Upcoming CEITL Conferences
Previous CEITL Conferences
Empower Students for Academic Success II: Teaching Students Study Skills Informed by the Science of Learning
Presentation recording Links in the schedule below
Conference Schedule and Links to Presentation Recordings:
Click on presentation titles to access the recordings
| 8:50–9:00 | Welcome |
| 9:00–10:00 Plenary 1: | Stephen Chew, Professor of Psychology, Samford University Presentation Title: What Students Need to Know about Learning (and Why They Won’t Believe Us) |
| 10:00–10:15 | Q&A Forum |
| 10:15–10:30 | Break |
|
10:30–11:30 Plenary 2: |
Anne Cleary, Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Colorado State University Presentation Title:Incorporating Principles from the Science of Learning in Higher Education
|
| 11:30–11:45 | Q&A Forum |
| 11:45–12:30 | Lunch Break |
|
12:30 – 1:30 Plenary 3: |
Catherine Overson, Director, CEITL, Affiliate Associate Professor of College Teaching, UNH Lauren Kordonowy, Science of Learning Project Coordinator, CEITL, UNH |
| 1:30–1:45 | Q&A Forum |
| 1:45–2:00 | Break |
|
2:00–2:45 Plenary 4: |
Victor Benassi, Faculty Director, CEITL (2007 – 2018) and Professor of Psychology, UNH, retired (2018) Presentation Title:Validating the Student Cognition Toolbox
|
| 2:45–3:00 | Q&A Forum |
| 3:00–3:15 | Concluding Remarks |
Dr. Stephen L. Chew, Professor of Psychology
Samford University
Presentation Title: What Students Need to Know about Learning (and Why They Won’t Believe Us)
Abstract: We know, based on a large body of research, what students need to do in order to learn effectively, but that is only part of the process of improving student learning, and perhaps not even the hardest part. Instructing students about attention, working memory, and learning strategies is important, but may not be enough to convince many students of the need to change their study behaviors. In this presentation, I discuss the factors that keep students from using what we know about learning to improve their study habits and suggest possible ways to address this problem.
Dr. Anne M. Cleary, Professor of Cognitive Psychology
Colorado State University
Presentation Title: Incorporating Principles from the Science of Learning in Higher Education
Abstract: Well over a century of research has investigated basic processes that underlie human learning. Although such work in the science of learning has yielded a number of generalizable principles, there remain impediments to their effective implementation in educational settings. For instance, many evidence-based strategies are the opposite of what students feel works best for them. Consequently, students are frequently unaware of when they are engaging in ineffective learning strategies and instructors may similarly support and implement ineffective learning strategies based on impressions. Enhancing knowledge of evidence-based strategies is thus an important first step to optimal learning. However, improved knowledge of study strategies must also be accompanied by successful production and practice of those strategies. This introduces a significant challenge for students and instructors alike, as behavior must change in order to alter prior ineffective habits and strategies. In this talk, I will discuss some strategies underway at Colorado State University for improving knowledge of learning strategies and for achieving behavior change in ways that are easy to implement and incorporate within existing course structures and peer-mentoring approaches.
Dr. Catherine Overson, Director, CEITL
University of New Hampshire
Principal Investigator, Student Cognition Toolbox
Presentation Title: The UNH Student Cognition Toolbox: Empowering Students to Become Better Learners
Abstract (with Dr. Kordonowy): We have been developing and deploying a comprehensive set of online instructional materials, the Student Cognition Toolbox (SCT), situated within Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU) Open Learning Initiative (OLI; http://oli.cmu.edu), that inform students about cognitively-supported effective and efficient study strategies. A distinctive feature of our Toolbox is that lessons include a practice component that will assist students in mastery of that strategy. This session will comprise a tour of the SCT’s latest edition. In addition to the ‘standard’ (default) introductory psychology version of the SCT, we have also developed SCT discipline-specific versions, including one for statistics, biology, chemistry, and physics. Finally, we will offer some examples of how instructors might incorporate into their courses, opportunities for students’ continued use of these strategies throughout the semester.
