REGISTRATION & COFFEE
Welcoming Remarks
Nancy A. Schiller, Co-Director, and
Clyde (Kipp) Herreid, Director, National Center for
Case Study Teaching in Science, University at Buffalo
PLENARY
Teaching Without A Net: A Few Lessons About Discussion Teaching That I Have Learned from My Students
Rita Silverman, Professor of Education, Pace University
The speaker brings to this session the strong belief that case teaching is really a place holder for inquiry-based, constructivist teaching. She holds that she cannot lead a case discussion for part of the class period and then lecture for the remainder of the class. Her thinking is grounded in the psychologist Lev Vygotskys seminal work on socially constructed learning. The shift from didactic, teacher-centered instruction to constructivist, student-centered teaching has not been easy and has led her to many insights about the learning-teaching connection. Her own experiences are buttressed by theoretical studies that look at the impact of discussion (typically case based) instruction on student learning. Current assessment practices in higher education often seem antithetical to discussion teaching and measuring learning outcomes, but thats part of the fun.
COFFEE BREAK
MORNING BREAK-OUT SESSIONS
What Is a Case? / Different Types of Cases
Kipp Herreid, Director, National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, University at Buffalo
Business and law schools have a long tradition of using real or simulated stories, or cases, to teach students about their fields. Other disciplines such as medicine, psychology, and teacher education have also found the method effective in capturing the imagination, and the attention, of their students. The formal use of case studies in the science classroom is still relatively novel. Yet cases have great pedagogical potential, not only for teaching scientific methodology, ethics, and the relationship of scientists to society, for example, but also, we have found, for delivering content-rich science courses for science majors. In this session, we will go over the essential elements of a case study, the different forms that cases can take, and the many and varied ways of teaching them.
- OR -
Active Learning Strategies in the Science Classroom
Christa Colyer, Associate Professor & Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Fellow,
Chair, Department of Chemistry, Wake Forest University
Despite many of us being successful products of a purely lecture-based teaching regime, there is impressive scholarship about the effectiveness of active learning strategies, which can be adapted to suit our present-day science teaching and learning without reducing the rigor of our classes and without compromising on content coverage. The use of active learning strategies recognizes different learning styles and serves to engage and involve students in their own education. Strategies such as the jigsaw method, role-playing and student skits, blogging, and student conferences are just a few examples of easy-to-implement techniques that can be used to supplement or replace the lecture in small or large class settings.
LUNCH
EARLY AFTERNOON BREAK-OUT SESSIONS
The Discussion Case Method
Kipp Herreid, Director, National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, University at Buffalo
Discussion cases are typically written as dilemmas that give the history of an individual, institution, or business faced with a problem that must be solved. The teachers goal is to help students sift through the facts, analyze the problem, and consider possible solutions and consequences. On the surface of it, the method is simple: the instructor asks probing questions and the students analyze the problem presented in the story with probity and brilliance. Most science teachers however have little experience running this type of a class. In this session, you will have the opportunity to participate in a discussion case and then analyze the process.
- OR -
Using Cases to Help Science Teachers Align Curriculum to State and National Standards
Rita Silverman, Professor of Education, Pace University
Often, the preparation of teachers that takes place in the university seems far removed from the classrooms where they will be expected to apply the theory that professors present them with to actual students in settings that are highly structured, and governed by the outcomes of high-stakes assessments and adherence to state and federal standards. Cases can act as a conduit between the typical theory-based university instruction and the real demands of schools and curriculum. In this interactive, hands-on session, the speaker will ask participants to discuss a case of a science teacher and then look at his lesson as a teacher might, by trying to adapt the lesson to align with state and national science teaching standards.
COFFEE BREAK
LATE AFTERNOON BREAK-OUT SESSIONS
The Interrupted Case Method
Kipp Herreid, Director, National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, University at Buffalo
In the interrupted case method, information is given piecemeal to students working in small groups. This method of “progressive disclosure” is characteristic of problem-based learning (PBL), but in the interrupted case method, the case is accomplished in a single class period rather than over several days. It shares with PBL the great virtue of engaging all students in problem solving. In this session, you will participate in an interrupted case and analyze the experience.
