Incorporating Habits of Mind into Science and Technology Curricula
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Transcript of Incorporating Habits of Mind into Science and Technology Curricula
Incorporating Habits of Mind into Science and Technology Curricula2012 Conference on Higher Education PedagogyDr. Robert N. Brent, Dr. Michael L. Deaton, Dr. Jeffrey D. Tang, and Dr. Mary K. Handley
• Part 1: What are “Disciplinary Habits of Mind?” (Mike Deaton and Jeff Tang)
• EXERCISE: What are your discipline’s distinctive habits of mind?
• Part 2: The Global Water Course: A pilot effort to use Habits of Mind to design a course sequence(Robert Brent)
• EXERCISE: How might you apply Habits of Mind?
Outline for this session
Thinking about undergraduate curricula
Program learning
goals
Program Learning
objectives
Curriculum design
Individual course design
“graduation end state”
Specific skills and
knowledge
Course portfolio & sequencing
Course content;
pedagogy; activities,
etc.
“… [is]the study of [your program] merely the completion of a major, that is, the collection of credit-bearing experiences, or the learning of a discipline, that is, a coherent set of knowledge, skills, and dispositions that help us make sense of and fully participate, meaningfully, in human experience?”Gurung, et al Exploring Signature Pedagogies: Approaches to teaching disciplinary habits of mind.
Alternative approachFocus on disciplinary Habits of Mind• Begin by envisioning a practitioner in your field • 5-15 yrs out from graduation
• What is unique about their habits of mind ?• The kinds of problems they tackle?• The lens through which they view and understand the problem?
• The methods they employ?
Defining Habits of Mind for your Discipline
Skills &
Knowledge
World view
The Problem Space
• Values• Problem solving
practices
• Content knowledge
• Language
• Ways of thinking• Analytical lens
• Skills• Unifying themes
Habits of mind and our pedagogy
THE PEDAGOGIES OF THE UNDERGRAD CURRICULUM SHOULD PREPARE STUDENTS …
Our
Exploring Signature Pedagogies: Approaches to Teaching Disciplinary Habits of Mind
Using the Habits of Mind to Shape Curriculum Design from Top to BottomProgram learning
goals
Program learning
objectives
Curriculum design
Individual course design
Habits of
Mind
Habits of
Mind
Habits of
Mind
Habits of
Mind
Integrated Science and Technology B.S. Degree Program
• Real-world problem solving• Eschew theory for its own sake• Teach problems in context
• Broad technical foundation with knowledge of the social context of technology and science• Hands-on learning• Team-based learning and team teaching• Practical, flexible degree for the challenges of the 21st century
The ISAT Curriculum
FoundationsAnalytical MethodsIssues in Sci/TechSocial Context
Sector 1 Sector 2
Sector 3
Concentration Applied Biotechnology
EnergyEngineering & ManufacturingEnvironmentInformation & Knowledge MgmtTelecommunications
Fresh/Soph
Junior
Senior
What is Integrated Science & Technology?
• Integration by students or by faculty?• Role of social context (secondary or primary)• Inter(multi?)disciplinary or a new discipline?• Who are our graduates and what do (should) they do? (avoiding the production of “generalists” who are the jack of all trades but the master of none)
One program’s journey toward defining Habits of Mind?
THE PEDAGOGIES OF THE ISAT CURRICULUM SHOULD PREPARE ISAT STUDENTS …
ISAT
the ISAT practice Our
Exploring Signature Pedagogies: Approaches to Teaching Disciplinary Habits of Mind
core character of ISAT practice an ISAT practitioner
Describing ISAT Habits of MindProblem-Centric Analysis
Skills &
Knowledge
World view
The Problem Space
• Stakeholder inclusion• Human-natural
interaction
• Basic science concepts• Broad technical
competency
• Dynamic systems view
• Computer as problem-solving tool
• Social context understanding
• Socio-technical• Broad in scope • Real-world
issues• Social
significance
Exercise – Describing the distinctive “habits of mind” for your discipline
Imagine an practitioner in your field…possibly one of your graduates 10-15 (or even 20) years after graduation. Suppose they are working as part of a team of specialists from a variety of disciplines to develop a plan to help solve a problem.What would be distinctive about the way this individual practitioner would engage this problem (as compared to the others specialists on the team), in terms of:
• Problem space: Aspects of the problem to which they would be most attentive?
• World view: Values, problem solving practices, data gathering methods, and analytical lens that would shape how they work with the problem?
• Skills and Knowledge: Distinctive skills, knowledge, or language would they employ?
Habits of
Mind
Incorporating Habits of Mind into the Curriculum
The Global Water Course Experiment
Dr. Robert N. Brent
• ISAT Habits of Mind are intrinsically embedded throughout the curriculum, but what would a course look like if it were explicitly designed to teach/instill those habits?
