EMBEDDING EMPLOYABILITY IN SCIENCE EDUCATION

A new second year employability course offered in blended learning mode at the University of Newcastle was showing promising outcomes in student learning outcomes and perceived student relevance. Highly interactive workshops with embedded feedback from peers and the tutor seemed highly effective. Then COVID-19 happened. The course was transitioned from blended to online learning mode and student attendance in (now online) workshops dropped suddenly and significantly. Might non-attendance compromise students’ learning? In this paper we review multiple lines of evaluation data demonstrating that even after the move online students were well supported by the course materials, produced high quality work, improved their employability and, despite not having highly interactive workshops, recognised the benefits of peer collaboration. We outline the key pedagogy that our research identified as being the driver of these successful outcomes. We also explore how the evaluation data has highlighted further improvements in the course. Lastly, we investigate the importance of well-planned evaluation that can tell the full ‘story’ of teaching and learning outcomes in science degrees

Foundations of the DEFT Project: tertiary educators Developing Expertise Fostering Thinking

We describe the rationale, creation, and activity of a long-term co-constructed voluntary professional development initiative for tertiary educators. This is a Community of Practice (CoP) formed to investigate “thinking” as a topic which may be explicitly taught. The aim of this paper is to share the value of this CoP in one context and insights into how similar approaches may be useful to other tertiary educators. The project has run for a year to date, involving a small but growing collective of tertiary educators, with members from one Canadian and several Australian Universities. Our methodology is participatory: we regularly meet, reflect, and record our reflections. Our records contain data relating to our motivation, our insights, and the impact of these upon our choices in our teaching practices. In particular, our rationale includes the mutual desire to invest in developing understanding of our teaching challenges, to enable us to create thoughtful teaching approaches fit for our purposes and contexts. Hence, the central focus of our CoP is the Development of our Expertise in Fostering Thinking (DEFT). This focus has illuminated gaps in existing scholarly literature pertaining to communal development of theory, personal development of schemata, capacity for reflexivity, and instantiation in our disciplines. Opportunities and risks associated with our other sources of professional learning are identified and discussed. We elaborate on a double-layered approach, in which we explore the construction of our own schemata as a precursor to helping students build their schemata as a foundation for their own understanding, and the role of flexible, critical, and creative thinking on our part. We utilise the scholarship of expertise, frequently returning to such questions as “How do we know what our students are thinking?” Insights gleaned from our reflections are shared, and recommendations are presented on the formation of similar projects

A degree for today’s scientists: Demystifying the more-than-single disciplinary journey for students

Students commencing a science degree are most often interested in a particular discipline and see themselves graduating as a biologist, a chemist, a mathematician or physicist etc. (McInnis et al., 2000 & our own student surveys). In preparing for a major restructure of the Bachelor of Science at the University of Newcastle, we realized we needed to gently change the perceptions of commencing student about their potential graduate destinations. Our goal for students is to make explicit the full range of contemporary workforce relevant options, rather than emphasize only those that align with the existing ‘stereotypes’ about what scientists do. A more-than-disciplinary approach in teaching science knowledge and skills not only provides essential embedded transferable or entrepreneurial skills but also allows our graduates to open up broader career opportunities. The restructured Bachelor of Science degree was designed around an explicit more-than-disciplinary approach, with first-year having a multidisciplinary focus, the second year being an interdisciplinary year and third year students engaging in a transdisciplinary capstone experience. This presentation will discuss how the Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Newcastle will explicitly give our students the skills and knowledge to navigate the more-than-disciplinary journey in becoming a contemporary scientist

Teaching Science Students How to Think

Scientific thinking is more than just critical thinking. Teaching the full range of ways to think like a scientist who practices high quality science is rare. A new core subject in the Bachelor of Science at the University of Newcastle was developed to allow students to explore six different ways to thinking scientifically through understanding what high-quality science is and contrasting it with poor science and non-science (pseudoscience). Our evaluation indicates that learning about how to think scientifically and be a scientist who practices high quality science is a skill that is valued by and relevant to first year undergraduate students. An evidence-based pedagogy including active learning, participatory learning, student-centred learning, constructive alignment and quality formative and summative feedback to students can support high learning outcomes

DEMONSTRATING ADAPTABILITY: ROLE MODELLING MULTIDISCIPLINARY LEARNING IN THE LAB, ONLINE AND AT HOME

In this paper we analyse changes required in the role of laboratory demonstrators to support students across a mid-semester move to online learning in response to COVID-19. ‘Multidisciplinary Laboratories’ is a large (~450 students) first-year, multi-campus course at the University of Newcastle that is organised around two multifaceted investigations: ‘Water – would you drink it?’, and ‘Energy – can it be sustainable?’. The course introduces students each week to diverse disciplinary perspectives, i.e. Environmental Science and Management, Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, Human Geography, Earth Sciences, and Physics. The teaching cohort in each laboratory session (~45 students) comprises a discipline-specific academic lead that changes weekly, and two demonstrators who remain with the class for the whole semester. As laboratories moved online, demonstrators supported students’ learning through synchronous live classes, experiments at home, virtual experiments and asynchronous materials including video tutorials. Importantly, demonstrators have role-modelled for students adaptability under conditions of uncertainty. Analysis of evaluative data including Blackboard engagement records, student surveys and demonstrators’ observations suggests effectively supporting students’ learning required nuanced and important changes in demonstrators’ roles including technical aspects, and techniques for engaging students and facilitating classes

