SoTL Project Presentation
description
Transcript of SoTL Project Presentation
SoTL Project Presentation
Didem Vardar-Ulu
07/18/2008
What prompted the research idea?THE PROBLEM
• Current discipline based prerequisites (intro chem, organic chemistry, intro bio, cell physiology) didn’t seem to be predictive of student success in the Introductory Biochemistry Course.
• The students who had trouble building interdisciplinary connections between content seem to lack basic reasoning or informal logic skills.
• Student interest and confidence in subject matter also seem to play a role in how they performed in the course.
The ultimate question I want to ask:
What is the relative importance of - prior disciplinary knowledge- competence in informal logic- interest and/or confidence
in facilitating student understanding in an introductory level interdisciplinary course?
My current SoTL Question:
What is the relative importance of - prior biology and chemistry knowledge
- competence in solving puzzles - interest and/or confidence in
biochemistry in facilitating student’s understanding
of the structure-function relationships in biochemistry?
MethodologyAssessment: For the first stage of this
project, I will focus on “cognitive learning”Come up with a learning taxonomy using
biochemistry specific learning goals.
Exemplary Competent Developing
Factual knowledge
Analysis/ explanation/ interpretation
Synthesis/ application
Assessment of “understanding”Factual knowledge:
- weekly content quizzes (multiple choice, fill in the blanks, True/ false, circle)
- weekly in-lab questions (short answer questions)- HMW- Problem Sets
Analysis/ explanation/ interpretation:- miterm/ final- weekly lab work analysis - assignments
Synthesis/ application:- weekly post-lab question (design a follow up
experiment)- projects- in-class activities that relates biochemisty knowledge to
real life phenomenon
Assessment of “prior” factors
Disciplinary Background:Collect data on the grades students received in the prereq. CoursesAdminister a content assessment pre-test that is 50% biology, 50% chemistry in composition
Informal Logic Skills: Administer a pre-test composed of three logic puzzles
- Data comparison- Use of graphs and charts- Use of fractions and trial and error
Interest and Confidence:Administer an in class questionnaire followed by a personal meeting