An Integrated Science Curriculum for First Year Students

Lisa Gentile Department of Chemistry, University of Richmond

Acknowledgments

UR: Betsy Curtler, Ted Bunn

HHMI: Undergraduate Science Education Award

Back row: Ovidiu Lipan, Krista Stenger, Lisa Gentile, Mike Kerckhove, Doug Szajda, Carol ParishFront row: Mirela Fetea, April Hill, Kathy Hoke, Lester Caudill, Barry Lawson

Integrated Quantitative Science (IQS)

http://iqscience.richmond.edu/

PKAL- FIDL: http://www.nimbios.org/ifiles/KeckPKAL_IDL.pdf

How do we best prepare our students to work in an

interdisciplinary environment?

When a group of faculty met in 2007 to ask that question UR had strong momentum:

•Renovated Science Center housing chemistry, biology, physics•New science faculty positions (including 2 “interdisciplinary” science faculty from UR’s first HHMI grant)•Strong science students•$900,000 Science Education Grant #1 from HHMI •Success in securing external funding from major programs to increase interdisciplinary work

Teach the material from the first course in each of biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science as one, integrated course.

Course team-taught by 5 faculty, one from each discipline.

Includes a hypothesis-driven, discovery based lab and a workshop.

Students then go on to complete a traditional major in any discipline.

Reassigned time to develop/implement/teach the course

Fall SpringYr 1 (development):

1 course of 3 2 courses of 2

Yr 2 (first time teaching): 1 course of 2 Teaching (counts as “3”)

Yr 3: none Teaching (counts as “2”)

Yr 4: none Teaching (counts as “1”)

IQS Learning Goals:

• Increased interdisciplinary and disciplinary understanding by students

•Increased interdisciplinary understanding by faculty, as seen in the quality of integration in lectures and lab

•Increased number of faculty in STEM disciplines equipped to create courses that draw on concepts from multiple disciplines

•Increased number of students pursuing cross-disciplinary opportunities at our institution and beyond

•Increased use by faculty of connections to other disciplines in their discipline-based courses.

Discipline Topic constraintsBiology how modern biologists ask questions, scientific

methodology, use of tools for observing natural world, quantitative skill building, statistical reasoning, data analysis, scientific communication

Chemistry kinetics, thermodynamics, equilibrium, acid-base chemistry, redox, electromagnetic radiation and Bohr model of atom, quantum mechanics, orbitals and electron configurations, bonding, VSEPR and hybridization, MO theory, Lewis structures, introduction to spectroscopy

Computer Science

fundamental object-oriented programming, conditional and looping control structures, arrays, methods and parameter passing, file I/O

Mathematics integration: Riemann sums, numerical estimates, fundamental theorem, substitution integrals; average and instantaneous rates-of-change, the derivative as rate-of-change, derivative and antiderivative shortcuts, linear approximations, definite integrals

Physics vectors, displacement, velocity, acceleration, linear and circular uniform and non-uniform motion, Newton’s laws and fundamental forces in nature, work, energy, energy transfer, linear momentum, oscillatory motion, and rotational motion: cross product, angular kinematics, angular momentum, torque, moment of inertia

Mandatory disciplinary topics in IQS

Reassigned time to develop/implement/teach the course

Fall SpringYr 1 (development): (3) (2)

1 course of 3 2 courses of 2

Yr 2 (first time teaching) (2) (3) 1 course of 2 Teaching (counts as “3”)

Yr 3: none Teaching (counts as “2”)

Yr 4: none Teaching (counts as “1”)

IQS-1THEME: Antibiotic Resistance

•Mathematical models of disease spread

•Agent-based simulation models to study disease transmission/ antibiotic resistance

•Conformational flexibility of antibiotic molecule: computer-aided molecular visualization & simulation /VSEPR, VB, MO, energetic analysis

•Semester-long experiment: What types of bacteria are present in marine sponges (Clathria prolifera) that are resistant to antibiotics?