Dr. Lauren Kordonowy, Science of Learning Project Coordinator,
CEITL, University of New Hampshire
Presentation Title: The UNH Student Cognition Toolbox: Empowering Students to Become Better Learners
Abstract (with Dr. Overson): See above
Biography: Lauren Kordonowy is the Science of Learning Project Coordinator at CEITL. Her work includes developing and implementing projects for improving learning outcomes in undergraduate courses. Lauren works closely with faculty members to address learning goals in their courses, and she has experience collaborating with faculty across many departments. She was also the producer of the STEM video project, which produced several videos featuring UNH faculty members from many departments across the sciences. One of Lauren’s current long-term projects is the creation and deployment of the Student Cognition Toolbox, CEITL’s online interactive study strategy course. With Catherine Overson, Christopher Hakala, and Victor Benassi, she is co-editor of In Their Own Words: What scholars want you to know about why and how to apply the science of learning in your academic setting (forthcoming, 2022).
Dr. Victor Benassi, Professor Emeritus and Faculty Director, CEITL (2007-2018),
University of New Hampshire
Co-Principal Investigator, Student Cognition Toolbox
Presentation Title: Validating the Student Cognition Toolbox
Abstract: This presentation focuses on efforts to validate the Student Cognition Toolbox (SCT) as an effective and efficient tool that instructs students on when and how to use cognitively supported study strategies in their academic courses.
I will report findings from students enrolled in large enrollment introductory psychology and introductory biology courses, and respond to the following questions:
- Do students’ reports of intended study behavior change after engaging with the SCT?
- Is there a relation between students’ individual differences (e.g., test anxiety, need for cognition) and their SCT knowledge quiz scores?
- Is there a relation between measures within the SCT? (Post-instruction SBI and SCT knowledge quiz scores)
- Is there a relation between course exam scores and measures within the SCT (knowledge quizzes and academic confidence)?
- Is there a relation between course exam scores as a function of SCT quiz scores and academic confidence (Self-efficacy)?
Based on several years administering the SCT to undergraduate students, we have found that our instructional tool has both external and internal validity as supported by our examination of large datasets generated by students who have completed the SCT and high stakes course exams.
This presentation will be non-technical and will be geared toward a general audience.
Student Cognition Toolbox Team Member Moderators
Jenny Calawa
Graduate Assistant and Research Associate, PhD Candidate, CEITL, UNH
Elizabeth Tappin
Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Coordinator, CEITL, UNH
Acknowledgments
This conference is made possible by a grant from the Davis Educational Foundation (The Student Cognition Toolbox). The Foundation was established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis's retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc. This conference and our work is also made possible by the support of the UNH Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Empower Students for Academic Success I: Teaching Students Study Skills Informed by the Science of Learning
November 6, 2020
Registration is closed. Scroll down to find links to presentation slides and additional presentation resources.
Dear Colleague:
We are inviting you to attend a one-day Webinar (November 6, 2020) hosted by the University of New Hampshire on Empowering Students for Academic Success. This will be our fifth conference on a science of learning theme, each made possible by support from the Davis Educational Foundation. The conference will feature presentations on teaching college and university students study strategies informed by the science of learning and instructing and supporting them to use those strategies as they prepare for course assessments. There will also be a presentation on how technology-enhanced learning innovations be developed and applied in ways that improve outcomes for all learners.
In addition to our presentation on the Student Cognition Toolbox, we have an excellent line-up of presenters, including Mark McDaniel (co-author of Make It Stick), Megan Sumeracki (co-author of Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide), and Norman Bier (Executive Director of the Carnegie Mellon University Simon Initiative).
Participation in the Webinar is free to registrants.
Webinar details are provided below.
Sincerely,
Affiliate Associate Professor of College Teaching, UNH
Professor Emeritus and Faculty Director, CEITL (2007-2018), UNH
Megan Sumeracki
Rhode Island College
Megan Sumeracki (formerly Smith) is an Assistant Professor at Rhode Island College. She received her Master’s in Experimental Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis and her PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Purdue University. Megan studies human learning and memory, specifically applying the science of learning in educational contexts. Her research focuses on retrieval-based learning strategies, and the way retrieval can improve meaningful learning. Megan’s work has been published in journals such as Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, and Applied Cognitive Psychology. Megan has given talks at regional and national conferences in the US, and abroad such as a lecture at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study and The McMaster Symposium on Education and Cognition in Hamilton Ontario. Megan is also passionate about bridging the gap between research and practice in education. In an effort to promote more conversations between researchers and practitioners, she co-founded The Learning Scientists (www.learningscientists.org).
