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Contents

Acknowledgements
Foreword
Using This Resource

I. Preparing to Teach
Planning a course
--Defining Instructional Objectives
--Teaching and Learning Styles: The   Academic Culture
--Choosing and Using Instructional   Materials
--Writing a Syllabus
--Syllabus Checklist
--Using the Syllabus in Class
--Summary of Course Planning
Addressing Students' Needs
--Importance of Knowing Your   Students
--Planning Considerations
--Getting to Know Your Students
--Students of Different Backgrounds
--Students with Disabilities
--Teaching Strategies: Non-Native   Speakers of English
--Creating a Learning Environment
--Dealing with Disruptive Behavior in   the Classroom
--Common Disruptive Student   Behaviors and Possible Responses
--Dealing with Apathetic Students
--Cultural Differences for International   Instructors
--Summary of Addressing Students’   Needs
Teaching Tips
--Organizing Class
--Ways to Be Accessible Outside the   Classroom
--Six Common Non-Facilitating   Teaching Behaviors
--Wireless in the Classroom: Advice   for Faculty
--Summary of Teaching Tips

II. Teaching Methods
The First Day of Class
--When the Class Meets You
--When You Meet the Class
--Diversity the Instructor Brings to the   Classroom
--Conversing with Students with   Disabilities
--Moving Forward
--Summary of the First Day of Class
Lecturing
--Strategies for Effective Learning
--Advantages and Disadvantages of   the Traditional Lecture Method
--Enhancing Learning in Large   Classes
--Chalkboard Technique
--Writing Assignments in the Lecture
--Engaging Women in Math and   Science Courses
--Formulating Effective Questions
--Summary of Lecturing
Discussion
--Brief Overview
--The “Nuts and Bolts” of Discussion
--Facilitating Discussion of Sensitive   Issues
--Encouraging Student Contributions
--Alternative Instructional Methods
--Potential Problems in Discussions
--Summary of Discussion
Expanding Teaching Strategies
--Practical Examples
--Show and Tell
--Case Studies
--Teaching with Case Studies
--Guided Design Projects
--Brainstorming
Group Work
--General Information about Using   Groups
--Group Work in an Introductory   Science Laboratory
Science Labs
--The Role of the Lab Instructor
--What Do the Students Need to   Know?
--The First Day
--Planning and Running a Laboratory
--Safety Procedures
--Summary of Science Labs
Teaching Outside the Classroom
--Tutoring
--Office Hours
--Teaching Students to Solve   Problems
--Advising and Extracurricular   Activities
--Summary of Teaching Outside the   Classroom
Overcoming Misconceptions
--Societal Attitudes and Science   Anxiety
--Misconceptions as Barriers to   Understanding Science
--Common Difficulties and   Misunderstandings

III. Teaching-as-Research
Assessing Student Performance
--Establishing Objectives for   Assessment
--Assessment Primer
--Formulating Effective Methods of   Assessment
--Helping Students Succeed on   Assignments and Exams
--The Why and How of Tests
--Grading Lab Reports, Problem Sets,   and Exam Questions
--Grading Checklist
--Grading Specific Activities
--Grading Writing
--Summary of Assessing Student   Performance
How to Evaluate Your Own Teaching
--Evaluating Your Own Teaching
--A Note on Teaching-as-Research

IV. Appendices
Inspirational Essays
--Mathematics: The Universal   Language of Science
--Transforming Quizzes into Teaching   and Learning Tools
--Teaching My Students to Fish
--Chemistry: The Other Foreign   Language
--Teaching to Different Modes of   Learning
--Notes from a Career in Teaching
Additional Resources
Websites
Graduate Assistant Handbook Outline
--Department- and Institution-Specific   Information
--18 Questions to Have Answered

Works Cited

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Too often, we feel that the only things we should teach or are allowed to teach in a science lab are the specific sets of facts or techniques that are outlined in the lab manual. However, if this gives the students an impression of science as a restricted and procedure-bound set of steps, they never develop any of the higher-order skills that are required of professionals in the field. There are a number of additional concepts that a lab instructor should keep in mind as being of importance to expose students to. The lab instructor should take every opportunity to introduce these concepts in discussions and presentations in and out of the laboratory.

Critical Thinking

As mentioned above, the ultimate aim of training students in a science lab is not merely to fill them with facts, but to help them learn how to approach and analyze a problem. How do we formulate questions and establish facts? How do we determine the meanings of observations? How do we reason? Teaching students to think critically can be approached by helping them develop an awareness of the steps one goes through in a scientific investigation.

How to Ask Questions

Scientists spend their time trying to answer questions for which there are no known answers. But the quality of the research and importance of the answer often depends on how good the question is. Asking insightful and meaningful questions is a skill that must be learned. Part of the students’ training in the laboratory should include practice in asking questions. Encourage the students to ask questions for the sake of forming the questions and analyzing how it is done.

One exercise that can be used in lab – or as an outside exercise to encourage students to develop their skills at inquiry – is the 20-Question Game. Have the students sit quietly in the lab or elsewhere and think about the course work or their surroundings. Each student should write down 20 questions that come to his or her mind about the body of knowledge encompassed by the course. It is not important whether the question has a known answer. The goal is to give the students practice in using their imaginations.
 
