Clicker Question

1. After menstruation, the first part of the female cycle is the________phase in the ovary and the _________ phase in the uterus.

1. luteal; secretory
2. luteal; proliferative
3. follicular; secretory
4. follicular; proliferative
5. follicular; luteal

There are two parts to the menstrual cycle, follicular and luteal in the ovary and proliferative and secretory in the uterus.  Although the same hormones drive each part, the student needs to know the difference between what is happening in the ovary vs. the uterus.

This is my original question and I did not change it because it challenges the student to think about the parallel processes and discuss them together.

Technology Question

Is there a point where using technology for the "use of technology" takes away from teaching and learning?

Active Learning in the Classroom

I actually already tried something so I'll write about that and what happened.  This was just during the week before Spring Break.

I lectured on a certain topic that involved two distinct processes and then I had them break into groups of two (think-pair-share) to discuss the topic.  This is a class of 48 students.  Then I asked if anyone had any questions and I had the slides of the images up on the screen and I asked specifically if they felt like they completely understood this topic and the difference between the processes.  The class unanimously replied that they did.  So, I had them close their books and notes  and I gave them a "pop" quiz!  They worked in groups of 3-4 this time and they were totally shocked.  I asked them to draw or write on paper as a group, and they would be graded as a group, the difference between the two processes that were the topic of the day.  Cooperative learning, collaborative learning, and group processing were involved here.  I am also hoping to work toward network quotient as a long term goal.

This was very interesting.  They just told me that they understood the topic.  When I explained it, they said they understood, and maybe they felt like they did.  But when they had to draw it out for themselves, even as a group where they could help each other, it was a different story.  Some groups really struggled and could only draw one of the processes.  Other groups, interestingly the ones that sit in the very front, really got down and started drawing together and trying to remember the terms and order of things.  Some worked hard and some just "gave up" and handed in a pretty blank page and that was the group in the very back of the large lecture hall.

I thought it was an interesting process to see some groups really trying and working together and others just giving up.  I also thought it was interesting that they tried to convince me that they "knew" this topic and that they were ready to move on and had no questions whatsoever and when I asked, "So, you could explain this to me?" and they said "yes" and then came the proof!

 

Assessment - student perspective

From the student's perspective, well at least from my students, the only assessment they care about (at this point) is the assessment that will give them a final grade in my class (summative). I constantly hear, "Is this going to be on the test?" "How are you going to ask us about this?" "Is this going to be an essay question?" "Why can't you give multiple choice because then I can just 'recognize' an answer?" (Yes, that last one was said to me last week...)

However, since I've been implementing some different activities and "pop" group work/quizzes, and I always have essays on the exams (unlike the majority of the science teachers where I work), they are starting to see how formative assessment will help them in the long run. One student came up to me today and said, "I just realized that the reason you had us do that group quiz last week was to get us really thinking about that topic together and seeing it from a different perspective." Seriously. That was pretty neat, I thought.

The role of formative assessment for the student is to aid the instructor in gathering information that will allow them to give feedback to the student and to guide the course in a certain direction as the need arises. The student should use this assessment in order to build on previous knowledge in learning the material. Once students understand that the formative assessment is not meant to be some kind of punishment, which is what my students seem to think anything besides a multiple choice/Scantron test is, they realize that these assessments along the way help the entire class learn together. They start to see that I am not the "enemy" but rather their "guide" through the course. As the instructor, I can see where the problems and misconceptions are, and as the student, they can get feedback in order to perhaps change their study habits or note taking or how to learn the "big picture" and how things build on each other and not just try to memorize an entire chapter or two, hoping to recognize a couple words on a test, and then forgetting about it when the semester is over. The student can only stand to gain from implementing formative assessment in a course.

Backward Design - Formative Assessment

This activity did serve to deepen my understanding of formative assessment because we thought about course design from another angle.  We looked at the course considering what we wanted our students to learn, how they could accomplish it, and how they could show us they accomplished it during the course and not just at the end. The most difficult part was to decide upon and then describe the difference between Learning Goals and Learning Outcomes.  I also found it to be somewhat challenging to decide on the activities and the rubric that we would use in our formative assessment.

 The most salient feature of formative assessment is how is differs from summative assessment.  It is on-going and gives us, as instructors, important feedback on how the student is learning, what they are learning, and if they are learning, in our courses before we start grading exams or quizzes and then being shocked with the results from our summative assessment.  Hopefully, using formative assessment and applying what we learn from it throughout the semester will help us reach the learning outcomes and goals successfully and avoid any "shock" at the end of the semester when the final grades are due.

