Facilitating and Assessing the Development of Scientific Habits
of Mind: Course Transformation using Assessable Learning Objectives and
Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE)
Eugenia Etkina and Charles Ruggieri
In this talk we will discuss the importance of articulating assessable
learning objectives for our courses, ways to assess whether objectives are
met, and steps we can take to help students achieve these objectives.
Specifically, we will share the story of course transformation of the
E&M and Modern Physics courses within the introductory calculus-based
physics sequence using the instructional approach of Investigative Science
Learning Environment (ISLE) to show how it connects to the learning
objectives valued by faculty. The course changed from a traditional
structure to one that includes ISLE-based labs. The lab, which had
previously been a separate course, is now central to the course structure,
and this happened from a bottom up change strategy. Over 10 faculty and
staff members worked together on the transformation. We discuss the
process of developing learning objectives, from which emerged a shared
recognition of the central role that ISLE laboratory experiences play in
meeting the learning objectives the faculty articulated as being
important. We outline the steps we undertook transforming the
labs, share student learning data, lessons learned, and future plans.
We will discuss the essential features of transformation progress: (1)
administrative support and PER champion(s), (2) close collaboration of
instructors and curriculum designers, (3) weekly professional development,
and (4) a flexible grading system which encourages students to revise and
resubmit work based on instructor feedback.