Presentation Title: Six Cognitive Strategies for Effective Learning
Abstract: Decades of cognitive research can inform classroom learning. However, the research is not always translated into practice. In particular, cognitive psychologists have identified six strategies with a lot of scientific evidence to suggest that they work well to promote durable long-term learning. These strategies include spacing, interleaving, elaboration, dual coding, concrete examples, and retrieval practice. During the talk, Dr. Sumeracki will provide a brief overview of each of these strategies and general tips for their use. Importantly, she will go over resources that are available on learningscientists.org to learn more about the strategies and their use in college courses.
Presentation Slides:
Link to Six Cognitive Strategies for Effective Learning - Part 1
Link to Six Cognitive Strategies for Effective Learning - Part 2
Link to Six Cognitive Strategies for Effective Learning - Part 3
Click to Access the Video Presentation
Additional Presentation Resources:
The Learning Scientists website - https://www.learningscientists.org/
Norman Bier
Carnegie Mellon University
Norman Bier has spent his career at the intersection of learning and technology, working to expand access to and improve the quality of education. He is the Executive Director of the Simon Initiative and the Director of the Open Learning Initiative (OLI) at Carnegie Mellon University. The Simon Initiative leverages CMU’s unique research and educational technology ecosystem, applying learning science to improve outcomes for all. OLI, a recognized leader in open education, combines leading research in the learning sciences with state-of-the-art technology to create scientifically-based courses that facilitate understanding for independent learners and support instructors to improve effectiveness in traditional classrooms. Prior to joining OLI, he was Director of Training and Development at iCarnegie Inc., a university subsidiary chartered delivering CMU-designed software development education through international partner institutions. Norman has taught computer science as an adjunct faculty member at the Community College of Allegheny County, philosophy and computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, and he served as a founding member of the Robert E. Cook Honors College at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. As a leader in Open Education and Educational Technology, in 2015 he was selected by the Center for Digital Education as one of their Top 30 Technologists, Transformers, and Trailblazers.
Presentation Title: Open Education: Improving Learning in Higher Education
Abstract: Higher education is more important than ever for economic mobility and lifetime earnings, but an increasingly diverse population of learners continues to struggle to achieve post-secondary success. How can technology-enhanced learning innovations be developed and applied in ways that improve outcomes for all learners? What are the opportunities and risks as the use of these innovations becomes more widespread? And how should these innovations engage with the growing Open Education (OE) community? One answer can be seen at Carnegie Mellon University’s Simon Initiative, where a learning engineering approach integrates research and practice in ways that simultaneously improve outcomes for students while advancing our understanding of how humans learn. In this talk, Bier will give an overview of the Simon Initiative and discuss the Open Learning Initiative (OLI) as an exemplar of learning engineering. He will highlight the unique affordances of Open Educational Resources (OER) and emphasize productive overlap with other open approaches, including science, access, data and pedagogy. In this context, he will highlight the affordances of descriptive learning analytics for improving outcomes for diverse learners and provide an overview of OLI – its approach, supporting technologies, analytics and associated research. He will also provide an overview of emerging research on barriers to innovation in higher-education. He will argue that success in addressing educational technology’s opportunities and challenges while mediating risks requires this work to be centered in not-for-profit higher education and necessitates collaboration across educational institutions. To that end, he will highlight ways to leverage the work of the Simon Initiative and outline opportunities to collaborate with OLI and the larger OE community, including examples drawn from successful collaborations with UNH.
