Critical thinking is a key component of scientific reasoning and student success in upper level science courses. However, helping students to develop such skills is a challenge. To address this need, a series of problem-based learning (PBL) sessions were designed for a 3000-level Physiology course. While individual exercises are based in physiological content, common critical thinking learning objectives are integrated, including: 1) consideration of information sources/bias; 2) evaluation and application of data; and 3) hypothesis, experimental design, and data extrapolation. The small group PBL exercises are designed to facilitate peer teaching/learning. The presentation will introduce a design for PBL team exercises, provide examples of specific sessions with student responses and assessment measures, and demonstrate a team exercise with the audience (no scientific knowledge required). Adaptation of this critical thinking exercise format to various disciplines will be discussed.
Providing students with continuous and personalized feedback on their performance is an important part of encouraging self regulated learning. In this session we will cover some of the latest techniques in Data Science and Cognitive Computing to advance student learning. As part of our higher education platform, for example, we built a set of data visualizations to provide feedback to students on their assignment performance. Included in the feedback are `nudges' which provide guidance on how students might improve their performance by adjusting when they start or submit assignments. In order to understand what nudges to provide to students, we analyzed historical data from over 1.4 million students on over 27 million assignment submissions to find student performance trends. We used this analysis and the past and current performance of each student to display nudges relevant for them in their visualizations, highlighting actionable strategies for improving future performance.
Preservice teachers taking elementary math methods courses generally ask and respond to questions without critically examining the underlying assumptions behind their questions/responses. Examples of how such questions/responses have been used to encourage critical thinking will be discussed. Also, real life examples where math can be used to critically analyze media statements and/or advertisements will be discussed. The benefits of critical thinking will be shown to help not only in math, but also help one to become a more informed citizen.
Does planning your course make you feel like you are racing to require students to complete a list of assignments from an ever-expanding textbook? Do you dread giving yet another dry lecture? Imagine a classroom where, instead of listening to a lecture, students are leading discussions organized around civic issues. Imagine students collaborating in teams to apply course content to real-world examples instead of recalling facts on an exam. After a brief introduction to the process of backward design, you will 1) discuss ways to connect your course to a civic issue 2) define critical thinking for your discipline and 3) examine activities, connected to a civic issue, that develop students' critical thinking skills. This session is appropriate for instructors in any discipline, and be please prepared to participate.
Students often drop out due to non-cognitive factors such as procrastination, motivation, and technology skills. The SmarterMeasure Learning Readiness Indicator is the leading assessment of non-cognitive skills. SmarterProctoring is a Proctoring Process Management System which allows schools to provide multiple proctoring modalities such as testing centers, human proctors, and virtual proctors.
Many instructors engage their students in active learning; however, many students may not be aware of what active learning is, and most have little idea of how to instigate it in formal and informal settings. By making a presentation involving active learning of their peers, students not only benefit from learning what they teach, they benefit from learning the skill of engaging audiences through active learning, and their classmates benefit from being exposed to a variety of innovative, creative teaching methods beyond just that of the instructor. This session showcases the value of student-led active-learning presentations in the classroom to stimulate critical thinking and enhance classroom discussions. The audience will also participate in a discussion of how to adapt this best learning practice to any discipline.
This session will demonstrate the online peer feedback and revision mechanisms that make Google Drive a compelling alternative to the traditional word processing "submit and return" approach to feedback and evaluation. Attendees will be able to test the comment and text suggestion features within Google Drive to see how they (a) promote student engagement, with the instructor and other students, in the practice of revision and (b) allow instructors to assess student effort in the practice of revision. Attendees will also be able to interact with students who are currently using Google Drive in their English 1101 courses. This session will be helpful to any faculty or staff seeking strategies that will facilitate collaboration and shared feedback. Attendees are encouraged to bring a portable device (laptop preferred) in order to participate in the hands-on activity.