Creation of sponge stem cell primmorphs and their symbiotic bacteria that were treated with multiple antibiotic regimes, isolation of microbial DNA from primmorphs, amplification and cloning of 16S rDNA, sequencing, bioinformatics: automating comparison with Genbank and analysis of bacterial DNA sequences (Java program)- posters tonight

IQS-1THEME: Antibiotic Resistance

IQS-2THEME: Signaling

•Understanding signaling in the immune system upon activation by an inflammatory response:

macrophages activated by LPS to induce transcription of the gene for inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) & analysis by

Western blot and NO assay (Greiss reagents for NO2-)

•Use of genetic algorithm techniques to generate potential solutions to the traveling salesperson problem

IQS-2THEME: Signaling

•Kinetics of drug binding to wild type and multidrug resistant strains of HIV-1 protease: experimental & computational project

•MRI (rotational motion). Gyroscopic motion angular velocity, cross product, angular momentum, torque. Resonance, relaxation

•Brownian motion: classroom, experimental, and simulation approaches

Lessons learned •Allow the idea to come from the faculty and to allow us to define what we need to make it work.

•Allow ample time for both development and implementation

•Focus on group unity and community building activities

•Ultimate faculty development

Challenges•“Full” integration of the material

•Team teaching with 5 faculty members from different disciplines

•Small departments- development/early implementation stages

•Computer science

•Student selection

Integrated Science (IS) Minor•IQS-1 and 2 (or 1st course in each of the 5 disciplines): 4U•IQS Research Training Seminar: 0.25U•Research 1U•2 x ID course* 2U•Senior IS seminar 0.5U•Calculus II 1U

*: Currently approved: bio-imaging, math models in biology and medicine, bioinformatics, theoretical/computational chemistry, evolutionary computing, systems biology, structural biology. Coming soon: epidemiology

IQS Learning Goals:

• Increased interdisciplinary and disciplinary understanding by students

•Increased interdisciplinary understanding by faculty, as seen in the quality of integration in lectures and lab

•Increased number of faculty in STEM disciplines equipped to create courses that draw on concepts from multiple disciplines

•Increased number of students pursuing cross-disciplinary opportunities at our institution and beyond

•Increased use by faculty of connections to other disciplines in their discipline-based courses.

Outputs• Number of applicants, demographics, number completing course. Year 1: 78, Year 2: 53 (includes physics pre-req)

•Number of faculty teaching (& length of time) in IQS.

•Lecture, lab, workshop materials for IQS.

•Number of students from IQS involved in summer and AY research and

•Number of students who continue with Research Training Seminar and IS minor

IQS (09-10): 20 -1

Comparison: 58 +1

Number remaining at UR after 2 years

17 55

Percentage of students staying for a full time research experience the summer following IQS

100% 9%

Percentage of students staying for a full time research experience the 2nd summer following IQS

61% 22%

Percentage of students with credit for academic year research

100% 25%

Percentage of students who took sophomore level research training seminar

79% 0%

The first IQS class (2009-2010) vs. the comparison group

Short Term Outcomes• Increased appreciation for the value of ID learning

•Increased disciplinary understanding in each of the 5 disciplines among students who take IQS

•Increased ID understanding in the faculty as seen by quality/level of integration of disciplines in lectures/labs

Evaluation Questions1.How effective was IQS in teaching science to students- both disciplinary-specific and ID topics?

a. ID: RISC*b. Disciplinary-specific: Next courses in majorc. Students continue in the sciences (courses, majors

and careers)

*: http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/psychology/faculty/dl/risc

2009-2010 2010-2011Student work on problems where no one knows the outcomes

3.00/3.82; 3.06/3.18

2.47/3.94; 2.98/3.21

Students use instruments/materials from other fields of study

2.33/3.94; 2.90/3.07

2.79/3.47; 2.88/3.11

Students find similarities/differences between disciplines

2.89/4.41; 3.44/3.24

3.42/3.72; 3.43/3.33

Students talk with faculty members from other disciplines

2.63/4.29; 3.16/3.12

3.32/4.00; 3.17/3.22

Students ask questions that implicate more than one discipline in an answer

2.78/4.35; 3.21/3.45

2.89/3.59; 3.23/3.48

Students create new metaphors, analogies, or models to understand

2.56/4.24; 2.88/3.24

2.68/3.59; 2.85/3.30

New insights emerge from students considering multiple disciplines

2.50/4.12; 2.79/3.15

2.37/3.50; 2.77/3.30

RISC data: IQS students pre-test/ IQS students post-test; all students pre-test/ all students post-test

