Informed Perspective-Taking: A New General Education Model Dr. John - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Informed Perspective-Taking: A New General Education Model

• Dr. John Pollard

The Big Ideas, Interdisciplinary Thinking Project

Guada Lozano, PhD Associate Research Professor Director, External Relations & Evaluation Mathematics Director for CUES

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Center for University Education Scholarship Mission: To catalyze the practice of educational innovation and scholarship on teaching and learning at the University of Arizona. CUES serves as a model for change and improvement in university education, by fostering exceptional scholarly experiences for faculty and staff, and positively impacting the quality of education across campus.

2018 Fellows

Paul Blowers Brian Mayer John Pollard Vignesh Subbian Cheri Lacasse Mahmoud Azaz

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Outline

Main Presentation (11-11:45a)

• Project introduction
• Key questions

relevance for CUES mission, institutional value for UA

• Current progress
• Next steps

Lunch and Networking time w/ Fellows (11:45-12:05p) Q&A Panel of stakeholders and experts (12:05-12:30p)

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Q&A Panel

Brian Mayer

Associate Professor, Sociology & Public Health CUES Distinguished Fellow

Mahmoud Azaz

Assistant Professor, Middle Eastern and North African Studies CUES Distinguished Fellow

Vicente Talanquer

Distinguished Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry CUES Advisory Board

Informed Perspective-Taking: A New General Education Model

• Dr. John Pollard

The Big Ideas, Interdisciplinary Thinking Project

Goals of Today

Describe my project, Big Ideas Interdisciplinary Thinking, and illustrate its alignment with the CUES mission: Innovation, Scholarship, Grand Challenges and Broader Engagement Inspire you to submit or participate in a CUES project Present our progress, some initial results and where we are going

Tho Thought E t Exper erimen ent

Imag agine y your t team eam i is tasked w with c considering t the e following s

• situation. I

In a a rural al, d developing c community, t , the e neares est f freshwater er s source i e is mi miles es aw away f from wh where e members l live. . Ever ery d day, y young p people f from t the e community t travel b by foot t to t this w water er s source mu e multiple e times dai aily t to bring b back ack s supplies o

• f w
• water. T

This t tas ask t tak akes at leas ast 6 6 hours of t their t r time d dai aily.

 Select a disciplinary perspective. From this perspective, what sorts of questions would you ask?  What ideas would you propose to “improve” this situation?  Share your ideas with your partner and try to synthesize an integrated perspective.

Informed and Integrated Perspective-Taking

Natural Science Humanist Social Science

Engineering/Science Perspective

• What options exist for automating the water

transportation? Social Science Perspective

• What role does water sourcing play in the

community? Who is doing this labor?

• How might removing this form of work

impact the the societal value of young people in the community? Humanist Perspective

• If the journey is removed, how might this

impact the story telling that occurs among community members? Artistic expression? The most comprehensive solutions emerge from the integration of perspectives

Natural Science Humanist Social Science

• understand (and appreciate) that there are several important

disciplinary perspectives relevant to approaching/understanding each ‘Grand Challenge’

• read and evaluate a wide variety of academic, creative, professional,

and popular sources evaluate the evidence or reasons supporting each

• f the perspectives
• judge how important each perspective is for the issue at hand
• apply perspective-taking techniques
• integrate, synthesize, balance and accommodate knowledge from

multiple disciplines in order to produce something greater than would be possible from any one disciplinary perspective

In order accommodate the various perspectives and make a balanced judgement, students must be able to:

(Augsburg & Madison, 2012; Repko, 2008; Golding, 2009)

How does an “interdisciplinary habit of mind” relate to the national conversation of general education reform?

Gen Ed a means to creating “well-rounded” citizens

A Shifting General Education Landscape

Educated, Cultured, Informed Innovative, Creative, Critical Thinkers Enhanced for Social Functions Disruptive Problem Solvers

Gen Ed a means to create “situationally ready” citizens

My Own Ex Experiential al E Evidence

The Challenges of Change in Gen Ed

• External reform pressures
• Growing emphasis on a culture of assessment
• Need to better communicate value of general education, and create more

cohesive and integrated structures

• Reform = a lot of work + not a lot of agreement
• Faculty don’t always like being told to assess, validate, or change classes
• Tricky balance between faculty autonomy and flexibility, and the demand for

evidence-based instruction and accountability to student learning

• The proliferation in interdisciplinary courses and programs has not been

matched with the research to answer fundamental questions regarding what interdisciplinary learning entails, which teaching methods are effective, and how to assess and document student mastery. (DeZure, 2017)

What at i is Big Id Ideas, Interdisciplina nary T Thi hink nking ng?

