Active Learning Exercise

I plan to have my students drawing and modeling frequently throughout my classes. I would like my students to be able to solve problems by drawing out the solution. I feel that this strategy could be used in a variety of scenarios. Once such scenario would be an excess of calcium in a humans blood.

I would try to use the strategy that we saw in the Intro Bio class, that is, breaking the students up into small groups that they would remain in for the whole semester. The students would be instructed to sit together the way we observed as well. I would then spend about 10 minutes with a problem every Friday. I would begin with a scenario or question up on the screen. The groups would then get about 8 minutes to solve the problem with a graph, model, or picture. In the case of hypercalcemia, we could use this imbalance for cardiac action potentials or capillary exchange. I would then collect the responses and organize them for the lecture on Monday. We would spend about another 8 minutes on these questions. We would discuss the validity of each type of submission as a class and come to a consensus on the correct submissions. I could also use their group numbers to call on them if they are reluctant to speak up. I think this would be a very useful activity because I could then use questions similar to these on the exam and feel confident that they would have been given the tools to solve the problem.

This activity would target group problem solving and the ability to work though problems on paper.

Assessment in the Eyes of a Student.

In the eyes of many students, assessments are seen as the most important aspect of a course. It’s often the first thing a student looks at on a syllabus; I know it was for me. They aren’t initially concerned with the learning goals, office hours, or reading assignments, they tune into when they will have they’re exams, when they will take quizzes, or when they need to turn in assignments. They care about how and when their understanding of course content will be assessed. Often, the assessment will determine their grade and will greatly impact how well they think they did in the course. To the average student, assessment is usually the whole reason they do anything in the course. Assessment results merge together and put a label on the student, A performer, B performer, etc. A collection of these labels can have an enormous impact on their future and the student will have to adapt their future plans accordingly.

On a more positive note, an assessment can be of use to the student in more ways than one. The student can use the assessment as motivation to work hard in the course, which will result in them learning the material. Assessments usually are accompanied by some sort of feedback and the student can use this feedback to better their understanding. Assessments can also be used to challenge a student’s understanding and expose their reasoning skills. Assessments are often presented in a form that will provide practice for future tasks and are directly preparing them for their future, i.e. assessing a nursing student’s ability to check blood pressure.  Regardless of whether the student can or cannot directly see the correlation to their future, assessments, both summative and formative, are essential to student learning.

Formative Assessment

The backward design template seemed to convey much more value when I was actually trying to plan out a unit as opposed to just reading about how to plan a unit. When I had first read Chapter 1 of Wiggins and McTighe, I did recognized that this could be a useful tool to a future, up-and-coming instructor like me. I did not, however, see it as something that could drastically transform how a student would learn a concept. I think that it could be especially helpful when trying to cover the topic of formative design due to laying out the learning activities in stage 3. Proper execution of stage 3 enables you to see when you’re assessments are occurring in relation to the rest of the learning activities. Stage 2 also really comes in handy when you are trying to decide on what types of formative assessment should be used. Since have already identified what constitutes as evidence that the student has understood the topic, now you just have to pick what type/types best correlate.

I feel like this exercise made me more aware of the challenge of formative assessment more so than the concept itself.  I was surprised how difficult it was to layout a lesson plan that included a true formative assessment. It also made me more aware of the lack of this in my own undergraduate career. I tried to think back to prior courses to get examples and I had very few options to pick from.  This exercise also got me trying to work out how I would be able to have formative assessment followed by feedback without taking up too much time or disrupting the flow of the lesson.

I would begin explaining formative design by using the practicality of its use. I’m confident that most of my colleges would have to agree that assessments are an opportunity for a student to show how well they have learned what the instructor has taught them. Assessing students only at the end of the unit only shows one point in that students “learning timeline”. Once this has been determined, a grade is assigned, and there is usually no time spent on that topic again. That student will receive feedback in the form of a grade, comments, or even an answer key. The problem is that this student may never get an opportunity to use this assessment or feedback for that concept again. However, if this student’s understanding is assessed at multiple points along the unit, the student has an opportunity to utilize that assessment and feedback to correct errors, identify areas where they are lacking, or confirm that they have a full understanding of the concept.

I would also express that formative assessment can help the instructor become for effective as well. Formative assessment gives the instructor an opportunity to survey they students understanding before that unit is over. This gives the instructor a better understanding of how the remaining time should be allotted. If an assessment preformed mid-way through a lecture shows that the majority of the class is really grasping the concept, the instructor could dive deeper into the concept than he originally thought possible. If the assessment showed that the class was having a hard time understanding the information presented, it would then make the instructor aware of the problem long before exams, midterms, or finals. The instructor could then be proactive instead of waiting for the scantrons to reveal the problem after the fact.

