Scientific teaching
Encyclopedia
Scientific teaching is a pedagogical
approach used in undergraduate science classrooms whereby teaching and learning is approached with the same rigor as science itself.
According to a 2004 Policy Forum in Science
magazine, "scientific teaching involves active learning strategies to engage students in the process of science and teaching methods that have been systematically tested and shown to reach diverse students."
The 2007 volume Scientific Teaching lists three major tenets of scientific teaching:
These elements should underlie educational and pedagogical decisions in the classroom. The "SCALE-UP
" learning environment is an example of applying the scientific teaching approach. In practice, scientific teaching employs a "backward design" approach. The instructor first decides what the students should know and be able to do (learning goals), then determines what would be evidence of student achievement of the learning goals, then designs assessments to measure this achievement. Finally, the instructor plans the learning activities, which should facilitate student learning through scientific discovery.
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
approach used in undergraduate science classrooms whereby teaching and learning is approached with the same rigor as science itself.
According to a 2004 Policy Forum in Science
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
magazine, "scientific teaching involves active learning strategies to engage students in the process of science and teaching methods that have been systematically tested and shown to reach diverse students."
The 2007 volume Scientific Teaching lists three major tenets of scientific teaching:
- Active learning: A process in which students are actively engaged in learning. It may include inquiry-based learning, cooperative learning, or student-centered learning.
- Assessment: Tools for measuring progress toward and achievement of the learning goals.
- Diversity: The breadth of differences that make each student unique, each cohort of students unique, and each teaching experience unique. Diversity includes everything in the classroom: the students, the instructors, the content, the teaching methods, and the context.
These elements should underlie educational and pedagogical decisions in the classroom. The "SCALE-UP
SCALE-UP
SCALE-UP is a learning environment specifically created to facilitate active, collaborative learning in a studio-like setting. Some people think the rooms look more like restaurants than classrooms. The spaces are carefully designed to facilitate interactions between teams of students who work on...
" learning environment is an example of applying the scientific teaching approach. In practice, scientific teaching employs a "backward design" approach. The instructor first decides what the students should know and be able to do (learning goals), then determines what would be evidence of student achievement of the learning goals, then designs assessments to measure this achievement. Finally, the instructor plans the learning activities, which should facilitate student learning through scientific discovery.
External links
- Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching
- Scientific Teaching by HandelsmanJo HandelsmanJo Handelsman is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at Yale University. She is editor-in-chief of the academic journal DNA and Cell Biology and author of books on scientific education, most notably Scientific Teaching.-Education:Handelsman...
, Miller, and Pfund - Science Policy Forum by Handelsman et al. (2004)
- Scientific Teaching by Handelsman
- National Academies Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education in Biology
- Pathways to Scientific Teaching by Ebert-May and Hodder
- CBE Life Science Education interview with Jo Handlesman(2009)
- Science Education Forum by Miller et al. (2008)