THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Pilot Summer Institute
Undergraduate Education in Biology
Saturday, August 16 to Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Overview and Agenda
Location:
The J.F. Friedrick Inn and Conference Center
University of Wisconsin
1950 Willow Drive
Madison, WI 53706-0508
Philosophy:
The
Summer Institute will be structured around the following principles:
- teachers, just like students, learn by doing
- we must model the teaching practices we teach about
- scientists like to be actively involved in applying new ideas
- the whole (of the SI group) will be more creative than a sum of the parts
- teaching is about details and application, not generalities
- scientists and teachers like to leave a situation with "products," not
just ideas
The
summer institute will be a place for learning by sharing. There will be presentations on several
different approaches to teaching as well as opportunities to think about how
you might use those approaches yourself and how they could be taught to novice
faculty. We plan to focus the group
exercises around the theme of biological communication, this may include
intercellular or intracellular signaling, and communication between organisms
or populations. During the 3 days of the
SI, we will hold multiple sessions designed to address the numerous components
that go into designing a good introductory level biology course. There will be short presentations and
numerous opportunities for small group work.
Themes that we want to address in our conversations include:
interdisciplinary teaching, human diversity, undergraduate research in
learning, balancing the teaching of content with the teaching of analytical
thinking, how to identify appropriate role models for faculty new to
educational issues, how to help faculty get their colleagues to participate in
teaching reform, how to make the workshop an effective use of faculty time, how
to make future workshops interactive and how to identify potential instructors
for the 2004 workshop.
Saturday, August 16
4:30 pm -- Add your materials to the Resource Table in Room 154 (Please bring multiple copies of education publications or other relevant materials you would like to share.)
5:00 pm -- Dinner - Italian Buffet (in the dining room of the Friedrick Center)
6:00 pm -- Welcome from UW Madison Provost Peter Spear and committee co-chairs Bill Wood and Jim Gentile
6:15 pm -- Introduction to Bio2010 and the summer institute idea - Jim Gentile and Millard Susman
6:45 pm -- Goals for the pilot and future institutes - Kerry Brenner
7:00 pm -- Keynote talk "The Revolution in Science Education" - Jo Handelsman [1.0 MB PowerPoint]
7:40 pm -- Questions
8:00 pm -- Break into groups for a "get to know you" exercise. 6 groups of 6 (same groups for whole workshop).
Facilitators
1. Jay Labov
2. Pat Pukkila
3. Liz Armstrong
4. Bob Goldberg
5. Bob DeHaan
6. Millard Susman
9:00 pm -- Adjourn for the evening
Sunday, August 17
8:30 am -- A Framework for introductory courses, Facilitator: Bob Yuan
9:00 am -- Active Learning in Lectures and Discussions, Facilitator: Robin Wright
9:15 am -- Demo on cooperative learning - Diane Ebert-May [2.7 MB PowerPoint]
9:45 am -- Demo on problem solving - Daniel Klionsky
10:15 am -- Questions and Discussion
10:45 am -- Break
11:00 am -- Group work: Design an exercise to help students learn about biological communication using one of the methods presented. Also discuss how active learning in lectures and discussions can best be taught at next year's workshop.
12:00 noon -- Lunchtime Talk: "Lessons from Physics" - Bob Beichner on the SCALE-UP Project [13.3 MB QuickTime movie]
1:30 pm -- Active Learning in Laboratories, Facilitator: Bob DeHaan
1:45 pm -- Open-ended labs for non-majors - Jo Handelsman
2:15 pm -- Interdisciplinary labs - Robert Full
2:45 pm -- Questions and Discussion
3:15 pm -- Break
3:45 pm -- Group work: Design a laboratory exercise to help students learn about communication using one of the ideas presented. Also discuss how active learning in laboratories can best be taught at next year's workshop.
4:30 pm -- Break for exercise or relaxation
7:00 pm -- Dinner in discussion groups - Southwestern Buffet
8:00 pm -- Reporting back: Each group will share one of their two exercises. Moderator: Amy Chang
9:00 pm -- Adjourn for the evening
Monday, August 18
Tools in Instruction
8:30 am -- Interactive self-taught modules (we will meet in the computer lab of the Animal Sciences Building)
Facilitator: Richard Cyr
10 minute demo by Michael Klymkowsky [483 KB PowerPoint]
10 minute demo by John Jungck
9:30 am -- Questions and Discussion
Return to the Friedrick Center for events between 10:15 am and 3:30 pm
10:00 am -- Break
10:15 am -- Peer led team leaders, Facilitator: Jack Kampmeier
10:45 am -- Questions and Discussion
11:00 am -- Alternatives to Textbooks, Facilitator: Ron Hoy
11:30 am -- Questions and Discussion
12:00 noon -- Lunch
1:00 pm -- Lunchtime Talk: "Why HHMI Cares About Biology Education (and what we are doing about it)" - Peter Bruns, Vice President for Grants and Special Programs, Howard Hughes Medical Institute [2.7 MB PowerPoint]
2:00 pm -- Fostering systemic change: How to implement ideas for reform. Facilitator: Amy Chang. Topics include persuading/interacting with
biology colleagues
faculty in other scientific disciplines
students
TAs
administrators
3:30 pm -- Break for exercise or relaxation (note the location of our dinner tonight)
6:30 pm -- Dinner (in groups if necessary to finalize reports for tomorrow). Thai take-out delivered to the Genetics-Biotech building)
7:30 pm -- Measuring Student Learning (meet in the Genetics-Biotech building)
Facilitator: Neil Baker
Demo by Michael Klymkowsky
Demo by Graham Walker
8:30 pm -- Adjourn for the evening
Tuesday, August 19
Designing the 2004 summer institute. Facilitators: Bill Wood and Jim Gentile
8:30 am -- Introduction to today's goals
8:45 am -- Reports from the groups on best approaches for teaching next year's participants about active learning in lectures and laboratories. Each group presents 3 key ideas to help planning for future summer institutes.
9:45 am -- Discussion of group reports, including:
- Is there a consensus on the components required for a novel introductory course?
- Are there effective models for each of these components?
- What is a good way to learn about the different components, especially for faculty with less experience talking about or reforming education?
10:30 am -- Next steps
- How should we go about recruiting participants for next year?
- What features would make the institute appealing and useful?
- Should faculty be asked to come in teams of 3 or more from the same institution?
- What kind of products should participants leave with?
- How can materials developed in the summer institute be shared?
11:30 am -- Wrap-up discussion
12:30 pm -- Lunch
1:30 pm -- ADJOURN
