Being a student in teaching college
science class and doing a little more of my own reading, I have discovered that
recent research and studies have shown us that if we are to actually deepen our
students’ understanding of what we teach, not only do we need to encourage
critical thinking but also give the students an opportunity to take ownership
of their knowledge. Since I being a
student myself, I believe that I enjoy myself more and develop greater
ownership over material when I am provided the opportunity to construct my own
understanding without an instructor trying to “fill my empty brain” with facts.
This is where active learning in
classrooms plays a big role in teaching and learning especially in Biochemistry
where most often, it is believed that students acquire hands-on skills in the
laboratory sections of their classes even though the fact is that little
thinking actually takes place in these lab sections. But if we are to expect these
future scientists and leaders to be more engaged in the classroom, teaching
ways that promote active learning will not only help them with critical
thinking skills, but also improve skills such as writing, speaking, problem
solving and team work. Therefore, with the new wave of revolution that we are
seeing in academic area today (with regards to improving how we teach); there
is hope that these competencies will be achieved as we keep stepping up our
teaching efforts.
In my case, I like to have activities that would guide the
students in their understanding of scientific concepts while developing skills
such as written and oral communication, problem solving, critical thinking and
teamwork. My classroom active learning
exercises would include an individual-based pre-class homework assignment, a
group-based in-class activity and an individual-based post-class homework
assignment. The pre-class assignment
will involve a case study/real life interpretation related to a topic we are
discussing in the class. For example, if we are discussing the topic of Chemical
equilibrium, I might give a case study involving a company that has 100
employees and every hour 20 employees go on break as 20 others come in from
break. Then I would start by asking
simple questions such as whether the number of employees in the building change
from hour to hour, are the employees moving in and out the same people and let
them know that over the course of the day, the employees are in a dynamic
equilibrium and from their understanding of this case study, come up with their
own definition of dynamic equilibrium. This
is quite a good case study that students can picture before proceeding into
understanding little more complex concepts of chemical equilibrium. The in-class activity would involve students forming
groups of 3 or 5 students. The group leader would be the person from the
furthest city/town, who then is charged with delegating duties in the group.
This exercise encourages leadership and also teamwork. It also gives students
an opportunity to know each other a little better even if only knowing where
one is from.
In
class activity would start by me introducing/reviewing the days' learning
objectives and major learning goals(15 munites). Then in their groups, students would
discuss and share on the pre-class assignments and have 5 questions (3 minutes/question) on the
topic of the day that the pre-class assignment case study helps elaborate. For example, one of the questions would be if
a chemical reaction is in equilibrium, would the number of molecules in the
reaction vessel change. During this period, would be going from group to group and also sharing with the entire classroom here and their like Dr. Momsen did. This is also where I would challenge students with high
blooms questions and them towards the end of the class; discuss findings and
concepts as a class.
The last
part of this active learning would be individual-based post-class homework
assignment which would give the students to show case and take ownership of
their knowledge and also give me an opportunity to address any misconceptions.
