ACTIVITY 3:  ASSESSING INFORMATION LITERACY (Preliminary Task)

Please bring to the Workshop a significant credit-bearing coursework assessment that has been assigned to first year students.  It may be in any Sciences field.  Be prepared to introduce the task, identifying in what ways it could serve to promote students’ information literacy skills.

The Essay Topics for an assignment in 2010 – Comparative essay about two different kinds of Parasites, a Protist and an Animal.

a. Description of the task / What are students required to do?

    Students had to compare two parasites, protists or an animal (names given by the lecturer) and the way in which they infect and affect their host. And then design a poster on one parasite covered in the assignment.

b. What are the primary learning outcomes that are assessed through this assignment?

     Scientific writing, envision social relevance of the topic in society, format of citation list and in text referencing, coherence and logical comparisons.

c. Consider whether students are given clear guidance in respect of information sources.

      The only guidance that I can refer to from the assignment and the rubric was on how to reference and how to structure information from sources, with no clear instruction on information resources.

d. Is there any recognition of the underpinning information tasks and skills that may be necessary to fulfill the assignment?  Is provision made for supporting students in these?

      Scientific writing skills, computer skills, data presentation skills, poster design skills, reference and analytical skills. Little or no provision is made for these skills.

e. Is this specified as part of the criteria for performing the task, and awarded credit?

     Yes, but only for the references and the writing style.

f. How could this assignment be re-designed to explicitly build and recognise students’ information  literacy competencies?

      In order to re-design the assignment, a collaborative approach would be beneficial, whereby you    involve the librarian who could help students to access relevant web resources on primary literature and help them to navigate and create better searches. 

     The topic should be narrowly defined, instead of two: I would focus on one organism or let them search and choose a parasite of interest and identify relevant resources. Integrating and building in some plagiarism activities into assignment could make students more aware of information usage. I would provide students with journal articles on the topic and award those who add new knowledge to topic. I would provide: talks and sessions on poster design, computer laboratory exercises, experimental design, data analysis and presentation exercises and reference style exercises. 

    The assignment is not clear on objectives and outcomes, which should be in the handout students receive, because students need to be shown the link of how information is constructed and how scientific knowledge is formed. Since the assignment would require sessions on poster design, computer training, poster design and data presentation: time given to complete the assignment would be the biggest factor and the assignment should be a semester long. 

    Lastly, an oral poster presentation would then demonstrate their confidence and skills acquired throughout the assignment—showcase of their understanding and skills!

Task 1c

My role as a teaching assistant for the Life Science 151 module is similar to the duties outlined for a Senior Officer. My duties include the setup and collections of practical material, presentation of practical’s, to act as a demonstrator and the cleanup of labs. During practical’s, I ensure that students adhere to health and safety regulations. The lecturers are responsible for the theory component of Life Science and ensure that the correct teaching practices are conducted in the classroom.

With the lecturer, I assist with invigilation of theory and practical tests. The lecturers are responsible for marking theory tests, and the TA’s for the practical tests. The collation, submission and marking of tutorials and practical’s are carried out by tutors and demonstrators. At the end of every term, TA’s process and upload students marks onto the University’s Mark Administration System. TA’s are also responsible for the development of material for computer literacy classes, tutorials and some practical’s. This is done in collaboration with the lecturers. Together, we develop learning materials for the development of students in the Life Sciences, using literature to inform our approaches to student learning. Students’ disciplinary approaches are stimulated through reading, reasoning and writing material in their tutorials, practical’s and lectures. TA’s  are also expected to be present lectures to students when the lecturer is absent.

Task 1b

The guiding principles for the Life Science 151 biology course are cell theory, homeostasis and genetics as well as the application of the scientific method. The course houses interdisciplinary students from Biotechnology, Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Medical Bio-Science and Environmental and Waters Sciences, which makes the course very exciting. Indeed, students should have a basic understanding of the underlying principles and the knowledge of scientific skills, and as a result involves a choice of teaching techniques for certain topics, as well as process of skills.

Over the last decades, in biology, the use of the CMAP tool (concept maps) has been shown to be very effective when unpacking complex concepts. In Life Science tutorials and lectures, students are given a topic e.g. on organic compounds and then need to demonstrate how these concepts are linked using phrases. Stewart (1979) and studies thereafter e.g. Liu and Lee (2013) have shown that the usage of concept maps greatly improves students learning and understanding.

In the laboratory and field, students explore topics through experimental research and problem-solving skills. The exploratory nature of experiments and reports involve the regular incorporation of the scientific method, and requires students to have reading and writing skills. Research on reading and writing have shown that student’s perform better in subjects when they are given clear instructions e.g. scientific report writing, drawing, data analysis and referencing (Glynn and Muth, 1994). In Life Science, we build in scientific writing skills through our lab reports and assignments. Furthermore, in our tutorials we infuse reading and writing skills through paragraph writing exercises. Glynn and Muth (1994) express the connection between reading and writing in science teaching:

“Integrated reading and writing activities can play a vital role in achieving a minds-on emphasis in the learning of science. Reading and writing activities can support active, constructive learning, inquiry, and problem solving. Reading and writing activities can help students to cover science content in greater depth, focusing on related ideas and themes. Through reading and writing, students can build upon their prior learning and make real-world connections.” 