2009-2010 2010-2011Students present intellectual work in posters 2.22/4.59;

3.03/3.033.16/3.44; 2.99/3.01

Read a text book 4.56/2.38; 4.31/2.97

4.11/2.50; 4.28/2.80

A problem where students have input into process or topic

2.00/4.64; 3.15/3.85

2.32/3.31; 3.13/3.80

Students attempt complete understanding of a complex problem

2.89/4.24; 3.28/3.59

2.84/3.47; 3.27/3.67

Students use computer modeling of complex systems

1.22/4.00; 2.15/2.97

1.53/3.72; 2.12/3.26

Students work on a project or problem entirely of their own design

2.11/3.40; 2.87/3.74

1.89/2.31; 2.83/3.71

Students write a research proposal 1.78/3.50; 2.44/2.96

1.42/1.85; 2.40/3.00

RISC data: IQS students pre-test/ IQS students post-test; all students pre-test/ all students post-test

Evaluation Questions1.How effective was IQS in teaching science to students- both disciplinary-specific and ID topics?

a. ID: RISCb. Disciplinary-specific: Next courses in majorc. Students continue in the sciences (courses, majors,

and careers)

Force Concept Inventory:basic concepts in Newtonian physics

Gain = (posttest%-pretest%)/(100-pretest%)62 intro physics courses, 6542 students (Hake, 1998, Am. J. Phys., 66, 64-74)

*: other goals

Evaluation Questions1.How effective was IQS in teaching science to students- both disciplinary-specific and ID topics?

a. ID: RISCb. Disciplinary-specific: Next courses in majorc. Students continue in the sciences (courses, majors,

and careers)

IQS (09-10): 17

Comparison: 55

Percentage of students who took a second course in one of the five disciplines

100% 88% (94%)

Percentage of students that took a second course in two of the five disciplines

94% (100%) 73% (78%)

Percentage of students that took a second course in three of the five disciplines

77% (94%) 32% (58%)

Percentage of students that took a second course in four of the five disciplines

24% (44%) 7% (18%)

Percentage of students that took a second course in five of the five disciplines

0% 0%

Science courses in the first 2 years: the first IQS class (2009-2010) vs. the comparison group

Mean number of courses the 2009-2010 IQS students took vs. the comparison group

IQS (09-10): 17

Comparison: 55

Percentage of students declaring a major in one of the 5 areas at end of 2nd year

94% 60%

Percentage of students declaring a major not in the sciences at the end of 2nd year

0% 29%

The first IQS class (2009-2010) vs. the comparison group

Evaluation Questions

2. How did teaching IQS change the way in which faculty teach other courses?

a. New cross-disciplinary courses at the upper level are developed and taught: three new interdisciplinary courses have been designed for the IS minor (systems biology, theoretical/computational chemistry, structural biology)

b. Examples, exercises, and problems that emphasize interdisciplinary understanding developed for the IQS course are used by faculty in traditional discipline-specific courses.

Evaluation Questions

3. Are concepts from each discipline integrated in lectures and labs developed for IQS course?

a. faculty designed and added new integrated projects to the second offering of IQS

Evaluation Questions

4. How effective was the IQS course in training students to problem solve in an ID manner, as seen in their research projects as well as in their future courses?

PKAL- FIDL: http://www.nimbios.org/ifiles/KeckPKAL_IDL.pdf

Acknowledgments

UR: Betsy Curtler, Ted Bunn

HHMI: Undergraduate Science Education Award

Back row: Ovidiu Lipan, Krista Stenger, Lisa Gentile, Mike Kerckhove, Doug Szajda, Carol ParishFront row: Mirela Fetea, April Hill, Kathy Hoke, Lester Caudill, Barry Lawson