Spice up your lecture with Inquiry-based Learning

Spice Up Your Lecture With Inquiry-based Learning

Lynette Hoelter, PhDDir., Instructional Resources

February 23, 2011

Presentation Outline:

• Defining inquiry-based learning– Problem-based learning– Benefits to use

• Introducing TeachingWithData.org• Resources within TwD that fit the

student-driven approach to learning

• Other pedagogical approaches: Pedagogy in Action server

What is Inquiry-based Learning?

• Part of the “Problem-based Learning” (PBL) set of pedagogies1

– Case-based learning – Project-based learning– Inquiry-based learning

• Notion that education begins and is fostered through student curiosity– First documented uses were in medical education in

the 1970s– Expanded into professional education and then

undergraduate curricula

1 Savery, John R. 2006. Overview of Problem-based Learning. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning, v1(1):9-20.

Benefits of PBL• Assessment of traditional versus PBL strategies

show:– No significant differences in learning of “facts”– Lends itself better to multidisciplinary approaches

• Within social sciences, this might also mean integration of “technical” and “substantive” information.

– Learners much more engaged with material– More likely to see relevance to their lives and work– More easily able to recall and apply knowledge to

solving new problems (e.g., Doctors trained with PBL are better able to integrate information when making diagnoses)

Indicators of Effective Undergraduate Education

• Students should demonstrate high-level skills in – Communication– Computation– Technological literacy and information

gathering (to create new knowledge)–Making informed judgments– Accurately defining problems and

seeking solutions

Otherwise Known as…. Critical Thinking:

• Students as participants in a democratic society

• Skills include:– Questioning the source of evidence in a

stated point– Identifying gaps in information– Evaluating whether an argument is based on

data or opinion/inference/pure speculation– Using data to draw logical conclusions

… or Quantitative Literacy:

• Necessary for informed citizenry• Skills learned & used within a context• Skills:

– Reading and interpreting tables or graphs and to calculating percentages and the like

– Working within a scientific model (variables, hypotheses, etc.)

– Understanding and critically evaluating numbers presented in everyday lives

– Evaluating arguments based on data– Knowing what kinds of data might be useful in answering

particular questions

• For a straightforward definition/skill list, see Samford University’s (not social science specific)

Students Realize Skills Are Marketable

• Often cited by students as something “tangible” that they have learned

• Definable skill set useful in many career paths

• Easy to tie to everyday life

AND…• Engages students more fully with course

content

Focus on Inquiry-based Learning

• Many of the advantages of Problem-based Learning (PBL), but more instructor guidance/ “control”– True PBL gives students a “messy,” real-world problem and they

must work together to find the information with which to come up with a solution – the entire course is typically structured around the problem and resulting group learning

– Each team member is responsible for part of the information gathering and true learning takes place when members share information and teach each other

• Instructor provides information with which students investigate the question, build knowledge, discover connections, and reflect upon a new understanding of the issue

• IBL allows instructor ability to use a smaller exercise or set of exercises within other pedagogical styles (e.g., lectures)

• Sometimes easier for introductory-level courses

Introducing TeachingWithData.org

• Project Partners– ICPSR and SSDAN, UM– Science Education Resource Center,

Carleton College– Professional Associations (Economics,

Geography, Political Science, and Sociology)

TeachingWithData.org

• National Science Digital Library – only social science pathway

• Goal: Make it easier for faculty to use real data in classes– Undergraduate (esp. “non-methods”)– K(9)-12 efforts

• Includes survey of ~3600 social science faculty • Repository of data-related materials

– Exercises, including games and simulations– Static and dynamic maps, charts, tables– Data – Publications

• Tagged with metadata for easy searching

TeachingWithData.org

TeachingWithData.org

What TwD Provides

Title Link Goes to Resource, “More About This” Displays Metadata

Types of Resources

• “Data in the News” feature – good way to bring in current events

• Lesson plans/lectures• Data-driven exercises• Data sources• Tools

Inquiry-based Learning (Reminder)

• Instructor provides framework• Students interact with original

sources and data• Develops analysis and

communication skills

Prepared Lessons (Example)

Data-Based Exercises: Online (Example)

Data-Based Exercises: No Stat Software Needed (Example)

Simulations (Example)

Sources of Quantitative Data

• Static tables, maps, graphs• Interactive maps• Raw data (with and without online

analysis tools)

Static Tables (Example)

Graphs & Maps (Example)

Interactive Maps (Example)

Raw Data: Educational Extracts (Example)

Teaching Information Gathering

Learning about Teaching

• TeachingWithData.org pedagogical resources

• Pedagogy In Action (SERC)– Related modules:• Teaching With Data• Teaching Quantitative Reasoning with the

News• Using Issues to Teach Science• Teaching Controversial Topics

We’d Love to Hear from YOU!

• What have YOU tried? • What has worked best? • Favorites we should include in TwD?

Acknowledgements

• TwD Project Staff:– PI: George C. Alter, ICPSR– Co-PI: William H. Frey, SSDAN– J. P. DeWitt, Project Manager (SSDAN)– Lynette Hoelter, Project Manager (ICPSR)– Sue Hodge, ICPSR– Jane Wang, Programmer– Wendi Fornoff, Web designer

• Funded by National Science Foundation grant DUE-0840642

Additional References

• Apedoe, Xornam S. 2007. Engaging Students in Inquiry: Tales from an Undergraduate Geology Laboratory-based Course. Science Education. DOI 10.1012/sce.20254

• Edelson, Daniel C., Douglas N. Gordin, and Roy D. Pea. 1999. Addressing the Challenges of Inquiry-Based Learning through Technology and Curriculum Design. Journal of the Learning Sciences.

• Major, Clair H. and Betsy Palmer. 2001. Assessing the Effectiveness of Problem-Based learning in Higher Education: Lessons from the Literature. Academic Exchange Quarterly, v5(1).

• Weimer, Maryellen. 2002. Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

More Information?Lynette Hoelter

lhoelter@umich.edu

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