Abstract
The consensus among educators across the science disciplines is for undergraduate education to include authentic research and scientific practices in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses. As such, design of effective teaching and assessment strategies or tools is critical to orient and guide students and to measure gains in research abilities and conceptual understanding. This chapter describes the backward design of lab course in two stages: (1) using learning objectives (anticipated learning outcomes, or ALOs) to guide and navigate the design of assessments and teaching activities, and (2) using research questions to guide and navigate the administration of instruction where students are immersed in literature research, gap analysis, question identification, study design and planning, protocol development and troubleshooting, data acquisition, analysis, and reporting presentations. This two-fold backward design enhanced student engagement in scientific practices and authentic research, which facilitated building their critical thinking skills, problem-solving ability, and creativity. Alignment of ALOs with seven areas of competencies (Identify, Question, Plan, Conduct, Analyze, Conclude, and Communicate) sets clear milestones and makes straightforward the assessments of gains in research abilities using grading rubrics. Common challenges that the instructor and students may encounter and potential solutions are also discussed.
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Acknowledgments
This study was part of an Innovative Teaching Award (to Z.C.) project funded by the Academic Programs Section, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. Collaborations and discussions that formulated ideas for this work were funded in part by NSF grant #1346567 for the Advancing Competencies in Experimentation–Biology (ACE-Bio) Network. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.
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Cheng, Z., Anderson, T.R., Pelaez, N.J. (2022). Backward Designing a Lab Course to Promote Authentic Research Experience According to Students’ Gains in Research Abilities. In: Pelaez, N.J., Gardner, S.M., Anderson, T.R. (eds) Trends in Teaching Experimentation in the Life Sciences. Contributions from Biology Education Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98592-9_5
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