PUTTING THE PASS IN CLASS: IN-CLASS PEER MENTORING ON CAMPUS AND ONLINE

We analyse the introduction of peer mentors into classrooms to understand how in-class mentoring supports students’ learning in first-year courses. Peer mentors are high-achieving students who have completed the same course previously, and are hired and trained by the university to facilitate Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS). PASS sessions give students the opportunity to deepen their understanding through revision and active learning and are typically held outside of class time. In contrast, our trial embedded peer mentors into the classes for Professional Scientific Thinking, a large (~250 students) workshop-based course at the University of Newcastle. Analysis of Blackboard analytics, student responses to Brookfield’s Critical Incident Questionnaire and peer mentors’ journals found that during face-to-face workshops, peer mentors role-modelled ideal student behaviour (e.g. asking questions), rather than act as additional teachers. This helped students new to university to better understand how to interact and learn effectively in class. Moving classes online mid-semester reshaped mentors’ roles, including through the technical aspects of their work and their engagement with students – adaptations that were essential for supporting students to also adapt effectively to changed learning circumstances. This study highlights the benefits of embedding student mentors in classrooms, both on campus and online

Putting the PASS in Class: Peer Mentors’ Identities in Science Workshops on Campus and Online

In this paper, we analyse the introduction of peer mentors into timetabled classes to understand how in-class mentoring supports students’ learning. The peer mentors in this study are high-achieving students who previously completed the same course and who were hired and trained to facilitate Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS). PASS gives students the opportunity to deepen their understanding through revision and active learning and are typically held outside of class time. In contrast, our trial embedded peer mentors into classes for a large (~250 students) first-year workshop-based course. We employed a participatory action research methodology to facilitate the peer mentors’ co-creation of the research process. Data sources include peer mentors’ journal entries, student cohort data, and a focus group with teaching staff. We found that during face-to-face workshops, peer mentors role-modelled ideal student behaviour (e.g., asking questions) rather than acting as additional teachers, and this helped students to better understand how to interact effectively in class. The identity of embedded peer mentors is neither that of teachers nor of students, and it instead spans aspects of both as described using a three-part schema comprising (i) identity, (ii) associated roles, and (iii) associated practices. As we moved classes online mid-semester in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, mentors’ identities remained stable, but mentors adjusted their associated roles and practices, including through the technical aspects of their engagement with students. This study highlights the benefits of embedding mentors in classrooms on campus and online

Avoiding the science stupidity trap

Why do we only follow people who think like us on social media? Why is this dangerous? What are the risks of having a high IQ in science? Why do ‘flat earthers’ still exist? Why doesn’t scientific evidence always change how people think? Why are fake facts winning in the media? Moreover, why is this relevant to university science students? No one teaches us the foundational elements about how to think like a high quality scientist. Our university science students are often expected to osmotically absorb this knowledge as they spend their time remembering disciplinary facts and theories. An article in New Scientist (2019, No3218) shows that this is not good enough to prevent flawed thinking or ‘stupidity’. This course makes explicit to first year science students 1) what a high quality scientist is and 2) practical strategies on how to become a high quality scientist. It teaches students about the full repertoire of different types of scientific thinking and explains where and where not, to use them. A cohesive student-learning journey across the degree means that students apply the theory of high quality scientific thinking, through active learning in second and third year

Multidisciplinary lab – Does it work?

As part of the restructure of the BSc program of The University of Newcastle, a multidisciplinary laboratory course (SCIE1002) was introduced for the first time this year as a core course. Students are given the opportunity to develop their capacity to engage and understand the perspectives of multiple disciplines while addressing scientific challenges. They also learn essential/foundational laboratory skills required in their chosen majors and across a range of other diverse science disciplines. The course was developed by several disciplines within the Faculty of Science: Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Science and Management, Geography, Physics and Psychology. Explored using multiple disciplinary approaches, the laboratory sessions focus on two practical research questions: Water – Would you drink it? and Energy – How much does it cost? Initial students’ feedback are positive; students engage with the online contextual pre-lab materials and, particularly, with the laboratory active learning as they provide real world relevance. The laboratory setting generated a highly interactive environment with student peers and staff enhancing students’ learning and building staff-students relationships. This presentation will discuss the development and implementation of the course, challenges encountered and planned improvements guided by both students and staff feedback