Integrating Cognitive Science with Innovative Teaching in STEM Disciplines

This volume collects the ideas and insights discussed at a novel conference, the Integrating Cognitive Science with Innovative Teaching in STEM Disciplines Conference, which was held September 27-28, 2012 at Washington University in St. Louis. With funding from the James S. McDonnell Foundation, the conference was hosted by Washington University’s Center for Integrative Research on Cognition, Learning, and Education (CIRCLE), a center established in 2011. Available for download as a PDF. Titles of individual chapters can be found at http://openscholarship.wustl.edu/circle_book/.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/books/1009/thumbnail.jp

Reproducibility of the heat/capsaicin skin sensitization model in healthy volunteers

INTRODUCTION: Heat/capsaicin skin sensitization is a well-characterized human experimental model to induce hyperalgesia and allodynia. Using this model, gabapentin, among other drugs, was shown to significantly reduce cutaneous hyperalgesia compared to placebo. Since the larger thermal probes used in the original studies to produce heat sensitization are now commercially unavailable, we decided to assess whether previous findings could be replicated with a currently available smaller probe (heated area 9 cm(2) versus 12.5–15.7 cm(2)). STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: After Institutional Review Board approval, 15 adult healthy volunteers participated in two study sessions, scheduled 1 week apart (Part A). In both sessions, subjects were exposed to the heat/capsaicin cutaneous sensitization model. Areas of hypersensitivity to brush stroke and von Frey (VF) filament stimulation were measured at baseline and after rekindling of skin sensitization. Another group of 15 volunteers was exposed to an identical schedule and set of sensitization procedures, but, in each session, received either gabapentin or placebo (Part B). RESULTS: Unlike previous reports, a similar reduction of areas of hyperalgesia was observed in all groups/sessions. Fading of areas of hyperalgesia over time was observed in Part A. In Part B, there was no difference in area reduction after gabapentin compared to placebo. CONCLUSION: When using smaller thermal probes than originally proposed, modifications of other parameters of sensitization and/or rekindling process may be needed to allow the heat/capsaicin sensitization protocol to be used as initially intended. Standardization and validation of experimental pain models is critical to the advancement of translational pain research

Talking Through the Problems: A Study of Discourse in Peer-Led Small Groups

Increasingly, studies are investigating the factors that influence student discourse in science courses, and specifically the mechanisms and discourse processes within small groups, to better understand the learning that takes place as students work together. This paper contributes to a growing body of research by analyzing how students engage in conversation and work together to solve problems in a peer-led small-group setting. This qualitative study evaluates video of Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) sessions in general chemistry, with attention to both the activity structures and the function of discourse as students undertook different types of problems across one semester. Our findings suggest that students talk their way through the problems; practicing a combination of regulative and instructional language to manage the group dynamics of their community of peer learners while developing and using specific disciplinary vocabulary. Additionally, student discourse patterns revealed a focus on the process of complex problem-solving, where students engage in joint decision-making by taking turns, questioning and explaining, and building on one another’s ideas. While students in our study engaged in less of the deeper, meaning-making discourse than expected, these observations about the function of language in small-group learning deepens an understanding of how PLTL and other types of small-group learning based on the tenets of social constructivism may lead to improvements in science education, with implications for the structure of small-group learning environments, problem design, and training of peer group leaders to encourage students to engage in more of the most effective discourse in these learning contexts

The PULSE Vision & Change Rubrics, Version 1.0: A Valid and Equitable Tool to Measure Transformation of Life Sciences Departments at All Institution Types