Presentation Slides:
Link to Open Education: Improving Learning in Higher Education Part 1
Link to Open Education: Improving Learning in Higher Education Part 2
Link to Open Education: Improving Learning in Higher Education Part 3
Link to Open Education: Improving Learning in Higher Education Part 4
Link to Open Education: Improving Learning in Higher Education Part 5
Link to Open Education: Improving Learning in Higher Education Part 6
Link to Open Education: Improving Learning in Higher Education Part 7
Link to Open Education: Improving Learning in Higher Education Part 8
Click to Access the Video Presentation
Additional Presentation Resources:
Open Learning Initiative
You can learn about online courseware, informed by the learning sciences, at the Open Learning Initiative platform that Norman Bier described: https://oli.cmu.edu/
Victor Benassi
University of New Hampshire
Victor Benassi is professor emeritus. He was Faculty Director of CEITL (2007 – 2018). He is an APA fellow and served as APA’s 2013 Division 2 President (Society for the Teaching of Psychology, STP). He has been a PI on four Davis Educational Foundation (DEF) grants that focus on the application of science of learning principles in college and university courses. With Catherine Overson and Chris Hakala, he is co-editor of Applying the Science of Learning in Education: Infusing Psychological Science into the Curriculum (STP, 2014). In 2003, he received the American Psychological Foundation’s Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology award.
Catherine Overson
University of New Hampshire
Catherine Overson’s research focuses on the application of science of learning principles to teaching and learning in college and university courses. Catherine assists faculty and teaching graduate students in designing their courses in a manner that incorporates science of learning principles. She also conducts faculty development presentations and workshops at UNH and other universities and colleges on applying the science of learning. She is co-editor (with Victor Benassi and Christopher Hakala) of Applying the Science of Learning in Education: Infusing Psychological Science into the Curriculum (2014, STP).
Presentation Title: The Student Cognition Toolbox: Empowering Students to Become Better Learners
Abstract: Students enter college with a variety of past experiences and beliefs about how to prepare for assessments of their academic performance. Considerable research supports that most students prefer and use study strategies that are ineffective relative to strategies supported by applied research on cognition. In addition, this research shows that different study strategies are needed for different kinds of learning—one size does not fit all.
In response to this, we have developed and launched a comprehensive set of online instructional materials, the Student Cognition Toolbox, situated within Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU) Open Learning Initiative (OLI; http://oli.cmu.edu), that inform students about cognitively-supported effective and efficient study strategies. A distinctive feature of our Toolbox is that lessons include a practice component designed to assist students in mastery of that strategy. We will report on a number of assessments that examine whether and how students use their newly-acquired skills, as well as the impact of their use on their academic performance.
Presentation Slides:
Link to The Student Cognition Toolbox: Empowering Students to Become Better Learners
Click to Access the Video Presentation
Additional Presentation Resources:
Student Cognition Toolbox: Two versions of the Student Cognition Toolbox are now available on the Open Learning Initiative platform (https://oli.cmu.edu) and are now ready for review and possible adoption
Instructor Initiated: https://oli.cmu.edu/product-category/student-success/
Mark A. McDaniel
Washington University in St. Louis
Mark McDaniel is a Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and the Director of the Center for Integrative Research in Cognition, Learning, and Education (CIRCLE). He received his Ph.D. from University of Colorado in 1980. His research is in the general area of human learning and memory, with an emphasis on prospective memory, encoding and retrieval processes in episodic memory and applications to educational contexts. His educationally relevant research includes a series of studies on elaborative study techniques, learning of science categories, and enhancing learning through testing (repeated retrieval), with much of this latter work being conducted in college and middle school classrooms. His research has been sponsored by the Institute of Educational Sciences, the James S. McDonnell Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation.
McDaniel has served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition and as president of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association and of Divisions 3 of the American Psychological Association. He has published over 290 journal articles, book chapters, and edited books on human learning and memory, and is the co-author with Peter Brown and Henry Roediger of Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning (Harvard University Press, 2014).
Presentation Title: KBCP - The Knowledge, Belief, Commitment and Planning Framework for Teaching Effective Learning Strategies: A Concrete Example and Some Preliminary Results
Abstract: The efforts to teaching learning strategies generally have failed to promote spontaneous transfer of the target strategies to new contexts and materials. I will outline a theoretical framework that I am developing that delineates key components of a learning-strategy training regimen to support transfer and sustained use of the trained strategies. I will illustrate these components from a recent course that incorporated these features, and provide initial results that inform the effectiveness of this approach.
