Act. 2 ma 106

Teaching Methods

Each pedagogic approach is described succinctly so you can quickly understand how the technique might be relevant to your teaching. Written by fellow educators, these descriptions include tips for effectively using each technique, related research on their impacts on learning, as well as a set of example activities.
This list is by no means comprehensive. It reflects the interests and priorities of the partners and projects that have contributed to the library so far. If you'd like to contribute to the library and help this list grow we'd love to hear from you.

• Assessment provides educators with a better understanding of what students are learning and engages students more deeply in the process of learning content. Compiled by William Slattery at Departments of Geological Sciences and Teacher Education, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.
• Calibrated Peer Review™ (CPR) is a web-based management tool that enables discipline-based writing with peer review in classes of any size. Compiled by Arlene A. Russell, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA.
• Campus-Based Learning uses the campus environment itself as a teaching tool. Compiled by Suzanne Savanick at SERC, Carleton College.
• Classroom Experiments are activities where any number of students work in groups on carefully designed guided inquiry questions. Compiled by Sheryl Ball, Virginia Tech, with assistance from Tisha Emerson, Jennifer Lewis, and J. Todd Swarthout.
• Classroom Response Systems use technology that promotes and implements active and cooperative learning. Compiled by Joe Calhoun, Florida State University, then enhanced with the valuable assistance from S. Raj Chaudhury, Shelby Frost, Bill Goffe, KimMarie McGoldrick, Mark Maier, and Scott Simkins.
• Coached Problem Solving is a class format in which professors provide a structured, guided context for students working collaboratively to solve problems. Compiled by Debby Walser-Kuntz, Sarah Deel and Susan Singer, Carleton College.
• ConcepTests are conceptual multiple-choice questions that focus on one key concept of an instructor's learning goals for a lesson. When coupled with student interaction through peer instruction, ConcepTests represent a rapid method of formative assessment of student understanding. Compiled by David McConnell, North Carolina State University.
• Context-Rich Problems are short realistic scenarios giving the students a plausible motivation for solving the problem. Compiled by Joann Bangs, St. Catherine University and enhanced by Jennifer Docktor and Ken Heller, University of Minnesota, Brian Peterson, Central College, and Rochelle Ruffer, Nazareth College.
• Cooperative Learning involves students working in groups to accomplish learning goals. Compiled by Rebecca Teed and John McDaris, SERC at Carleton College, and Cary Roseth, University of Minnesota.
• Documented Problem Solving is an active learning assessment technique in which students become more aware about their learning and their problem-solving, resulting in a transition from the "steps used to solve a problem" to the application of analytical and critical thinking skills. Compiled by Linda Wilson, University of Texas at Arlington, with help from Amber Casolari, Riverside City College, Katie Townsend-Merino, Palomar College and Todd Easton, University of Portland.
• Using an Earth History Approach helps students understand how human impact on the Earth's systems has increased exponentially over time. Compiled by Rebecca Teed at SERC, Carleton College.
• Experience-Based Environmental Projects get students involved in their own learning. Compiled by Karin Kirk at Montana State University.
• Field Labs introduce students to complex natural systems, breaks down barriers among academic fields, encourages multiple observations, and introduces students to the area near their campus. Compiled by Mary Savina, Carleton College.
• The First Day of Class is your opportunity to stimulate excitement about the course, establish a positive classroom climate, and engage students with course content - right from the start. Compiled by Carol Ormand at SERC, Carleton College.
• Gallery Walk activities get students out of their chairs to actively work together. Compiled by Mark Francek at Central Michigan University.
• Game-Based Learning was written to assist geoscience faculty who want to start using games to help them teach. Compiled by Rebecca Teed at SERC, Carleton College.
• Guided Discovery Problems offer intriguing puzzles to solve, structured hands-on activities, carefully worded leading questions, crucial hints, and just-in-time presentations of information in order to escort students step-by-step through the process of scientific discovery. Compiled by Ann Bykerk-Kauffman, California State University, Chico.
• Indoor Labs provide students with opportunities for structured investigations and experiments of materials, models, and other equipment. Compiled by Mary Savina, Carleton College.
• Interactive Lectures provide short activities that can break up a lecture. Compiled by Heather Macdonald, College of William and Mary and Rebecca Teed at SERC, Carleton College.
• Interactive Lecture Demonstrations engage students in activities that confront their prior understanding of a core concept. The activity can be a classroom experiment, a survey, a simulation or an analysis of secondary data. Compiled by Dorothy Merritts and Robert Walter, Franklin & Marshall College, and Bob MacKay, Clark College. Enhanced by Mark Maier with assistance from Rochelle Ruffer, Sue Stockly, and Ronald Thornton.
• Interdisciplinary Approaches to Teaching entails the use and integration of methods and analytical frameworks from more than one academic discipline to examine a theme, issue, question or topic. Compiled by Art Goldsmith, Darrick Hamilton, Karen Hornsby, and Dave Wells.
• Inventing and Testing Models approach uses Model-Eliciting Activities, which are posed as open-ended problems that are designed to challenge students to build models in order to solve complex, real-world problems. Compiled by Joan Garfield, Robert delMas and Andrew Zieffler, of the University of Minnesota.
• Investigative Case-Based Learning involves students in addressing real world problems. Compiled by Ethel Stanley, BioQUEST, Beloit College and Margaret Waterman, Southeast Missouri State University.
• Jigsaws are an option when you have several related data sets you would like students to explore. In a jigsaw, each student develops some expertise with one data set, then teaches a few classmates about it (and learns about related data sets from those classmates). Compiled by Barbara Tewksbury, Hamilton College.
• Just-in-Time Teaching gets students to read assigned material outside of class, respond to short questions online, and then participate in discussion and collaborative exercises in the following class period. Compiled by Laura Guertin, Pennsylvania State University Delaware County.
• Lecture Tutorials are short worksheets that students complete in class to make lecture more interactive. They are designed specifically to address misconceptions and other topics with which students have difficulties. Compiled by Karen Kortz, Community College of Rhode Island, and Jessica Smay, San Jose City College.
• Measurement and Uncertainty provides science educators with clearly written, effective material to teach introductory level students the fundamentals of effective measurement, and describes how to integrate these ideas into science teaching. This increases scientific literacy, helps students use data to understand science concepts during inquiry-based labs and activities, and prepares students for future science education. Compiled by Peter Bohacek and Greg Schmidt, Sibley Public High School.
• Models help students understand the relationships between data and Earth processes. Compiled by Bob MacKay at Clark College.