The PULSE Vision & Change Rubrics, version 1.0, assess life sciences departments’ progress toward implementation of the principles of the Vision and Change report. This paper reports on the development of the rubrics, their validation, and their reliability in measuring departmental change aligned with the Vision and Change recommendations. The rubrics assess 66 different criteria across five areas: Curriculum Alignment, Assessment, Faculty Practice/Faculty Support, Infrastructure, and Climate for Change. The results from this work demonstrate the rubrics can be used to evaluate departmental transformation equitably across institution types and represent baseline data about the adoption of the Vision and Change recommendations by life sciences programs across the United States. While all institution types have made progress, liberal arts institutions are farther along in implementing these recommendations. Generally, institutions earned the highest scores on the Curriculum Alignment rubric and the lowest scores on the Assessment rubric. The results of this study clearly indicate that the Vision & Change Rubrics, version 1.0, are valid and equitable and can track long-term progress of the transformation of life sciences departments. In addition, four of the five rubrics have broad applicability and can be used to evaluate departmental transformation by other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines

Tracker Operation and Performance at the Magnet Test and Cosmic Challenge

During summer 2006 a fraction of the CMS silicon strip tracker was operated in a comprehensive slice test called the Magnet Test and Cosmic Challenge (MTCC). At the MTCC, cosmic rays detected in the muon chambers were used to trigger the readout of all CMS sub-detectors in the general data acquisition system and in the presence of the 4 T magnetic field produced by the CMS superconducting solenoid. This document describes the operation of the Tracker hardware and software prior, during and after data taking. The performance of the detector as resulting from the MTCC data analysis is also presented

Chapter 12: The Benefits of Cross-Talk: Cognitive Psychologists and STEM Educators from Multiple Disciplines Can Enrich Their Research and Enhance STEM Education Through Shared Knowledge

The inaugural 2012 CIRCLE conference and this accompanying book come at an important time when there are many national calls to transforming STEM education. The 2012 report from President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology [(PCAST, 2012)] and numerous other reports [(e.g., National Research Council, 2012; [Brewer & Smith, 2011; National Science Board, 1996)] have issued a variety of recommendations that emphasize several key proposals including the following: implementing empirically-validated teaching methods, engaging students actively in their own learning, exposing students to research thinking and problem solving, and providing students with opportunities to engage in research and hands-on activities and to study real-world problems. These various types of active exposure lead to the development of key process (or professional) skills such as information processing, problem solving, and critical and analytical thinking [(Michaelsen et al., 2002; Prince, 2004)] that are needed for success in the workplace. These experiences also affect persistence of students in STEM majors; some studies show that such exposure can reduce or eliminate the achievement gap between majority and minority students [(Haak et al., 2011; Rath et al., 2007).] Hence, using evidence-based active-learning teaching practices in multiple STEM courses could result in diversifying STEM majors, in increasing retention of students in STEM majors, and in increasing the likelihood more students will consider STEM careers after graduation.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/circle_book/1011/thumbnail.jp

Adapting a Laboratory Research Group Model to Foster the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

A multidisciplinary group of faculty and staff formed an education research group modeled on a laboratory research group to focus on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This group has bridged the communication and knowledge gaps between STEM and social science faculty and science education specialists, fostered the development of collaborative SoTL projects, and laid the groundwork for broader institutional support of SoTL

GI: The Guided Inquiry

As described in chapter 1, the POGIL pedagogy is an integrated combination of intentionally designed guided-inquiry activities and a focus on process skills involving the active engagement of student teams that are facilitated by an instructor. POGIL activities are structured according to the learning cycle (described in Chapter 1). The activities of a POGIL classroom frame the thinking that students will do during class. The students in constructing ideas and mastering material (Bodner, 1986; Driver, Asoko, Leach, Scott, & Mortimer, 1994). Because this approach is different from the kind of classroom that most teachers experienced as students, many do not have good models for what it might look like. For this reason, it is important to frame POGIL pedagogy by exploring how guided inquiry is situated in the larger context of active learning strategies and how the pedagogical approaches fall into the category of inquiry-based learning. This chapter provides a review of active learning and its value for supporting student learning in the classroom, with a special focus on cooperative learning that is relevant to the POGIL classroom. The implementation of the learning-cycle-based guided inquiry of POGIL, described in chapter 1, will then be situated in the larger context of the various forms of inquiry-based learning. Last, while this chapter focuses on the guided-inquiry component of the POGIL pedagogy, it is important to recognize that in the classroom implementation of POGIL, the guided-inquiry and process components are highly integrated