• Problem-centric, focusing on understanding and solving complex
problems• Process/skill focused, rather than content focused• Integrative, incorporating scientific, technical, social, cultural, and
political aspects• Team-based, emphasizing cooperative and complementary
contributions
Habits of Mind: Basis for Course Design
• Organizing theme or problem to be investigated throughout the course
• Represents a significant global problem that is highly complex• Involves interaction of science and social context • Easy solutions are not readily available• Represents the type of large complex problem that we need to
be training our scientists to face in the future
The Global Water Crisis
• Course was inserted as an optional sector in the Junior year
Course Placement Within the Program
Fall2011
Spring2012
ISAT 380E – The Global Water Crisis: Issues and Dynamics(3 Credits)
ISAT 381E – The Global Water Crisis: Solutions (3 Credits)
ISAT 308E – The Global Water Crisis Lab (1 Credit)
Freshman/Sophomore Junior Senior
FoundationsMathChemistryPhysicsBiologySocial Context
Sectors (3of6)Applied BiotechnologyEnergyEngineering and ManufacturingEnvironmentInformation ManagementTelecommunications
Concentration (1of6)Applied BiotechnologyEnergyEngineering and ManufacturingEnvironmentInformation ManagementTelecommunications
• Teaching Team• Brent – expertise in hydrology, water pollution, toxicology• Deaton – expertise in systems dynamics, modeling, data analysis• Tang – expertise in history, sociology, economics
• Student Teams• 6, 4-person teams• Heterogeneously assigned according to:
• Sex
• GPA
• Meyers-Briggs personality test
• ISAT sector interests
Team Development
• Student teams assigned to regional case studies• Southwest US• Nile Basin• Bangladesh• China• Danube Basin• Tigris/Euphrates Basin
• Case studies represent mixture of:• Climates• Socio-economic development• Spatial scales• Political systems
Regional Case Study Approach
• Analyze and define the water resources problem within your region
• Propose viable solutions to the problem
• Post your teams findings on an internet WIKI site
Course Assignment• Your team has been appointed by a United Nations
Commission to:
http://globalwater.pbworks.com/w/page/40537679/FrontPage
• Problem-centric analysis• WIKI development• System dynamics modeling
• Interactions• Dynamics• Unintended consequences• Future scenarios
Key Course Elements
Atmospheric Water
Biomasswater
Ground Water Surface Water Water inglaciers & ice
caps
Ocean water
Groundwater toBiomass
Groundwater toOcean
Surfacewater toOcean
Surfacewater toBiomass
AnnualPrecip to
Ocean
AnnualPrecip toSurface
Glacial melt toSurface water
Glacialmelt toOcean
Annualprecip toglaciers
Annualpercolated
precip
Transpiration
Sublimation
Interflow
• “Boots on the Ground” guest speakers • Ample instructor and peer feedback• Expert Review Panel feedback
• Panel of 8 professionals provided end-of-semester review of WIKI• Professionals from academia, government, private sector, non-
profit, international agencies• Very “real-world” experience
Key Course Elements
• Course• Assessment rubrics for WIKI and presentations• Pre/Post assessment of teamwork skills• Pre/post problem solving assessment
• Program• Problem-solving Analysis Protocol (P-SAP)
• Developed by psychologists Pamela Steinke (Meredith College) and
Peggy Fitch (Central College)
• ~100 ISAT juniors assessed at beginning and end of junior year
• 23 of these participated in Global Water Crisis course sequence
Assessment
• Successful in: • Demonstrating a problem-centric approach to problem solving• Producing a real world experience• Encouraging integration of scientific, technical, social, cultural, and
political aspects• Students were uncomfortable and challenged by:
• Iterative nature of feedback and revision vs. traditional grading schemes
• Teaching of process vs. content• Complexity and scope of the problem• Time and effort involved in producing professional quality
Lessons Learned
• Robert Brent – [email protected]• Michael Deaton – [email protected]• Jeffrey Tang – [email protected]• Mary Handley – [email protected]• References
• Allen, W. & C. Allen. (2003). Habits of Mind: Fostering Access and Excellence in Higher Education. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ.
• Costa, A. & B. Kallick. (2000). Discovering and Exploring Habits of Mind. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA.
• Costa, A. & B. Kallick. (2009). Habits of Mind Across the Curriculum: Practical and Creative Strategies for Teachers. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA.
• Handelsman, J., Ebert-May, D., Beichner, R., Bruns, P., Chang, A., DeHaan, R., Gentile, J., Lauffer, S., Stewart, J., Tilghman, S., & Wood, W. (2004). Scientific teaching. Science, 304, 521-522.
• National Academy of Sciences. (2007). Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future. The National Academies Press.
• Gurung, N & Hayne, A., editors (2009). Exploring Signature Pedagogies: Approaches to Teaching Discplinary Habits of Mind. Stylus Publishing, Sterling, V
References and contact info