Practice Interview

The practice interview was enlightening for me. It was interesting both to be interviewed and feel what it would be like as the student interviewee as well as then being the interviewer. As the interviewer, I learned that one needs to be flexible with the order of the questions. Sometimes the answer to one of the questions led directly into a question that I had planned for later, but it seemed like it would flow nicely if I just kept going with the same line of thought. What I thought was difficult was that I very much wanted to explain the right answer to the question! It was really hard for me to keep quiet and just let the interviewee continue with their train of thought and for me to just listen and take notes! I thought that having the interviewee draw a picture of what we were talking about went very well. This will impact my interview protocol as I plan to definitely give the starting scenario to the student and also ask them to draw a picture as we go along. I will also keep a flexible order to my questions so that we can follow the train of thought presented by the interviewee in the answer to one question that may lead into the next, etc. I will try very hard not to "lead" them along! The "trick" that I think is useful is having the interviewee draw a picture of what they are trying to explain so that I can better understand where they are going with their response.

Student Interview concept

Concept:  The Female Reproductive System

What is the menstrual cycle?

What causes it?

What are hormones?

Are there different phases?

What occurs in each phase?

When is a woman most fertile?

What happens in the ovary after ovulation? 

Which hormones are present at which times of the cycle?

What happens to the lining of the uterus during the cycle?

What hormone is increased in order to maintain pregnancy?

Do all women get their period at the same time of the month?

Learning Revisited

Learning does build on learning.  Take the example of the Suzuki method of young children learning to play the violin by ear (not note reading).  These children usually start this method at age 3 or 4 and they listen over and over to a set of tapes, or CDs nowadays, of the same melody and variations of that melody.  They are instructed to find those notes on their violins and then “put them together” in the same order that they hear.  They mimic what the instructor plays.  They listen again and again to the same set of notes played in the same order.  It takes about a year for most students to learn “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”  After they learn “Twinkle,” the next piece comes much faster, and the next and the next, similar to learning a language, starting with a few words, building to sentences, and then conversation.  The learning builds on the previous learning.

Learning requires doing.  A U-C Irvine mathematics professor always said, “Keep your pencil moving” when instructing students on how to master story problems.  Instead of feeling overwhelmed with the details of the story and how many miles per hour some train was moving in some direction and how fast could Johnny get there on his bike from some other direction, etc., this professor encouraged the students to just write everything down as they came to the information. He told them to draw a picture and start writing some equations that were familiar and then start plugging in values and before they knew it, they were solving problems.  They were “doing” math and not just staring at the paper trying to think it through in their heads. 

The part of the reading in Scientific Inquiry and How People Learn regarding Metacognition was interesting to me, especially the work of White and Frederiksen and their curriculum called ThinkerTools.  It was interesting to see the results of their study where the students were actively involved in the scientific process and asked to reflect and analyze their project as opposed to just participating in a traditional curriculum.  This also goes back to “learning requires doing.” 

I would not change my definition of learning but would expand it to include these ideas.

Teaching Philosophy Reflections

I liked Dereck’s comments about teaching being an evolutionary process and I agree with his comment “that there are not parallels in class dynamics.”  I like his concept of initiating imagination and encouraging the student to form a personal connection to the subject matter.  I found Steve’s comparison of teaching and learning to jazz music, comparing the individual instruments and then the whole band together “flowing and organized” to be very insightful.  Steve also talks about the importance of applying what they learn in class to real life which is very important to me.  Jody makes a good point about how not every student learns the way she does and this is important to address when we are teaching a course.  I agree with her regarding having a “fun and open atmosphere.”  I also like the idea having not only lecture based classes but introducing group work, class discussions, etc. Jody states how she wants to “inspire” her students to enjoy learning.

Regarding my own teaching philosophy, I would plan to have more of a variety of  coursework as opposed to just lectures.  I really like the idea that teaching is an evolutionary process that takes place with each class in each semester.  I already feel strongly that I want to inspire my students in the subjects that I teach so that they will walk away from my class, taking some knowledge with them, and not just being glad the semester is over and forgetting everything from my class because they were there just to “get through it.”  

What is Learning?

I would define learning as a "durable change in behavior brought about by experience."  Learning and memory are connected.  The acquisition of new information or skills comes from instruction or experience.  Then, memory allows this new information to be stored and recalled when necessary.  Let's take the example of a person touching their finger to a hot burner.  As their finger touches the burner, a reflex mechanism causes them to quickly take their finger away.  This reflex happens so fast that the incoming message doesn't even have a chance to get to the brain before a reaction takes place.  However, while the reflex was coming into play to protect the finger, another message continued up to the brain for the person to process what had just happened.  It is here that learning occurs.  The person now knows that touching a hot burner is something unpleasant and should be avoided. They have learned from the experience and will change their behavior when next presented with a hot burner near their hand.  If only the reflex mechanism was in place, even though the finger would be taken off the burner, the person would not learn to avoid this situation in the future.

Another example in physiology is when a hormonally driven behavior becomes a learned behavior.  When a young stud dog first encounters a bitch in heat, his reproductive system kicks in and he instinctually exhibits breeding behaviors.  At this point, his endocrine system is responding to the bitch's endocrine system.  If this dog is used for breeding, he starts to learn that bitches in heat mean "time to breed."  He remembers what to do when presented with a bitch in heat.  Later in life, if experienced stud dogs are castrated, taking away the hormones that were the driving force of the breeding behavior in the first place, they will still willingly breed bitches.  The experience of breeding has produced a durable change in behavior.  

