was done in phases over several years and each phase was assessed using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) assessment test, administered on the first and last days of class. Results from the FCI test, collected over a six-year period, show that the overall gain in performance has tripled as a result of the combined effects of the changes. The results also show that both active learning methods (peer instruction and interactive laboratories), which were phased in at different times, improved the student's conceptual gain.To support the restructured active learning course, the author developed an active learning textbook that consists of nearly a thousand peer instruction questions and over thirty interactive laboratories, many of which are multi-part. This paper focuses on the development and implementation of the interactive laboratories. It covers the educational benefits of the interactive laboratories and describes how they are incorporated into the class. The paper summarizes all of the interactive laboratories that have been developed thus far. It also presents the complete details for a single, representative interactive lab, to illustrate how the interactive labs are performed. Lastly, the paper presents the FCI data that show the conceptual gains obtained by the interactive labs.

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Revitalizing Undergraduate Science: Why Some Things Work and Most Don’t

Cited by 84 publications

References 0 publications

Closing the gate: Part‐Time faculty instruction in gatekeeper courses and first‐year persistence

Closing the gate: Part‐Time faculty instruction in gatekeeper courses and first‐year persistence

The Impending Revolution in Undergraduate Science Education

Active Learning Laboratories in a Restructured Engineering Physics–Mechanics

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