Introductory Movies

Introduction

Student-Focused Active Learning--the New Paradigm

Thematic Teaching, Concept Tests

Learning Communities, Challenge Problems

Inquiry-Based, Open-Ended Labs

Information Technology/Computer Tools

Two-Year Colleges

Evaluation

Get Involved

 

Establishing New Traditions: Revitalizing the Curriculum

Introduction

Play movie 01 (59 seconds, 2.3 MB)

(John Moore, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Director of the New Traditions Project)

The New Traditions Project aims to change the way we teach chemistry from a faculty and discipline oriented paradigm to a student centered paradigm and to evaluate and document these changes so that they can be replicated by others.

(Chart - A Consortium of Diverse Institutions) New Traditions or NT is creating an integrated set of model courses at five consortium institutions and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

(Chart - Focus areas) The NT project involves first and foremost focusing on the student and ensuring that students participate actively in the learning process. To achieve this aim, we have created thematic teaching materials, learning communities, inquiry based open-ended laboratories and a variety of tools based on computers and information technology. Aspects of NT impact teacher training programs and advanced technology education programs.

Every NT development is being thoroughly tested and evaluated by an independent evaluator.

Student-Focused Active Learning--the New Paradigm

Play movie 02 (1 minute, 19 seconds, 3.3 MB)

( John Wright, University of Wisconsin-Madison, New Traditions Project)

One of the central tenets of active learning is that it's not enough to learn content. Students must also learn the habits of the mind that characterize scientific thinking. The key is providing inquiry experiences that are more authentic and involve the same kinds of expert problem solving strategies that real scientists are involved with. It's also crucial in these curriculum reform efforts that the students succeed in the course. The goal is not to have a bell-shaped curve but the goal is to have mastery, real mastery by everyone in the course.

How do we assess the impact of a student focused active learning course on student learning? We performed a novel analysis in which independent faculty evaluators interviewed students from both a student focused active learning section and a more passive lecture oriented section. Overwhelmingly the evaluators judged the students who have taken the student focused section to be more competent.

Thematic Teaching, Concept Tests

Play movie 04 (1 minute, 3 seconds, 5.3 MB)

( Clark Landis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, New Traditions Project)

Let's illustrate techniques for incorporating active learning into the classroom with a model course. Chemistry 104 is a mainstream general chemistry course taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Total enrollment is 350 students with lectures led by the course instructor and teaching assistant lead discussion and laboratory sections.

(Clark Landis in the Classroom, voice-over continues)

Among the student focused active learning techniques used in this course are:

(John Moore in the classroom, voice-over continues)

Thematic teaching uses the context of current real world issues to develop fundamental chemical principals.

Concept tests are in lecture questions which focus on specific concepts. Answers are voted on by students both before and after discussion with their peers. Concept tests provide opportunities for immediate feedback for both students and instructors on the mastery of specific concepts.

 

Play movie 03 (35 seconds, 3.2 MB)

( Art Ellis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the lecture room)

So let me ask you, for either of these structures, do we have a dipole moment? Does this have a dipole, Yes or no? Does this have a dipole, Yes or no? How many of you think this one does? How many think it doesn't? How many think this does? Doesn't? OK, why don't you discuss it with your neighbors for a second or two. ... What do you folks think?

Learning Communities, Challenge Problems

Play movie 05 (41 seconds, 3.0 MB)

( Clark Landis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, New Traditions Project)

(chart - chem 104) Learning communities cluster students with common interests in the same discussion section, creating a small-school atmosphere. Challenge problems are designed to foster cooperative learning.

Commonly these questions involve multiple concepts that provide the opportunity for input from many different student perspectives and better emulate problems incurred in the real world environment.

(discussion section, students working together)... take heat away from this, ...it shifts this way? If it goes up it's basic? No, no. ...

 

Play movie 06 (1 minute, 21 seconds, 6.5 MB)

( Michael Russell, Teaching Assistant, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Most of the teaching assistants find that teaching the active learning style requires a different kind of effort. When you're working with the students in the lab, our jobs are more to be a guide rather than to be a source of information. The students themselves develop strategies for working on open ended labs and for their different problem sets that they're working on and the TA is there to guide the student through the problems or to provide helpful guidance on an open-ended laboratory rather than to be a source of a right or wrong answer.

