Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: In traditional classrooms, students are typically presented with facts that they are asked to memorize and recall during an exam. The rapid explosion of available scientific facts in recent years has made this model of teaching impractical. In the current informational landscape, students would be better equipped by being able to evaluate and critically analyze scientific data. As an alternative education approach, we have developed a student-driven lesson plan that utilizes active-learning techniques. Our lesson plan focuses on teaching the differences in meiosis between human sexes. Students come to class having read background material. During class time, they engage in activities that challenge both their basic understanding of concepts as well as how to apply these concepts to real-world situations. The instructor facilitates and clarifies misunderstandings. The Lesson was tested at three institutions in different levels of courses and class sizes, which provided learning assessment data that are presented here. Our data show that the overall learning success of this specific content (meiosis) was similar in a traditionally taught classroom versus our active learning-based lesson. However, based on our own experiences, we observed that student participation in this active-learning lesson was noticeably higher than in any of our traditionally taught classes. Our active-learning lesson highlights the benefits of using active learning techniques in achieving not only learning of content but also increasing student ability to apply the learned material to real-life situations. Although we have applied these principles in Genetics and General Biology courses, they are applicable to a wide range of topics and subjects.
Source: CourseSource
DOI: 10.24918/cs.2014.8
Authors: Benedict J. Kolber, Mary Beth Konsolaki, Michael P. Verzi, Cynthia R. Wagner, Joseph R. McCormick, Karen Schindler
Language: English
Topic: Innovative Teaching Methods
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W2607370120