Afterwards, one can discuss their questions with them individually or in groups. What types of questions did they ask? Usually their questions will fall into a few categories: “why” questions, “how does it work” questions, structure and function questions, “what if” questions, and “where does this fit” questions. What are the advantages and difficulties of each kind of question? How would one go about answering them? Would the answer to the question say anything significant about the nature of patterns in the discipline? Can the question be feasibly answered, given the available time and resources? Are the questions generalizable? With practice, the students will go from asking questions like, “Why is this tree taller than that one?” and “How many molecules are in the human body?” to “What are the factors that control plant growth?” and “How do cells select which molecules cross membrane boundaries?” In a short while, the students will find that questions come more freely to mind, and that many of them could lead to productive research programs.

How to Answer Questions

Finding the answers to questions is the physical labor of doing science. As one talks to students and answers their questions, it is useful to tell them about the process by which the answers were found.

The basis of most scientific investigation is an observation about a pattern. A tentative explanation for the pattern can be given, and is called a hypothesis. Before the explanation can be accepted, however, it must be tested. A prediction is made about what should be seen under other circumstances or at a different time, if the explanation is correct. The results of the experiment may be as predicted, and therefore support the explanation and add to our confidence in it, or may not be as predicted and indicate that the explanation needs to be revised. Ideally, this process is repeated until the results from all the experimental tests can be explained by only one hypothesis. It is important to explain that one can never prove a hypothesis; one can only fail to disprove it. Science advances because, as techniques are improved, additional predictions can be tested to further refine hypotheses.

This process of investigation serves as a heuristic model to describe the thought processes that go on when a person tries to answer a question. Another set of skills necessary to answer questions are those involved in running a valid experiment. The details will vary from discipline to discipline, but virtually every experiment involves first defining the terms with which you are describing the system, identifying the variables and assumptions, identifying the possible sources of error, and determining what is already known about the system. A possible step involves comparing an experimental group to a control group, which should differ from the experimental group in only one variable. Experiments can be either manipulative, in which the scientist causes the difference between the two groups, or natural, in which advantage is taken of natural differences between groups. The strength of the experiment is influenced by both sample size and replication of experimental and control groups.

How to Deal with Numerical Data

Students often want to record their results on paper towels or scrap paper. These are easily lost and are hard to keep organized. The data should be recorded in a lab notebook or on data paper that can be easily stored safely in a binder and with column headings and descriptions that will allow the data to be interpreted later. A lab instructor should encourage the students to treat all their data as important, even if they think they already know what the answer will be, and to make their measurements with all the accuracy allowed by their equipment. They should also think in advance about how they will analyze their data. This will help them to avoid collecting data that cannot be analyzed or that do not answer their question.

When the students analyze their data, they should keep in mind the question that they are trying to answer. Students often analyze their data in a particular way only because they saw that the data could be put together in that fashion, and not because it addressed their question.

In some of the introductory labs, many students will not yet have studied statistics, and therefore the lab instructor can only expect a minimal amount of sophistication in how they analyze their data. The best that many students will be able to do to simplify their data will be to calculate mean values. However, the lab instructor should take the opportunity to tell them about the need for statistics to estimate the uncertainties in their results. Even though a hypothesis can never be proven, a statistical test can tell how likely it is that results could have occurred by chance or error. In more advanced labs, most students will come in with knowledge of calculus and statistics, but the lab instructor may have to help them learn to apply it to the material of the lab. Again, the lab instructor should know the math background of his or her students.

The hardest thing for many students to learn is how to interpret their data. It is important for lab instructors to introduce them to the ideas of causation and correlation. For example, in the life sciences, we are usually interested in discovering what the cause of a pattern is, but can often only determine whether or not two variables are correlated with one another. Also, a lab instructor should remind them of the complexity of their experiments. Not only is any pattern likely to be influenced by more than one variable, but each variable is likely to have multiple effects.

Encourage your students to display their data in ways that are easily interpreted by other people, such as in graphs or tables. This will help them learn to communicate their results and will often give them new ideas about what their data might mean.

How to Communicate

Both written and oral communication skills are important in every profession. However, in our experience, many students feel that the quality of their scientific writing is not important. It is essential to discourage this view. Clear and effective communication skills are vital, no matter what profession students plan to enter. A lab instructor should make every effort to comment constructively on both students’ basic writing skills and their ability to effectively communicate their scientific ideas on paper.

Also, a lab instructor should encourage students to practice their oral communication. Students often have difficulty expressing themselves verbally in science classes because of the large number of new terms (this is especially true of introductory labs). At first, it can be useful to get them to think about what they are trying to say in non-technical language. Then, the lab instructor should provide the scientific terminology for their ideas. In this way, students improve their ability to interact verbally and to use scientific terminology to increase the precision of their communication.

Scientific communication also involves the use of visual aids. Getting students to draw diagrams of concepts and specimens that they observe in the lab can enhance their learning. If they are required to give formal oral presentations in the laboratory, the lab instructor can help them to organize and use illustrative slides and overhead projections.

Everyone is Capable of Doing Science

A difficult thing to convey to students is that everyone is capable of doing science. Students’ lack of confidence in their scientific abilities often results from high school science courses in which they were taught only to memorize facts and formulae. As a result, they never learned that science is as much a way of thinking as it is a body of knowledge. These students can often be helped by using examples of hypothesis formulation and testing that relate to non-laboratory situations. For example, people often go through the process of formulating, testing, and revising a hypothesis whenever they burn a cake in the oven or their car refuses to start. Students can use these examples to recognize that they already know how to do science, and that by taking a science course they are simply broadening their awareness of the world around them.