Language Support Strategies in First Year Chemistry

Author(s):  
Adam James Bridgeman

In-class and online active learning strategies, which have been implemented at The University of Sydney, are described to respond to the challenge of teaching chemistry at a first year level, to students with a wide range of abilities and levels of motivations. Core to the design of these activities is the belief that students learn chemical concepts most effectively when they are actively engaged in doing and talking, rather than rote learning and listening. The strategies described have been developed within the context of large classes and limited resources. They are fully adaptable to other topics beyond first chemistry and to other sciences. They are also necessarily designed to be scalable to large or small classes and to be sustainable. Online resources are useful for helping students become familiar with chemical language and symbolism and to provide them with a means of practicing their use. Online quizzes are an invaluable means of students self-assessing their progress and of providing meaningful assessment of their level of mastery. In-class activities involving student response systems and student-centred, inquiry based approaches are built around active learning and on-going formative assessment. To develop language skills, social interaction via peer instruction and group discussions can be utilized to ensure that classes are vibrant and engaging.

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Thibeault

Courses in physiology engage students through active learning strategies including small group discussions, group work, and opportunities to explore a scientific problem and explain their findings. Many of these active learning exercises take place in tutorial and laboratory settings. Unfortunately, traditional physiology lectures are often limited to conveying information through lecturing and PowerPoint slides. This approach provides little opportunity for student engagement above lower-order cognition, i.e., writing notes, listening, memorization (Freeman et al. 2014). Student response systems (e.g., clickers) are a valuable tool to facilitate active learning in the lecture setting that could enable students to take control of their learning (“Do I truly understand this topic/concept/theory?”) (Hwang, Wong, Lam & Lam 2015). In addition, clickers provide valuable instant feedback to the lecturer about student comprehension, and can be used to track participation and attendance. Many platforms are now available including clicker devices and virtual clickers to facilitate active learning and meta-cognitive exercises in the lecture setting. Student feedback response platforms may provide a way to introduce active learning into the lecture setting with physiology lectures resulting improved engagement and better achievement of learning outcomes. This workshop provides practical strategies and examples to help instructors evaluate the benefits, challenges, and methods of integrating student response systems into the physiology lecture setting.


2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-51
Author(s):  
Kimberly R. Boyer

Icouldn't believe my ears when i heard a colleague make this statement during my first year of teaching: “Eighth grade is the year that the students' brains are turned off.” Was it true? Were eighth-grade students really that hopeless? In my early years of teaching, I was on a mission to be the best mathematics teacher I could be by incorporating problem solving, reasoning, communication, and mathematical connections into each lesson. I wanted to take time to involve my students personally so that they could see how mathematics directly affects their lives. However, I quickly learned that there is “no one way to be a topnotch teacher” (Harmin 1998, p. 2).


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-85
Author(s):  
Ketemaw Tiruneh Muluye

The purpose of this research was to examine the implementation of Active Learning Strategies (ALSs) in logic and critical thinking classrooms by focusing on freshman students of Gondar University. For this purpose, a concurrent triangulation mixed approach and case study design were employed. The data were collected through questionnaires (n=361), interviews and document analysis. Accordingly, the utilization of ALSs in logic and critical thinking classrooms is found to be negligible. Though buzz group discussions and presentations were found to be preferable as compared to other ALSs, they are utilized in a rare manner. Factors related with the directives of the Ministry, motivation of the instructors and students were found to have an influence on the utilization of ALSs. This implies though the Ministry claims that it is committed for the utilization of ALSs, its directives are not found to be complimentary with its rhetoric for the utilization of ALSs. Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 7, Issue-2: 78-85


Author(s):  
Monika Andrea Zimanyi ◽  
Nicholas F. Emtage ◽  
Pamela Lee Megaw

To combat high failure rates in an Anatomy and Physiology for first year Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Sport Science students, a flipped classroom was introduced in 2015. It became apparent that students did not engage with materials prior to classes, but they did engage with in-class active learning strategies. In subsequent years of this study, our focus changed to delivery with student active learning in mind. The active learning approaches introduced resulted in improvements in academic performance for all three student cohorts. Occupational Therapy students’ marks improved by 12.9% when comparing pre-intervention (2014) results to the end of the post-intervention period (2017), Physiotherapy students’ marks increased by 6.9%, while the greatest gains of 14.8% were seen in Sport Science students. When investigating the relationship between student performance and university entrance scores, students with high entrance scores demonstrated modest gains in performance, while those students with lower entrance scores benefited the most. Our results suggest that the introduction of active learning may result in the transition of the learning style of students under-prepared for university studies, to be more like those of more successful students; that is, to a deeper level of learning.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ir. Kartina ◽  
Udi Samanhudi ◽  
Siti Aisyah ◽  
Lukman Nulhakim ◽  
Sutrisno Sadji Evendi ◽  
...  

Teaching for active learning has been widely recognized as a more effective teaching methodology than traditional transmission models of teaching. However, numerous studies have documented the persistence of traditional teaching methods despite the extensive research literature on the effectiveness of teaching for active learning and frequent efforts to train teachers to use this approach in their classrooms. In this article a team of lecturers from the University of Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa (UNTIRTA: Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa) in Indonesia report on an action research project carried out at an elementary-level madrasah in the city of Cilegon. Members of the team gathered qualitative data through interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations in order to better understand the challenges teachers faced in teaching for active learning before designing and carrying out a collaborative intervention designed to help teachers use active learning strategies in a mathematics classroom. Key Words: Active Learning, Madrasah, Mathematics, Indonesia


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