Strategiestoimprovetheexperienceofinterna3onalstudents(andeveryone)inalarge-enrollmentcourse

DeenaWassenbergandCarlStenoienBiologyTeachingandLearning;Ecology,Evolu3on,andBehavior

TwinCi3esCampus

AbstractAllstudentscanbenefitfromrepresenta3onofdiversebackgroundsandexperiencesinaclassroomseIng.Herewedescribeeffortstomorefullyengageallstudentsinthein-classdiscussionsinalarge-enrollmentEnvironmentalBiologycourse.WedescribesomechangesmadetoacourseaMertheinstructorpar3cipatedintheInterna3onalizingTeachingandLearningcohortprogramattheUniversityofMinnesota.ThesesimplechangesweremeanttofosterbeRerengagementbetweeninterna3onalstudentsanddomes3cstudentswithintheirassignedgroupsandtohighlightthevaluethatinterna3onalperspec3vesbroughttothegroups.Wepresentobserva3onsandsomepreliminarydataregardingtheinvolvementofinterna3onalstudentsinthecourse.

CourseDescrip3onEnvironmentalBiologyisacoursedesignedfornon-biologymajorsthatfulfillsLiberalEduca3onrequirements.StudentsintheclassoMendescribethemselvesas“non-sciencepeople”andsome3mesaresomewhatscienceaverse.Thecourseistaughtinoneofthe“Ac3veLearningClassrooms”1whichhaveupto19roundtablesthatseat9studentseach(Figure1).Studentsmallgroupdiscussionsareanimportantpartoftheinstruc3on.Inearlysemestersofthecourseoffering,theinstructorsno3cedthatwhilesomestudentgroupshadlivelyandproduc3vediscussions,othergroupshadalmostnodiscussionanduncomfortablesilencewhenthegroupwascalledoninthelargerclassseIng.Instructorsno3cedthatinterna3onalstudentspar3cularlywerestrugglingbothwithpar3cipa3nginthecoursediscussionandwithscoresonexams.Changesweremadetothecoursetoimprovethegroup-aspectsofthecourse,andduringthis3meoneoftheauthors(DW)par3cipatedintheInterna3onalizingTeachingandLearning(ITL)cohortprogram.Throughthisexperiencenewac3vi3eswereimplementedthataimedtoimprovetheexperienceforinterna3onalstudents.

Ac3vi3esSomeexampleac3vi3esimplementedtohelpfacilitategreatergroup

par3cipa3on

Data FutureDirec3ons

Figure1.Ac3veLearningClassroom

Asaresultofthiscourse,Iammorecompetentininterac4ngwithstudentsfromdiverse

culturalbackgrounds.

Agree/SA

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Thisinstructoreffec4velyfacilitatedinterac4ons(e.g.,discussions,groupprojects)amongstudents

fromdifferentculturalbackgrounds(e.g.,Whitestudents,studentsof

Agree/SA

Disagree/SD

0

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0.35

Domes3cstudents Interna3onalstudents

NormalizedChangeinConfidence

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Domes3cstudents Interna3onalstudents

NormalizedChangeinScienceInterest

Figure3.Normalizedchangesrepresentthedifferencebetweenpre-andpost-semestersurveyedconfidenceandinterestinscienceoutoftotalgainpossible(possiblerangeisfrom-1to+1).Differencesbetweengroupsarenotsignificant.Gainsinconfidenceandinterestaresta3s3callydifferentfrom0fordomes3candinterna3onalstudents.Errorbarsrepresentstandarderrorofthemean.

280

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Domes3cstudents Interna3onalstudents

Meanexamscoretotal(outof400)

Figure4.Differencesinexamscoresaresta3s3callysignificant(p<0.001),howeverwhencontrolledforstudentstakingthecoursepass/fail(52%ofintl,7%ofdomes3c),thedifferenceisnolongersignificant(p=0.0874).

Figure2.Studentpercep3onbasedonend-of-semestersurvey.

Technique:Studenttablesareassignedbeforethefirstdayofclass.Studentstakingtheclasswithlabareassignedtoagroupthatiswithintheirlabsec3on.Observa4ons:Thefrequencyofnon-par3cipa3oningroupdiscussionswentdown.Beforegroupswereassigned,studentsappearedtoself-segregateintogroups,decreasingthediversityofperspec3vesatatableandcausingsometablestobenon-communica3ve.Asanunexpectedbonus,thelaboratoryTAsnotedthatgroupsinthelabsec3onsbecamemorecommunica3vewitheachother.Technique:Mostdaysonereporterpertableischosenbysomecriteriathatfosterscommunica3on(whoiswearingthemostcolorfulsocks,whowokeupearliest,etc.)Observa4ons:Thereisbroaderpar3cipa3oninthelargegroupdiscussionsbeyondthe“usualsuspects.”Casualdialogisencouragedinthepickingofthereporter.