Assignments have been shown to improve student’s research skills (DebBurman, 2002). Most scientist use the same basic framework for assignments: question-orientated, hypothesis driven, analyze, organize and presentation of scientific knowledge. Life Science assignments integrate the process of skills with content and through assignments. Furthermore, the use of rubrics in conjunction with our assignments, have been demonstrated to facilitate, guide, and improve performance and “make standards clear and explicit to students” (Luft, 1999; Allen and Tanner, 2006). Since Life Science is a service course for the Science Faculty, Allen and Tanner (2006) describes why use rubrics:

“When information from rubrics is analyzed, a detailed record of students' progress toward meeting desired outcomes can be monitored and then provided to students so that they may also chart their own progress and improvement. With team-taught courses or multiple sections of the same course, rubrics can be used to make faculty standards explicit to one another, and to calibrate subsequent expectations.”

Allen and Tanner (2006) goes on to the explain that rubrics encourage reflective practice of both student and instructor:

“If rubrics are used in the context of students' peer review of their own work or that of others, or if students are involved in the process of developing the rubric, these processes can spur the development of their ability to become self-directed and help them develop insight into how they and others learn (Luft, 1999).”

In general, Life Science is there to make students more aware of their surroundings and how they go about when conducting research. In the end they recognize that they need to be objective, be able to communicate as a scientist. The most important thing is to demonstrate in practice as a scientist the understanding and the application of the scientific method.


 References:
Allen D and Tanner K (2006) Rubrics: Tools for making learning goals and evaluation criteria explicit for both teachers and learners. CBE-Life Sciences Education 5: 197-203.

DebBurman SK (2002) Learning How Scientists Work: Experiential Research Projects to Promote Cell Biology Learning and Scientific Process Skills. Cell Biology Education 1: 154–172

Glynn SM and Muth KD (1994) Reading and Writing to Learn Science: Achieving Scientific Literacy. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 31: 1057-1073

Liu SH and Lee GG (2013) Using a Concept Map Knowledge Management System to Enhance the Learning of Biology. Computers and Education 68: 105–116.

Luft JA (1999) Rubrics: design and use in science teacher education. Journal of Science Teacher Education 10: 107-121.

Stewart J (1979) Concept Maps: A Tool for Use in Biology Teaching. American Biology Teacher 41: 171-75.

Task 1: Reflect on your teaching context by completing the following tasks

Task 1a

My teaching context involves the teaching of the Life Sciences at the 1st year level, mainly cell biology. At the end of the module students should have a basic understanding about cell theory and that all living organisms consist of cells which form the structural and functional units of life. Cells are the smallest unit of life and the concepts, processes, cycle’s, genetics, punnet squares and topics discussed in cell biology often require different teaching features or application’s and situations in the classroom, and as a teaching assistant I found that students spend more time on memorizing facts, rather than understanding the bigger picture. 

I recognized that the objective for understanding and teaching topics in biology requires different teaching approaches or styles because not every topic can be only explained by e.g. a simple power point presentation. So when I develop my lesson plan outcomes for a certain topic I try to apply the skill levels outlined by Blooms taxonomy and build in activities that can stimulate student’s understanding around topics. For example, the topic on DNA can be taught in various ways and in the past I have found that students benefited (comments from open-ended questionnaires and course evaluation forms) from a simple lesson plan like below: snapshots taken from my DNA lecture. 

Over time students call some of my teaching approaches “a recipe” which is a topic on its own. I also try to reduce the amount of the passive lecture format to 15 min time slots. I build applicable supporting media into a lecture, including videos, concept maps, biological animations, biological simulations, class activities, problem solving and application questions, role play, social network (facebook), blackboard activities, long test questions break up, quizzes, overhead projectors with transparencies’, spot questions, ad hoc questions created by students (in class)—these  are things I often apply to various situations/topics  in the classroom to enhance students performance and their understanding . Through activities such as role play, quizzes (done and discussed in class) or the discussion of science focus articles, I try to help students to be active, independent learners and problem solvers. In addition, the use of e-learning chat rooms (snap shots below), UWC-LFS 151 facebook page allowed me to engage socially, where they could pose any questions and I would then publicly comment on the ways they would use them as shown below.

Finding literature on teaching practices is important but I acknowledge teaching topics to students equate to understanding where they come from i.e. their socio-economic backgrounds. The situation that these students find themselves is sometimes similar to my background. So I asked myself what did it take to understand topics in Life Sciences and how can I maximize explanations, fortunately I came through the ranks at UWC and proudly UDUBS graduate! And in my classroom I show them how UWC has shaped and changed my attitude and thoughts through various teachings methods—now it’s time to give back. So I tell them that I am a product of the Graduate Attribute and live up to that and welcome any new challenges and innovations in the classroom—watch this space!