Abstract
The purpose of this book is threefold. Firstly, I examine the methodologies that other researchers use to study college-level classes for enhanced learning using technology and collaborative strategies. Secondly, I share my learning from an action research study I conducted in my undergraduate-level General Biochemistry I class. The impetus for this study was my goal of becoming a better teacher. Thirdly, I put forth ideas for other college faculty, who are grappling with improving the learning environment in their science classrooms, and who may identify with my experiences and learn from my action research study.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
When first confronting the word epistemology, I had to keep going back to read the definition from Guba and Lincoln (1989, p. 83): “Epistemology is that branch of philosophy that deals with the origin, nature, and limits of human knowledge.”
- 2.
John B. Thompson, the editor of a collection of chapters by Bourdieu (1991), defines habitus is a “set of dispositions which incline agents to act and react in certain ways. The dispositions generate practices, perceptions and attitudes which are ‘regular’ without being consciously coordinated or governed by any ‘rule’” (p. 12).
- 3.
Swidler (1986) defines strategies of action as “persistent ways of ordering action through time” (p. 273).
References
Adamson SL, Banks D, Burtch M, Cox F III, Judson E, Turley JB et al (2003) Reformed undergraduate instruction and its subsequent impact on secondary school teaching practice and student achievement. J Res Sci Teach 40(10):939-957
Bourdieu P (1991) Language and symbolic power (ed: Thompson JB). Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Britzman DP (1991) Practice makes practice: a critical study of learning to teach. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
Bruffee KA (1993) Collaborative learning: higher education, interdependence, and the authority of knowledge. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD
Bruner J (1986) Actual minds, possible worlds. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Denzin NK, Lincoln YS (eds) (1994) Handbook of qualitative research. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA
Djerassi C (2000, February) Contraception vs. conception - a millennial prognosis. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC
Druger M (2002) Teaching the introductory college science course: a career specialty. J Coll Sci Teach 32:148-149
Ellis C (1997) Evocative autoethnography: writing emotionally about our lives. In: Tierney WG, Lincoln YS (eds) Representation and the text: re-framing the narrative voice. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, pp 115-139
Gergen MM, Gergen NK (2000) Qualitative inquiry: tensions and transformations. In: Denzin NK, Lincoln YS (eds) Handbook of qualitative research, 2nd edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp 1025-1046
Gilmer PJ (2002) Opalescence at the triple point: teaching, research, and service. In: Taylor PC, Gilmer PJ, Tobin K (eds) Transforming undergraduate science education: social constructivist perspectives. Peter Lang, New York, pp 423-462
Gilmer PJ (2004) Transforming university biochemistry teaching through action research: utilizing collaborative learning and teaching. Unpublished doctoral thesis. Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia.
Glasersfeld E von (1989) Cognition, construction of knowledge, and teaching. Synthese 80:121-140. [reprinted in 1998, In Matthews MR (ed) Constructivism in science education: a philosophical examination. Kluwer, Boston, MA, pp. 11-30]
Grenfeld M, James D (1998) Bourdieu and education: acts of practical theory. Falmer, Bristol, PA
Guba EG, Lincoln YS (1989) Fourth generation evaluation. Sage, Newbury Park, CA
Janesick VJ (2000) The choreography of qualitative research design: minuets, improvisations, and crystallization. In: Denzin NK, Lincoln YS (eds) Handbook of qualitative research, 2nd edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp 379-400
Lather P (1986) Research as praxis. Harv Educ Rev 56(3):257-277
Leonard WH (2000) How do college students best learn science? An assessment of popular teaching styles and their effectiveness. J Coll Sci Teach 29(6):385-388
Levi P (1984) The periodic table. Schocken Books, New York
Lincoln YS, Denzin NK (2000) The seventh moment: out of the past. In: Denzin NK, Lincoln YS (eds) Handbook of qualitative research, 2nd edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp 1047-1065
Lincoln YS, Guba EG (2000) Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences. In: Denzin NK, Lincoln YS (eds) Handbook of qualitative research, 2nd edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp 163-188
Mattson S (2002) What it means to achieve: negotiating assessment in a biology course. In: Taylor PC, Gilmer PJ, Tobin K (eds) Transforming undergraduate science teaching: social constructivist perspectives. Peter Lang, New York, pp 245-274
Nobel Prize (1980) The Nobel Prize Internet archive (Chemistry). http://www.nobelprizes.com/nobel/nobel.html. Accessed 31 Aug 2003
Paul R, Elder L (2007) Miniature guide to critical thinking: concepts and tools. Foundation for Critical Thinking, Dillon Beach, CA
Richardson L (1994) Writing: a method of inquiry. In: Denzin NK, Lincoln YS (eds) Handbook of qualitative research. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp 516-529
Sienko MJ, Plane RA (1961) Chemistry, 2nd edn. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York
Swidler A (1986) Culture in action: symbols and strategies. Am Sociol Rev 51:273-286
Tobias S (1990) They’re not dumb, they’re different: stalking the second tier. Research Corporation, Tucson, AZ
Wright EL, Sunal DW, Day JB (2004) Improving undergraduate science teaching through educational research. In: Sunal DW, Wright EL, Day JB (eds) Reform in undergraduate science teaching for the 21st century. Information Age, Greenwich, CT, pp 1-11
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gilmer, P.J. (2009). Introducing the Study. In: Transforming University Biochemistry Teaching Using Collaborative Learning and Technology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4981-1_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4981-1_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-4980-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4981-1
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)