Lever erage e my exper erien ence a e and UA assets t to create o

• pportun

unities w within o

• ur G

Gen Ed Ed curriculum a and b d beyond nd f for o

• ur s

students t to develo lop i interdis iscip iplin linary r reasonin ing s skills lls

Chemical Th Thinking (develop

• pment a

and education

• nal

sch chol

• larship)

Active L Lear arning Col Collab aborative L Lear arning S Spac aces UA A Strateg egic Pl Plan Tal alented/Co Collaborati tive F Fac aculty

Curricular Innovation and Development Educational Research Building a Coalition

The Big Ideas, Interdisciplinary Thinking Project

Curricular Innovation and Development Educational Research Building a Coalition

The Big Ideas, Interdisciplinary Thinking Project

HNRS 160 Portraits of Humanity HNRS 150 Sounding out Being Human HNRS 170 Human Beings: Being Human

What does it mean to be human in a rapidly changing world?

Kate Alexander Jennie McStotts Joost Van Haren

Jigsaw Approach

Step 1: Students work in a team

to become experts on one segment of new material, while

• ther ‘expert teams’ in the class

work on other segments of new material.

Step 2: class rearranges, forming

new groups that have one member from each expert team. The members of the new team take turns teaching each other the material on which they are experts.

Co-Convened Classes Separate Sections

Develop disciplinary understanding

• f questions and methods used to

understand a bigger question Through peer learning activities, students are afforded opportunities to integrate ideas

The co-development of disciplinary knowledge and interdisciplinary understanding What does it mean to be human in a rapidly changing world? Learning cycle approach Use descriptive terms and disciplinary ways of knowing as anchors for developing integration activities Narrative, Metacognition and Evidence Scientific Method, Close Reading, Ethnography

Curricular Innovation and Development Educational Research Building a Coalition

The Big Ideas, Interdisciplinary Thinking Project

The Research

Data Collection

Classroom Observation Pre-Post Assessment Student Interviews Student Work Instructor Interviews

Data Collection

Classroom Observation Pre-Post Assessment

Student Interviews Student Work Instructor Interviews

Research Questions

• 1. How are interdisciplinary learning goals being

translated into instructional practice?

• 2. How do the pedagogic strategies used by instructors

promote the development of interdisciplinary reasoning skills among students?

• 3. How do students perceive the learning experiences?

What characteristics of student work provide evidence for a growth in interdisciplinary reasoning

Pre-post case study assessments

“In the beginning, I wanted to classify the terms solely into one discipline, convincing myself that evidence is mainly associated with natural sciences, narrative strictly within social sciences and humanities as well with metacognition dabbling in both. However, last week’s co-convene session centered on the various ways the three disciplines collect and analyze data shed light on a profound, new realization. I’ve become aware of how imperative each term is to describing and expanding the following disciplines, something I failed to recognize during the time of my first course reflection.”

“…my ideas and understanding of each term has broadened, as well as my familiarity with each discipline. It becomes clearer and clearer to me how everything is interconnected, and how each discipline utilizes the similar (if not the same) methods and ways

• f thinking/interpreting.”

Analysis of Student Work

“It has been really helpful for me, and also I think for all of us to work with our colleagues. We don't often have opportunities to sit down and talk about like What is teaching? What does it mean to teach? What are we doing? Like to essentially have that professional development, in a way, to think about how we teach better and what that means. What is an Honors class? Those big questions that we don't often just sit down and talk about”

• Instructor Interview

The Faculty Experience

Curricular Innovation and Development Educational Research Building a Coalition

The Big Ideas, Interdisciplinary Thinking Project

The Big Ideas, Interdisciplinary Thinking Faculty Learning Community

Big Ideas FLC Joela Jacobs Mike Staten Thomas Gianetti Alex Erwin Na Zuo Kathleen Kennedy Jackie Maximillian Fiona McCarthy Katy Prudic Rani Olson Science and Law Life from A to Z Settlers of Antarctica Data and Online Dating The Food Gap Sustainability and Food Security Big Data and Retail Finances

Curricular Development, Innovation and Piloting Broader engagements with UA faculty to further advance ideas Scholarship on how interdisciplinary reasoning develops

The Big Ideas, Interdisciplinary Thinking Project A student-centered, evidence-based approach for advancing the vision of “Gen Ed” and ”All Ed” at UA

Evaluate current data this summer 2.0 version of our Honors Pilot Course Development of two more courses in Honors for piloting in 2020-2021 and piloting Science and Law in F19 Continue data collection Publication(s) and conferences Continue supporting course development and innovation Continue meeting, advancing discussion and being engaged with UA strategic planning

Thank You

Big Ideas Graduate Student

Megan Baker

jpollard@email.arizona.edu

John Pollard

The Big Ideas, Interdisciplinary Thinking Project Pilot Course Faculty

Kate Alexander Jennie McStotts Joost Van Haren

CUES

Guada Lozano Jessica Dennis