SoTL Meets Savory

SoTL Meets Savory (2007)Chapter 5:Overcoming Challenges with Data Collection

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High School Mathematics from an Advanced StandpointA 10-week course for pre-service and in-service mathematics teachers 4th year / graduate students; class meeting 2.5 hours once a weekMeet the teacher: Gordon Woodward 2nd time teaching the courseGoal: students improved ability to effectively and accurately use mathematical discourse

The Game PlanData Collected:

Essay homework*Textbook homework*Reading quizzes (2)Master Projects => 50% mathematics, 50% writing

*focusing on essay questionsPedagogical strategies:

Grouping students into discourse communitiesUsing non-mathematical analogies to stimulate cohesion and student interest Encouragement of peer critiqueAsking students to show the process of their workStudent-authored definitions of key terms

Next Time!Gordons course design, pedagogical strategies and resulting collection and assessment of data (for the support of his hypothesis) could have benefited from the following:

Strategies for Scholarly TeachingEncouraging students reflection on their learning(!)Compilation of students course portfolios for easy data collection at the end and increased student reflection throughoutNot forgetting to collect data for the first three weeks; also, pre- and post-tests!Designing and distributing rubrics for each assignmentComparing assignments qualitatively against each other before designing rubricsAsk the students: how do they view the importance of writing in their scholarly lives?? Making the relevancy transparent!What do you think?The level of proof required [for a hypothesis] is highly dependent on what you intend to do with your classroom inquiry work (p. 92)What would you like to add to this statement?

If we dont know exactly what we intend to do with our classroom inquiry (or our SoTL), then ?ConclusionsGordon: But I didnt prove my hypothesis!Savory: Thats okay! You learned, anyway!

Pose a question about a (non-threatening) teaching problem in a course you are currently teaching.Ask yourself WHY this problem is so important, and what you seek to accomplish by answering it!3. Attempt to answer it via SoTL.4. Cycle the results back into the course the next time you teach it!5. Keep going.ReferenceSavory, P., Burnett, A. N., and Goodburn, A. 2007. Inquiry into the College Classroom: A Journey toward Scholarly Teaching. Jossey-Bass.