Presentation Slides:
Click to Access the Video Presentation
Additional Presentation Resources:
Knowledge, Belief, Commitment, and Planning Framework
You can access an article by Mark McDaniel on the “Training Learning Strategies to Promote Self-Regulation and Transfer: The Knowledge, Belief, Commitment, and Planning Framework”: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1745691620920723?journalCode=ppsa
CENTER FOR INTEGRATIVE RESEARCH ON COGNITION, LEARNING, AND EDUCATION (CIRCLE) - https://circle.wustl.edu
UNH Student Cognition Toolbox Team Member Moderators
Lauren Kordonowy
Science of Learning Project Coordinator, CEITL, UNH
Elizabeth Tappin
Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Coordinator, CEITL, UNH
Jenny Calawa
Graduate Assistant and Research Associate, PhD Candidate, CEITL, UNH
Acknowledgements
This conference is made possible by a grant from the Davis Educational Foundation (Applying the Science of Learning across the Biological Sciences Curriculum). The Foundation was established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis's retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc. This conference and our work is also made possible by the support of the UNH Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Presentations at Empower Students for Academic Success: Teaching Students Study Skills Informed by the Science of Learning
November 6, 2020
Six Cognitive Strategies for Effective Learning
Megan Sumeracki - Associate Professor, Rhode Island College
Open Education: Improving Learning in Higher Education
Norman Bier - Executive Director of the Simon Initiative and the Director of the Open Learning Initiative, Carnegie Mellon University
The Student Cognition Toolbox: Empowering Students to Become Better Learners
Victor Benassi - Co-Principal Investigator, Student Cognition Toolbox, Professor Emeritus and Faculty Director, CEITL (2007-2018), University of New Hampshire
Catherine Overson - Principal Investigator, Student Cognition Toolbox, Interim Director, CEITL, University of New Hampshire
KBCP - The Knowledge, Belief, Commitment and Planning Framework for Teaching Effective Learning Strategies: A Concrete Example and Some Preliminary Results
Mark A. McDaniel - Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis
STEM Pedagogy Institute on April 28 2018 from 8:30am-4:00pm
The STEM Pedagogy Institute is a one-day intensive set of presentations, workshops, and hands-on work that will culminate in each participant institution having developed a project that will be implemented during the 2018-19 academic year. Each project will address an important curricular issue, challenge, and/or problem related to a biological science major at the participating institution. Although the focus of the institute will be on departments with biology majors, we are interested in the participation of faculty who teach courses that contribute to the biology major (e.g., chemistry, mathematics, physics).
- At least one of the team members must be from a biological science department. Other members can include faculty who teach courses taken by biological science majors, faculty from an institution’s teaching and learning center, and/or academic administrators who oversee biological science majors.
- Applications for each institution will comprise one team of 2 or 3 people who will be named in the application. Institutions will guarantee that in the event of a team member withdrawal after the team has been accepted into the Institute, that that team member will be replaced.
- We have funding to support a limited number of institutions to participate in the Institute.
- Our Institute has two sources of funding.
- A Davis Educational Foundation grant (Victor Benassi and Catherine Overson, PIs) will provide support for applicants from four-year colleges and universities.
- A National Science Foundation grant (Samuel Pazicni, Margaret Greenslade, and Victor Benassi, PIs) will provide support for applicants from community colleges.
- Information on the application form (link below) should be completed by all team applicants.
- Each accepted team agrees to participate in the STEM Conference on April 27, 2018 and in the STEM Pedagogy Institute on April 28, 2018 (8:30am – 4:00pm).
- Selected teams agree to complete one preparatory assignment prior to the institute. This assignment will involve working on the learning outcomes for your project, and completing a brief reading assignment related to your project.
Each team will identify a curricular issue in one or more courses that they will work on at the Institute. Here are some examples of the kinds of issues that you might want to address through the institute. They are just examples.
- Students enrolled in a biological science major take required courses in chemistry and mathematics during their first year. They often comment to their biology teachers and their advisors that they have a difficult time seeing the connection between what they are being taught in these courses with their biology courses. The chair of the biology department wants to create a collaboration among the chemistry, mathematics, and biology departments to better integrate the chemistry and mathematics taught in the courses taken by biology majors with the content they taught in their first-year biology courses.