- OR -
Assessing Critical Thinking in the Science Classroom
Paula Lemons, Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Biology,
Division of Biological Sciences, The University of Georgia
When we teach, we want our students to learn more than just a collection of facts; we also want them to become better critical thinkers. But there are some problems. What do we mean by critical thinking? How do we keep from wasting students time and ours if we try to teach critical thinking? And how can we be sure we are actually teaching and testing critical thinking? In this workshop, we will address problems like these, looking specifically at the design of test questions and other assignments that can help us be sure we are validly measuring both our students content knowledge and their critical-thinking skills.
POSTER SESSION / COCKTAIL HOUR
The deadline for submitting a proposal for a poster is Friday, August 29, 2008. Click
here to submit a poster proposal.
BANQUET
REGISTRATION & COFFEE
PLENARY
Learning About the Nature of Science with Case Studies
Kathy Gallucci, Assistant Professor, Biology Department, Elon University
Students often have difficulty understanding what scientific knowledge is and why it is such a powerful force in modern life. Case studies can be used to uncover students’ alternate conceptions about the nature of science (NOS), can help students understand how science works, and can demonstrate to students how scientific knowledge is constructed. The case study examples in this presentation contextualize concepts that are central to NOS and focus on learning how scientific knowledge is acquired. These concepts are hypothesis testing, the tentativeness of science, the difference between observation and inference, science as a unique way of knowing, the value of empirical evidence, and the social and cultural embeddedness of science.
COFFEE BREAK
MORNING BREAK-OUT SESSIONS
Team Learning Using Cases
Kipp Herreid, Director, National Center for Case Study Teaching in
Science, University at Buffalo
Having students work in small groups is arguably the best way to teach science and this includes teaching science via cases. But how can we run a classroom this way? One approach is to use a revolutionary method called Team Learning. Team Learning is a method of cooperative learning developed by Larry Michaelsen at the University of Oklahoma. It uses no lectures. Rather, students learn on their own, working in permanent small groups, through individual reading assignments, daily individual and group quizzes, and the application in class of the facts and principles students have learned from the process to a problem or case. In this session, we will cover the components of a successful team learning classroom, including how groups are formed, how performance is evaluated, what kind of homework is assigned, how tests are given to both individuals and groups, and how problems are handled.
- OR -
The Mini Research Project
Christa Colyer, Associate Professor & Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Fellow, Chair, Department of Chemistry, Wake Forest University
If we aim to improve student writing and share student learning throughout the semester, then the "mini-research project" is an effective alternative to the traditional research paper. The latter, which requires students to apply skills and knowledge gained throughout the semester to an assigned topic beyond the regular syllabus content, is often viewed as an end in-and-of-itself and is rarely seen by anyone other than the instructor. Instead, "mini research projects" are assigned throughout the semester and they provide an opportunity for all students to engage in critical thinking about course content and applications of course content. Although the mini research project supports a range of intellectual activities critical to the liberal arts, including research, writing, presentation, and discussion, it also provides an excellent mechanism to augment content coverage in science classes.
LUNCH
EARLY AFTERNOON BREAK-OUT SESSIONS
How to Write a Case
Kipp Herreid, Director, National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, University at Buffalo
Finding a topic for a case isn’t difficult. Cases can be used to teach almost any topic, from mitosis to nuclear fission. The challenge is how to craft a case study so that it achieves your teaching objectives while providing students with a compelling story that is relevant and thought provoking. In this session we will provide you with a recipe for writing successful cases. Join us and leave the workshop with a rough draft of a case for one of your courses.
- OR -
Committed to Cases: Integrating the Case Concept into your Course
Eric Ribbens, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Western Illinois University
You like cases. You’ve taught some in your courses. You’ve seen your students respond, and you believe cases are a good teaching method. But how do you really integrate cases into your class? What are the challenges? Benefits? Risks? We’ll take an introductory biology syllabus and explore strategies to embed cases deeply into the course. We’ll also share our experiences, and discuss strategies to successfully transition to a class that is case-intensive.
COFFEE BREAK
LATE AFTERNOON BREAK-OUT SESSIONS
These sessions are led by moderators who will kick off each session with a short
presentation on their own case work, then facilitate a discussion with session participants on the use of cases in the discipline.
Case Studies in the Life Sciences
Moderators: Eric Ribbens, Paula Lemons, Kathy Gallucci
- OR -
Case Studies in the Physical Sciences
Moderators: Christa Colyer, Frank Dinan