Designing Effective Science Courses

“Once you have a sound course design, your syllabus

almost writes itself.”

-Teaching at its BestL. Nilson, 1998

What Will I Cover?

What Will They Learn?

Consider your audience

Define instructional objectives & skills

Evaluate content options and appropriate readings

Determine class format

Develop assessments

and FINALLY the Syllabus!

The General Design

What preparation will most students bring? Do prerequisites guarantee this?

Attitudes? Required course? Elective?

What are the student expectations? Are these appropriate? Can they be incorporated into your teaching plan?

Student long-range goals?

Can flexibility be built in to accommodate this?

Consider your audience!

?

First define your “ultimate” end-of-course objectives

Then work backwards…what will students have to be able to do before they can accomplish each “ultimate” objective?

Continue working backwards to the most basic performances they must master to achieve the above

Define instructional objectives

Instructional ObjectivesInstructional Objectives(for a specific group of students)

SkillsSkills(what these students will be able to do to demonstrate attainment of learning goal)

ContentContent Class FormatClass Format Assessment Assessment FormatFormat

SyllabusSyllabusDoes your syllabus share with your students the thinking process that you followed to design this

course?

Designing Courses “Backwards”

ObjectivesContent Skills

Knowledge

Comprehension

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Bloom’s TaxonomyTaxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956)

Evaluation

Define instructional objectives

Fink’s TaxonomyTo Improve the Academy (2001)

Learning how to learn

Integration

ApplicationFoundational Knowledge

Human Dimension

Motivation

Define instructional objectives

“Students will learn to appreciate their natural surroundings and will know that underlying geologic structures control the landforms we see”

Define Instructional Objectives

Many FewerInterpretations InterpretationsTo know To writeTo understand To reciteTo really understand To identifyTo appreciate To sortTo fully appreciate To solveTo grasp significance of To constructTo enjoy To buildTo believe To compareTo have faith in To contrast

from Mager (1975) in Diamond (1998)

Define Instructional Objectives

“After working with slide images and through field experiences, students will be able to locate and identify faults, fractures and folds present in an unfamiliar landscape.”

Translate fuzzy language to skills!

Instructional ObjectivesInstructional Objectives(for a specific group of students)

SkillsSkills(what these students will be able to do to demonstrate attainment of learning goal)

ContentContent Class FormatClass Format Assessment Assessment FormatFormat

SyllabusSyllabusDoes your syllabus share with your students the thinking process that you followed to design this

course?

Rank the topics (rank highly your “essentials” AND those that meet student needs or expectations)

Slash, burn & distill (this always hurts, but designing courses backwards will help establish priorities)

Compare to your “full array” of content optionsis something missing that you value? Are you missing a major learning goal?

Evaluate content options

Consider the level (and financial resources!) of your

students What is the purpose of the reading? How will it support the course? How often will students use this resource?

Read a variety of texts ...unless you wrote the text, you won’t find exactly what you need… BUT...

Is a course reader better? ...can better suit to your needs...but takes a huge effort to integrate well...

Evaluate readings

Lecture based? Discussion based? Need labs or

experiential components?

How and when will student inquiry take place?

Determine the class format

When will students get feedback about their learning?

What have your students learned? Have they acquired the skills you value?

Let the course objectives shine through your assessment… end-of-course objectives should map out your projects, homework, exams, etc.

Develop an assessment plan

For Them

Options for getting feedback… (CATs) Classroom Assessment Techniques

Mid-term formative evaluations Professional feedback… classroom consultations,

videos, etc.

Develop an assessment plan

For You