A similar situation occurs in breeding stallions.  When stallions are first bred, they need natural instinct and drive in order to breed the mare.  Some valuable stallions have their semen collected and need to "learn" how to mount a phantom mare in order to be collected in an artificial vagina.  Well, a phantom mare is a large vinyl covered metal object that is completely inanimate and is of no interest to a passing stallion in any way.  However, leading a mare in heat close to the phantom mare excites the stallion to instinctually mount.  He is guided onto the phantom while he perhaps thinks he's mounting the real mare.  After that, the real mare in heat can be placed in a set of stocks in the same room as the phantom and the stallion will mount the phantom just by visual and olfactory stimulation from the presence of the mare.  Many stallions who are collected often will no longer need a mare in heat present in order to collect.  When they see a phantom, they act like it is a mare in heat and will mount the phantom without any other stimulation.  This stallion has learned from experience that when he sees the phantom, he gets collected. This experience has changed his behavior in the presence of an ordinarily benign object and I would define this as learning.

Teaching Philosophy

While pursuing prerequisite studies for medical school, I was hired to teach the Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy Lab at Augsburg College.  I instantly knew at that time that I wanted to apply to graduate school and pursue a career in college teaching.  I am now in my ninth year of teaching college Anatomy & Physiology and related Biology/Pathology courses and loving it.  My goals as an instructor are to inspire my students to appreciate and understand the human body and its functions, to develop an awareness of the biological world around them, and to develop a desire to educate others about what they have learned.

Developing appreciation of the human body and attaining cognizance of body functions requires intense study of foreign terms and delving into dissection with the examination of unfamiliar structures.  In my classes, I make the world of anatomy and physiology less intimidating by using metaphors, games, and group activities to illustrate difficult concepts.  I continue to reference material from previous chapters to the current topic.   My goal is for the student to develop enough physiological insight so that when “Grandpa” says after eating a Thanksgiving meal, “Oh, I’m so tired now,” my student can respond with, “That’s your parasympathetic nervous system kicking in!” In other words, they can take their anatomy and physiology knowledge out of the classroom and into everyday life.  

I want my students to develop an awareness of the biological world around them by piquing their curiosity in science overall.  Through field trips and lab experiments, I am able to open up a new world to my students.  During the chick embryology lab, they can watch a fertilized egg develop through various phases and hatch into a chick.  While studying trees, they can learn what type of tree indicates which type of soil.  Instead of driving down the freeway and seeing “trees,” now they can say “black spruce on acidic soil,” for example.  By performing open-ended experiments and not “cook-book” labs, we can test our hypotheses without having a predictable outcome.

Nothing is more rewarding for me as an instructor than to see my students develop a desire to teach others.  One assignment that is conducive to this is where each student writes their own “exam.”  Then they get together with other students and take turns taking each other’s “exams.”  This is a great study tool because they are looking at the material from my perspective in writing the exam, and then working together as they study each other’s exams.  It is a well known fact that you learn by teaching.   

I do not want my students to walk away from my class as if it is just another class they had to pass for their major.  I want them to remember these lessons throughout their careers in the healthcare field and their lives.  I always have an essay question on the last exam that asks, “What was the most important thing you learned in my class, why was it important to you, and how has it affected your life?”  The feedback I have received has been very rewarding, from students motivated to quit smoking to another student who changed majors from dental hygiene to pre-med.  Although I disappointed my family by not going to medical school, I believe I am

ultimately reaching more patients in the long run through the comprehensive education of my students as they enter the many branches of the healthcare field.  

Jan 12 readings

I found the reading from Ch. 8  to be very appropriate as today was the first day of class and I am teaching three lecture classes this semester and was thinking about how I could "get to know" my students better.  The statement that "each class brings a new group of students" is not only true because of the obvious but also true in the fact that each group interacts differently even when including the same students from previous semesters.

I found the part about "Students Are More Likely to Succeed if They:" to be very significant!  I also found the section on tutoring to be interesting as we have many students where I teach who just want "to be shown the answers."  This connects with the part of the Markwell and Courtney article that describes the student who seeks knowledge of only the material that will be on the test and has no interest or desire in the quest of knowledge in and of itself.

I felt strongly about the type of test questions described in Markwell and Courtney.  This is something I have been working with as a college instructor regarding testing the students knowledge and not just recall.  The other issue is writing a test that can be given in 50 minutes to over 90 students and promptly graded.  This is where the multiple choice/Scantron test has appeal over the several page short answer and essay test.

Going back to Ch. 8, the part about Science Fear and Math Anxiety is very true.  I do think that Science can be a "scary" subject for many students.  I also find it interesting, in daily life, the response I get when people who don't know me find out I teach Anatomy & Physiology.  It is always something like, "Oh, wow, really..."  Sometimes I get the feeling that because I'm a woman I can't possibly be "smart" enough to teach science or that these people are surprised that I can do this because they perhaps have preconceived notions about women in science, I don't know.