- Faculty who teach upper-division courses in their department’s biology major often complain that students do not know basic concepts and content that was included in the two first-year biology courses. The department curriculum committee is interested in identifying the source of the problem and developing a strategy to address it.
- Faculty are concerned that many students have difficulty applying concepts addressed in their courses to real-world biological phenomena. Faculty are interested in developing approaches that may increase their students’ success in applying concepts taught in these courses.
- With the assistance of the campus teaching and learning center, the chair of a department’s curriculum committee administers an assessment to biological science majors that shows that most of them use inefficient, ‘shallow’ study methods outside of class. The faculty in the department are interested in creating out-of-class assignments that promote more efficient and ‘deep’ study methods.
Project staff will work with you to develop learning outcomes for your project, instructional methods (based on science of learning principles) to help you achieve those outcomes, and a plan to assess the impact of the methods on your learning outcomes.
Dr. Benassi is principal investigator of three Davis Educational Foundation grants on applying science of learning principles in academic courses and curricula. He is an American Psychology Association fellow and served as the 2013 APA Division 2 President. In 2003, he received the American Psychological Foundation’s Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology award. His current research focuses on the application of science of learning principles to teaching and learning in college and university courses
Presentation Title: Fostering Higher-Order Learning in STEM Education: A Role for Science of LearningLink to Fostering Higher-Order Learning in STEM Education: A Role for Science of Learning
STEM Pedagogy Institute
Date: May 27, 2017
Time: 8:30am – 4:00pm
The STEM Pedagogy Institute is a one-day intensive set of presentations, workshops, and hands-on work that will culminate in each participant institution having developed a project that will be implemented during the 2017-18 academic year. Each project will address an important curricular issue, challenge, and/or problem related to a biological science major at the participating institution. Although the focus of the institute will be on departments with biology majors, we are interested in the participation of faculty who teach courses that contribute to the biology major (e.g., chemistry, mathematics, physics).
- At least one of the team members must be from a biological science department. Other members can include faculty who teach courses taken by biological science majors, faculty from an institution’s teaching and learning center, and/or academic administrators who oversee biological science majors.
- Applications for each institution will comprise one team of 2 or 3 people who will be named in the application. Institutions will guarantee that in the event of a team member withdrawal after the team has been accepted into the Institute, that that team member will be replaced.
- We have funding to support a limited number of institutions to participate in the Institute. If your institution is not selected for the 2017 Institute, we will invite you to reapply for the 2018 Institute.
- Our Institute has two sources of funding:
- A Davis Educational Foundation grant (Victor Benassi and Catherine Overson, PIs) will provide support for applicants from four-year colleges and universities.
- A National Science Foundation grant (Samuel Pazicni, Margaret Greenslade, and Victor Benassi, PIs) will provide support for applicants from community colleges.
-
The application form (link below) should be completed by all applicants.
- Each accepted team agrees to participate in the STEM conference on May 26, 2017 and in the STEM Pedagogy Institute on May 27, 2017 (8:30am – 4:00pm).
- Selected teams agree to complete one preparatory assignment prior to the institute. This assignment will involve working on the learning outcomes for your project, and completing a brief reading assignment related to your project.
Each team will identify a curricular issue in one or more courses that they will work on at the Institute. Here are some examples of the kinds of issues that you might want to address through the institute. They are just examples.
- Students enrolled in a biological science major take required courses in chemistry and mathematics during their first year. They often comment to their biology teachers and their advisors that they have a difficult time seeing the connection between what they are being taught in these courses with their biology courses. The chair of the biology department wants to create a collaboration among the chemistry, mathematics, and biology departments to better integrate the chemistry and mathematics taught in the courses taken by biology majors with the content they taught in their first-year biology courses.
- Faculty who teach upper-division courses in their department’s biology major often complain that students do not know basic concepts and content that was included in the two first-year biology courses. The department curriculum committee is interested in identifying the source of the problem and developing a strategy to address it.
