Project Synergy is being accomplished with the context of Biology 1103, the quintessential introductory biology course for non-science majors at the University of Georgia and one that typifies general education introductory courses taken by undergraduates throughout the nation. The project addresses two parallel and interconnected objectives: (1) to advance the functional science literacy skills of non-science majors using technology-enhanced communication in even the largest undergraduate general education courses, and (2) to involve graduate students in a long-term "scaffolded" apprenticeship program that aims to create and implement these strategies. This research builds upon and extends prior work related to learner-centered instruction, especially in large-enrollment courses. The project is creating active learning modules about current relevant issues in the biological sciences. Examples of communication strategies developed for the course include collaborative problem-solving exercises that mirror real life applications, followed by opportunities for students to further investigate and communicate their understanding using current technologies such as wiki pages and digital storytelling. Several instruments are being used to measure changes in students' functional science literacy, confidence in scientific abilities, and desire to continue learning about biology after course completion. In the scaffolding process, novice graduate student instructors assume increasingly independent roles in creating, implementing, and training their peers in the development of teaching strategies. Evaluation of the graduate apprenticeship program includes quantitative instruments and qualitative interviews to document shifts in attitudes toward teaching, competency and likelihood of adopting these teaching practices.
The project is advancing functional science literacy for more than one-third of the University of Georgia college graduates. This is the only college science learning experience for most of the University's undergraduates and is representative of the educational experience nationwide. The project is also creating a self-sustaining process in which future faculty will be trained to mentor the next generation of instructors. The novel instructional practices and apprenticeship program are generalizable across STEM disciplines. Both the materials and strategies are being disseminated at multiple scales, in partnership with graduate student participants: locally, across STEM disciplines at the University of Georgia; regionally, through workshops for instructors at other institutions in the University System of Georgia; and nationally, through workshops at science and education conferences.
Specific project goals for undergraduate are to (a) identify and cultivate an interest in current scientific issues centered in biology, (b) apply science process skills (e.g. generate questions, identify variables and assumptions, collect and describe data, explain consequences and limits of results) to make decisions about relevant scientific issues, and (c) communicate their understanding through writing, discussion, and new media.
Specific project goals for graduate students are to (a) learn to create and implement new instructional practices for large-enrollment courses, (b) measure the effectiveness of their changed teaching practices using evidence-based assessment methods, and (c) peer-mentor novice graduate students in active learning practices and the scientific teaching process.
This project is being co-funded by funds from the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Emerging Frontiers Division.
US college students (even those who are not pursuing science careers) are required to complete science courses due to the prevailing belief that some knowledge of science is required to solve personally meaningful problems they may encounter in their daily lives. However well-intentioned this goal may be, the reality is that there is little evidence that current college science courses have any impact on how students will use and interpret science in their daily lives. Our project targeted the type of general education introductory science course that is supposed to be improving these scientific literacy skills - large-enrollment lecture-based courses. We developed a project-based applied learning approach (PAL) which models the way that researchers have revealed about how the average person accesses science. Most average adults use the Internet to seek knowledge about science primarily when they need to solve an immediate problem that they have encountered. The curriculum that we developed asked students to solve hypothetical (yet authentic) life situations that provide opportunities to develop source evaluation and argumentation skills while simultaneously engaging their interest so that they are better prepared to address real-life problems in the future. Projects include understanding the relative risks and benefits of vaccination, discriminating between various dietary plans, or deciding the pros and cons of direct-to-consumer genetic testing. In particular, our PAL curriculum focused on preparing students to seek valid evidence, evaluate the quality of the sources of evidence, weigh that evidence when making informed decisions about scientific claims, and communicating that understanding to a general audience. Comparing answers that students gave on post-course evaluations between those in the PAL course with students in a traditional course, a greater proportion of students enrolled in the PAL course indicated that they found the class useful to their future careers, everyday life and future college courses compared to students in a traditional Introductory Biology course. Finding no available test to document the changes in students’ development of scientific literacy skills, we developed a Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS), a freely available, time-efficient, and psychometrically sound test for use in undergraduate introductory science courses. Using definitions of scientific literacy in education policy documents and survey results from general education faculty, we identified two major skill categories as measurable outcomes, or TOSLS skills: recognizing and analyzing the use of methods of inquiry, and organizing, analyzing, and interpreting quantitative data. An extensive pilot study that included testing students in a general biology course, individual student interviews, and several rounds of expert faculty evaluation suggested that the TOSLS is able to identify students' scientific literacy skill proficiency. Additionally, the TOSLS was sensitive enough to detect pre- to post-semester learning gains, and demonstrated that students in the PAL course developed significantly greater gains compared to students in a traditional course. The Project-Based Applied (PAL) activities we developed were disseminated to 71 faculty at introductory biology courses from high school to college level across the nation using a website (www.pal.uga.edu), 1 journal article, 5 presentations at campuses, one workshop for faculty implementing the curriculum in our state, as well as 2 one-day nationally-attended workshops for current PAL users. All of the non-majors courses at our institution currently use this curriculum engaging over 2000 students annually. In addition, campuses worldwide have requested the use the TOSLS instrument through the open-access Journal of Life Sciences Education to gauge scientific literacy skills growth in students completing general education courses. One of the other major aims of this project was to provide opportunities for the development of research and teaching skills for graduate students. To this end, we developed the "Seminar in Teaching Biology" (STB) as a 16-week graduate course for advanced pedagogical training in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of Georgia. The seminar was designed with the goal of supporting graduate students as they create reformed-based course curricula in preparation for teaching their own courses as future faculty. The course was piloted during Spring 2009, and has since been repeated every year since for a total of 55 students. All PAL materials were co-developed with alumni from this course. In addition, three women graduate students and one male graduate student successfully defended their dissertations on the PAL curriculum and have attained academic positions as a result of working on this project. We also documented changes in graduate students’ beliefs and attitudes about teaching, and their ability to mentor peers as a mechanism to promote long-term dissemination and adoption of evidence-based practices.