(Teri Larson, Teaching Assistant, University of Wisconsin-Madison, coaching a group of 3 students)... but first of all, think of the properties of ...

(Michael's voice fades in over) Teaching in this style requires that you develop an insight to how the students are feeling about the problems and how they're thinking about solving them and you have to begin guiding them through the problem rather than providing a correct answer for them.

Inquiry-Based, Open-Ended Labs

Play movie 07 (35 seconds, 1.3 MB)

( Earl Peace, University of Wisconsin-Madison, New Traditions Project Administrator)

In the classroom we try to convey to students the wonder and the excitement that comes from successfully applying the scientific method. The laboratory presents an opportunity for students to experience it for themselves.

(chart - Guided inquiry laboratories) NT has successfully adapted guided inquiry and open-ended experiments to both large-university and two-year college environments. Although the syllabus does not consist exclusively of guided inquiry experiments, students' range of experience and their ability to think as scientists in the laboratory have been enhanced considerably.

Information Technology/Computer Tools

Play movie 08 (51 seconds, 3.5 MB)

(John Moore)

NT has prepared a variety of computer-based tools (chart - NT computer Tools) to facilitate student-focused active learning and we are using them at several institutions.

(display of scrolling web page MathCad for Physical Chemistry ) More than 30 MathCad interactive texts encourage students to explore and experiment with the mathematical models of physical chemistry. These are available via the World Wide Web. (Also see Theresa Zielinski's MathCad materials.)

(display of scrolling web pages from ChemScape ) Multimedia pre-lab tutorials on laboratory techniques allow teaching assistants to concentrate on helping their students connect concepts with hands-on work. These are also available via the World Wide Web.

(showing students at work in a lab) Students at several NT institutions use computers in the laboratory to collect and analyze data and facilitate group work.

(student) Yea, I'd like to see more of it, you know, it gives you hands-on experience with new technology

Two-Year Colleges

Play movie 09 (41 seconds, 1.9 MB)

(David Shaw, Madison Area Technical College, Madison, Wisconsin)

At Madison Area Technical College we are adapting the philosophy of the New Traditions Project to the special situation of a two-year college. Our students are older and they have more responsibilities, both at home and because they are working at an outside job. Many of them are first generation college students.

(continues over stills of students at MATC) We use small-group learning, particularly in the laboratory. Since we don't have many computers, we use the CBL or calculator-based laboratory system.

We also use cooperative quizzes about once every two weeks. A group of four or fewer students takes a 20 minute quiz, they turn in the paper, and all the students in the group receive the same grade.

Evaluation

Play movie 10 (38 seconds, 2.0 MB)

(Susan Millar, LEAD Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison )

(chart - the Learning thru Evaluation ...center) The LEAD Center has been contracted as an independent evaluator by the New Traditions Project.

To evaluate content learning, we are drawing on the work of chemists who have expertise in student assessment, such as Diane Bunce and Patricia Metz.

We use social science research methods to evaluate both student and faculty experiences in NT courses. Our evaluation goals are to determine whether or not the NT reforms are achieving the faculty's goals, to create evaluation instruments that the chemists themselves can use, and to produce how-to documents to help other faculty adapt and adopt the NT courses and methods.

Get Involved

Play movie 11 (16 seconds, .6 MB)

(Earl Peace)

At its core the NT project addresses three fundamental questions: (chart - The core of NT)

 

Play movie 12 (39 seconds, 1.7 MB)

(Earl Peace)

The New Traditions project offers workshops to promote the benefits of active learning and to introduce instructors to its implementation.

(chart - Get Involved with NT!) The first of these workshops was held last summer for faculty from two year colleges. Another was held in mid-October for teams of faculty from colleges and universities.

We invite you to beta-test New Traditions innovations and adapt them for use in your own environment. It is not necessary to throw out everything you are familiar with. Changes can and should be made incrementally. Active learning is not a one-size-fits-all pedagogy.

 

Play movie 13 (14 seconds, 1.0 MB)

(John Wright)

My attitude towards teaching has become much more positive. It's a lot more fun to do this. It's very fulfilling to see the excitement that the students bring to this new method of learning and it is just like doing research but it's in a teaching context.