- Faculty are concerned that many students have difficulty applying concepts addressed in their courses to real-world biological phenomena. Faculty are interested in developing approaches that may increase their students’ success in applying concepts taught in these courses.
- With the assistance of the campus teaching and learning center, the chair of a department’s curriculum committee administers an assessment to biological science majors that shows that most of them use inefficient, ‘shallow’ study methods outside of class. The faculty in the department are interested in creating out-of-class assignments that promote more efficient and ‘deep’ study methods.
Project staff will work with you to develop learning outcomes for your project, instructional methods (based on science of learning principles) to help you achieve those outcomes, and an plan to assess the impact of the methods on your learning outcomes.
Stem Pedagogy Institute Program:
Applications are now closed for the Summer 2017 STEM Pedagogy Institute. We invite you to apply for the Pedagogy Institute that we will hold in Summer 2018.
Fostering Academic Success in STEM on May 26 2017 from 8:30am-4:00pm
We are inviting you to register for a one-day conference (May 26, 2017) on Fostering Academic Success in STEM at the undergraduate level. The conference presenters are featured below.
The conference will feature presentations and interactive sessions on current work on applying science of learning in undergraduate college and university courses, with an emphasis on STEM education. This conference will focus on helping non-experts in science of learning to implement and assess the impact of instruction informed by the science of learning.
Participation in the conference is free to registrants, with continental breakfast and lunch served. In addition, complimentary parking on campus will be provided as needed. Your only expense will be getting to and from the conference.
Additional Opportunity (by application)
Two and four year colleges and universities are invited to submit an application to participate in a STEM Pedagogy Institute on the day following the conference (May 27, 2017). Selected institutions will work with Institute staff to develop an instructional plan for a course or courses, informed by science of learning principles. The plans will then be implemented during the 2017-18 academic year with an assessment completed with support from UNH. Institutions with successful projects will be invited to present their findings at the 2018 STEM Pedagogy Institute. Click here for more detailed information on the STEM Pedagogy Institute.
Sincerely,
Director, Center for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching and Learning, University of New Hampshire
Director of Teaching, Learning, and Research Services, Center for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching and Learning, University of New Hampshire
Click Here for Speakers' Biographies and Presentation Abstracts (PDF)
Diane Ebert-May
Professor of Plant Biology, Michigan State University
Dr. Diane Ebert-May provides national and international leadership in biology education research and teaching. Ebert-May’s lab group investigates the longitudinal impact of transformed biology courses on undergraduates’ use of scientific practices (e.g., models, arguments, working with data, and narratives) to learn the core concepts in biology. Her book, Pathways to Scientific Teaching is based on student-centered learning, inquiry-based instructional strategies, assessment and research. She is a AAAS Fellow in the Biological Sciences. Her recent awards include the US Professor of the Year Award for Michigan from the Carnegie Foundation/CASE (2011), the Education Award from the American Association for Biological Science (2012), and University Distinguished Faculty (MSU 2012).
Presentation Title: Evidence-based Teaching: Just the Facts or Thinking Like Scientists? Part 1 & Part 2
Shana Carpenter
Associate Professor of Psychology, Iowa State University
Dr. Shana Carpenter’s research interests include the application of memory principles to improve student learning and metacognition. She is the PI on an NSF-funded project designed to apply effective learning principles toward the improvement of STEM education, particularly as they relate to individual differences in student learning. She has served as associate editor for the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (JARMAC) and currently serves on numerous editorial boards for journals in both cognitive and educational psychology.
Presentation Title: Using Prequestions to Enhance the Effects of Retrieval Practice in STEM Courses
John Dunlosky
Professor of Psychological sciences and Director of Science of Learning and Education (STEM), Kent State University
Dr. John Donlosky has contributed empirical and theoretical work on metacognition and self-regulated learning, and his current research focus is on discovering techniques that will improve students’ learning and achievement across the lifespan. Dr. Dunlosky is a member of the Governing Board of the Psychonomic Society, a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, a founder of the International Association for Metacognition, and co-author of Metacognition, the first textbook on the topic.