Technique:TheMagicEightBallapplica3on(developedbyDr.MarkDecker)chooseswhichgrouptocallon.Observa4ons:Thiskeepsthetablesreadytobecalledon,fosteringbeRerpar3cipa3on.Thevisualofthe8-ballletsthemknowtobeprepared.Thisalsopreventstheinstructorsfromavoidingcertaintablesthatmightbeunder-prepared.Technique:Onthefirstdayofclassnotecardsnumbered1-9arepassedouttotheclass.Studentsareinstructedtoorderthemselves1-9basedonthedistancewherevertheyconsider“home”isfromtheTwinCi3escampus.Studentsthengoaroundthetabledescribingoneenvironmentalissuetheygrewupthinkingabout.Thisbeginsthediscussionofthefactthatweseeenvironmentalissuesthroughalensofourpriorexperiences.Studentsareencouragedtosharetheirperspec3vesandwheretheseperspec3vescomefrom.Ontheseconddayofclassstudentsorderthemselveswithnotecardsonbyhowurbanversushowruraltheirhomeis.Wediscusshowbothloca3onandtheurban/ruralupbringingaffectourpercep3onsofenvironmentalissuesandthatpeoplefromhomesthatareverydistantmaysharemoreperspec3vesincommonbasedontheurban/ruralnatureoftheirupbringingthanstudentsfromnearbycommuni3es.Observa4ons:GeIngstudentstoviewtheirhomeasadiverseassetisoneofourgoalsandhavingthemsharetheirperspec3vesbasedontheiruniquehistoriesisvaluableinthisclass.Sincedoingthiswehavehadinterna3onalstudentssharetheirexperiencesandperspec3vesfromtheirhomeswiththeen3reclass.Technique:Attheintroduc3ontotheFoodunit,studentsspendafewminutesdescribingtotheirtablegroupthemealorfooditemthat“feltlikehome”tothem.Theinstructorthensharedtheirfood(foroneitwasmeatloaf…don’tjudgeun3lyou’vetriedhermother’smeatloaf).Wediscusshowdeeplyembeddedcultureandemo3onareintofoodchoices.Observa4ons:InthepastwehavehadstudentswhoseemedtofeelaRackedbythedataregardingfoodchoices,par3cularlyaroundmeatconsump3on.Sharing,andtosomeextent,celebra3ngthefooditemswithclassmatesseemstohelpeasesomeofthehardfeelingsthatcanoccur.Thediscussionabouttheenvironmentalcostsofmeatconsump3onseemmorepalatablewhentheprofessoradmitstolikingmeatloaf.Technique:DuringtheITLworkshopwelearnedofaresourcetogetinterna3onalstudentstocometoclassesthatwasavailablethroughtheUMNCultureCorpsprogram.ForthisclassweoMenhaveaneveningfarmingpanelinwhichpeoplewithfarmingexper3secomesharetheirexperiencesaboutwhatfoodproduc3onislikeinreality.Iwasabletobringintwointerna3onalstudentstopar3cipateinthispanel.Observa4ons:Theinterna3onalstudentsbroughtadifferentperspec3vetothepanelthatwasnotpreviouslyavailableinthemostlylocalfarmers.

AcknowledgementsTheauthorsthankPaulBaeplerandJ.D.Walkerforhelpfulsugges3onsonstudydesignanddataanalysis.Theauthorsalsothankthepar3cipantsandorganizersoftheInterna3onalizingTeachingandLearningFacultyCohortProgramof2015.Theauthorsespeciallythankmanysemestersofinspira3onalstudents!

Wehavefurtheranalysesthatneedtobedoneondatafrompre-andpost-semestersurveys.Thesurveysincludeatooltounderstandstudents’percep3onsoftheirgroup,whattheyhavelearnedfromtheirteammatesandwhattheirteammateshavelearnedfromthem1,3.Weareinterestedintheperspec3vesofinterna3onalstudentsincomparisontodomes3cstudentsontheteamaspectsofthecourse.Wewouldfurtherliketodevelopinterna3onalperspec3vespresentedintheclassby,forexample,spendingmore3meonenvironmentalpolicyandimportantenvironmentalissuesoutsidetheUS.

References1.  Baepler,P.,Walker,J.D.,Brooks,D.C.,Saichaie,K.,&

Petersen,C.I.(2016).Aguidetoteachinginac3velearningclassrooms:History,research,andprac3ce.Washington,D.C.:StylusPublishing.

2.  UniversityofMinnesotaCultureCorpsProgram.Informa3on

at:hRps://isss.umn.edu/programs/culturecorps/aboutcc-staff.html.

3.  LinktoSocialContexttool:hRp://z.umn.edu/lsr.