Upcoming Presentations and Workshops:National Presentation TAKING A CHANCE: EMPOWERING SCIENCE EDUCATION THOUGH OUTREACH, TECHNOLOGY, AND GLOBALIZATION When: October 2, 2012 Associate Professor of Biology, CHANCE Founding Director, The Pennsylvania State University—Lehigh Valley, Center Valley, Pennsylvania, USA, jshea@psu.edu Providing opportunities for K-12 and undergraduate students to participate in authentic research experiences that are real-world and multi-disciplinary supports the current and progressive Vision and Change movement to transform undergraduate science education at both the classroom and institutional levels in the United States. Designing programs that allow participants to conduct authentic scientific research either directly in the field or virtually is a key component of achieving this goal while simultaneously enhancing scientific literacy in 21st century environmental realities. The aim of this presentation is to showcase how both the Penn State CHANCE international field courses and online “research modules” are influencing participants’ understanding of and engagement in authentic science practices, as well as their understanding of and engagement with global environmental stewardship. National Research Paper Presentation USING INQUIRY-BASED ACTIVITIES TO TRANSFORM UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE EDUCATION: A MODEL FOR UNDERSTANDING CELL GRWOTH AND VIABILITY When: November 2, 2012 1Doctoral Awardee (2012), Graduate Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USA, skumar1@illumina.com
Improving undergraduate biology teaching practices requires aligning pedagogy with inquiry-based research. This paper describes a model lab activity for teaching cell growth and differentiation using living cells in culture in a guided-inquiry based format (Herron, 1971). The key objective is to have students use cell culture research-based parameters and techniques to guide their understanding of cellular life. Students are asked to set-up and grow a specific cell line in culture and plot its “growth curve” over a period of eight days. Importantly, students are required to hypothesize the effect of limited nutrients and space in vitro when they do not change the culture media of their cells over the allotted time. We use a survey-based approach to assess the analytical and experimental learning of 20 biology majors. We find that over 60% of the undergraduate students who participated in this study felt that in addition to learning laboratory techniques, they also had a robust understanding of scientific literature in their area of study including hypothesis generation, critical thinking and writing skills. Further, through this inquiry-based research lab, evidence is given to support the importance of a guiding question and the need to integrate technology, i.e., laboratory equipment and associated methods, into classroom to facilitate learning. National Summit MOVING FROM VISION TO CHANGE: 21st CENTURY TRANSFORMATION OF THE UNDERGRADUATE BIOLOGY CLASSROOM When: November 3, 2012 1Associate Professor of Biology, CHANCE Founding Director, The Pennsylvania State University—Lehigh Valley, Center Valley, Pennsylvania, USA, jshea@psu.edu
Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action was written by leading scientists, science educators, and policymakers after years of careful thought into how to improve the teaching and learning of science as we face the challenges of the 21st century. The utility of this document, however, depends upon its implementation by our nation's faculty - we all need to heed the call-to-action to "transform" how we teach biology. To assist college faculty in their personal transformations, NABT is proud to offer the 2012 Faculty Professional Development Summit entitled Moving fromVision to Change: 21st Century Transformation of the Undergraduate Biology Education.
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