Presentation Title: Helping Students Achieve: Promising Strategies from Cognitive and Education Sciences
Samuel Pazicni
Associate Professor, Chemistry, University of New Hampshire
Dr Pazicni received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, and performed post-doctoral research in Biophysics and Chemistry Education at the University of Michigan. At UNH, Sam leads a research group specializing in both bioinorganic chemistry and chemistry education research, and co-directs the CC2CEPS Scholarship Program, designed to provide academic and financial assistance to community college students transferring to UNH to complete a baccalaureate degree in a STEM field. He is also a teaching/learning/assessment fellow with UNH’s CEITL. Sam is also a member of the American Chemical Society, and currently serves on the Society Committee on Education and on the Division of Chemical Education's Chemistry Education Research Committee.
Presentation Title: Investigating and Mitigating Students’ Illusions of Competence
Carrie L. Hall
Assistant Professor, Biology, zoology, University of New Hampshire
Dr. Hall completed her BS in biological sciences and her MS in Biochemistry at the University of Tulsa, and then completed a dual-track Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biology Education at Idaho State University. Before joining the UNH faculty in Biological Sciences in the fall of 2015, she completed her post-doctoral training and began her first faculty position in South Dakota. Dr. Hall is interested in teaching and learning methods that best work for students from diverse backgrounds, and seeks to understand how faculty decisions and adoption of teaching methodology best inspire all students to succeed.
Presentation Title: Does Method Matter?: A Study of Teaching Methodology and Content Learning in Introductory Biology
Melissa Aikens
Assistant Professor, Biology, University of New Hampshire
Dr. Aikens is an Assistant Professor of Biology Education in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of New Hampshire. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Virginia where she studied ecology and evolutionary biology. She then completed a postdoc in biology education at the University of Georgia and the University of Texas at Austin. Her research on education investigates (1) the effects of mentoring by graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and faculty members on undergraduate researchers and (2) pedagogical strategies that foster positive attitudes toward quantitative skills in biology majors and that lead to greater quantitative skill development.
Presentation Title: Incorporating Quantitative Skills into the Undergraduate Biology Classroom
Faria Sana, Assistant Professor in the Centre for Psychology, Athabasca University
Dr. Faria Sana is an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Psychology at Athabasca University. She obtained her Ph.D. in Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University where she investigated cognitive principles that promote the learning of categories and concepts. She is currently investigating when, why and for whom cognitive principles (e.g., interleaving practice, pretesting concepts, and generating explanations) inform educational practices in secondary and postsecondary, including online classrooms.
Presentation Title: Applying the Interleaving Effect to Promote Student Learning - Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3
Michael Melville
Teaching and Learning Research Coordinator, CEITL, University of New Hampshire
Dr. Melville completed his Ph.D. in psychology at UNH with a specialty in social psychology and science of learning. He is a Teaching and Learning Research Coordinator at CEITL where he works with faculty in applying science of learning principles in their courses. Michael's research interests are at the crossroads of social psychology and the science of teaching and learning. His work has examined the role of interpersonal dynamics affecting learning in a classroom setting.
Presentation Title: How Can We "Activate" Student Engagement?
Joint Presentation Title: Designing Instruction and Practice to Benefit Students’ Performance in STEM courses
Dr. Benassi is principal investigator of three Davis Educational Foundation grants on applying science of learning principles in academic courses and curricula. He is an American Psychology Association fellow and served as the 2013 APA Division 2 President. In 2003, he received the American Psychological Foundation’s Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology award. His current research focuses on the application of science of learning principles to teaching and learning in college and university courses.
Dr. Overson completed her Ph.D. in psychology at UNH with a specialty in social psychology and the science of learning. Her research focuses on the application of science of learning principles in college and university courses. She conducts faculty development presentations and workshops on applying the science of learning. Catherine has presented on her teaching and learning research at national and international conferences, and is co-editor (with Victor Benassi and Christopher Hakala) of Applying the Science of Learning in Education: Infusing Psychological Science into the Curriculum (2014, STP).
Below is information on a CEITL conference, Teaching & Learning with Multimedia, held on April 24, 2015.
This conference was presented by the Center for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching and Learning and by Academic Technology (Instructional Development Center). This conference was made possible by a grant from the Davis Educational Foundation. The Foundation was established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis's retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc.