Formative assessment reminds me of the following saying, “If it ‘aint broke, don’t fix it”. Well, I guarantee that in every class there is someone who needs a little fixing but the problem is, we don’t know they’re broken.

Mock Interview Reflections

My practice interview brought up a few concerns that I didn’t even know I had. I was paired with someone who had never taken an Anatomy course. Since my questions were pertaining material specifically covered in the first few weeks of A&P, I was concerned that this exercise would not be applicable to my actual interview. The same scenario applied for her questions and my course history. I came to the realization that my questions were targeted to someone who came to class, did well on their homework, and successfully learned the material from Ch. 18 this semester. There is a good chance that the student I interview may not completely align with my target interviewee. Before this exercise, I was not prepared to interview a student who didn’t successfully learn the material that is the foundation of this interview. My partner did a great job bringing information that she had received through her own personal experiences and advertisements. I did have to adapt my questions a little and change the order so that we could make our way through it all. I also ended up using the male hormones and sex organs in my interview. I did not plan on that at all but I think it helped my partner work through her prior knowledge and get a sense of what I was looking to uncover. My partner used scenarios in her interview and I really liked that. I might pose a scenario involving a damaged uterus or hysterectomy. I didn’t have her draw any models but I think that I will have a pen and paper at the ready to see if it’s something they will decide to do on their own.  Overall I think it went well. It was an opportunity for me to get more comfortable with the interview setting and an idea on how to make my questions flow best.

Interview Questions

I would like to interview students in BIOL 221, Anatomy & Physiololgy II. I am interested to see if they can transfer anything from the Endocrine chapter to the Reproduction chapter. I also am interested to see how they think birth control works prior to having it taught to them later on this semester.

My questions:

How does oral contraceptives keep you from getting pregnant?
- What hormones are involved?
- What do they do?
- How do you know this?

Learning Revisited

I think my belief of successful learning requiring an open mind was really expressed in our discussion on Thursday. We all came into that room with an idea in our head. Some had a few similar phrases in their deffinitions but there was a lot of variety in what people bleived to be learning. An open mind would have enabled you to be receptive to those newely presented phrases and you would then be able to process that information in your head and use it to develop your own definition even if you didn't agree with theirs.

The chapter in How Students Learn discussed a students ability to question an experiment done on frogs. They were encouraged to think of reasons as to why the data was not acurate or why they wouldn't believe it to be true. I think this hits a point very different that the one just stated. I think that part of learning is questioning. If we just believed every bit of information we were ever presented with, we wouldn't be learning. We would be agree and cooperating until we reached a point of memorization. One's willingness to question is what keeps them comming back for more suport or prof that that material is correct. It's almost as if you need to be in a state of disbieaf and have to be proven wrong.

I would add that learning is a healthy balance between pushing (questioning) and pulling (wanting to hear more) at the information presented to you. Without this balance, I don't realy feel like much, if any, learning would be accomplished.

Teaching Philosophy Revised

Steve's post had some very spefic details and I think he does a good job at explaining why he would use some of these practices. I agree with the use of providing notes but leaving students to take part in the work of note taking. The instructor is providing you with a guidline to follow. I think this corelates nicely with his use of the Jazz band metaphopor. I'd like to elaborate on that a little. Without the director, there may still be music being played but it would unorganized and messy, it would interfere with another musician's playing, or it may be absent all together. With the director, the sheet music is explained and practiced. The result is people playing music that is complete, correct, and moving. A good teaching is just like a good band director. They will result in a beautiful product, as opposed to just making it through to the end of the song.


Jody made a good point when she recognized that a student must learn the facts before he/she can be pushed to carry that knowledge on. Yes, we may want a class that every period is unique and exciting, but these new activities musn't hinder the essential task of developing a students framework of knowledge. If this means having a lecture with a lot of talking, you might just have to talk for 38 minutes out of 50 to effectively get your point across.


Alberto mentioned something that I think a lot of us have overlooked. Be dedicated and enjoy what you do. If an instructor is giving off the vibe that they don't really want to be here, then the students will amplify that feeling even more. Being excited about what your teaching will help you get them excited about what they are learning. Dedication is deffinatly another thing that will create a postitive learning envrionment. Without dedication, your surely not going to reach as many students and you could. I'd like to believe that we are dedicated to becoming good teachers and courses such as this will keep teachers motiviaded and dedicated to strive to be better. Teachers should be continually working towards a better way to teach but motivation is key.


I feel as though my teaching philosophy needed to be a little more specific. Examples of note-styles, lecture formats, and exam layouts will provide a better picture as of how I will try to have an adaptive learning environment.