QEP-Real World Problem Solving

Themes in Science & Technology Education 2015, 8(2): 85-94.
This paper reports on a case study of a project-focused introduction to big data science course. The pedagogy of the course leveraged boundary theory, where students were positioned to be at the boundary between a client's desire to understand their data and the academic class. The results of the case study demonstrate that using live clients within a team-based, project-focused course provides a useful platform in which to teach an introduction to data science course to graduate students across a range of backgrounds. While more work needs to be done to compare different possible pedagogies for teaching an introduction to data science course, the results of this study indicate that one successful approach is a project-focused class that puts students at the boundary between the academic context of the course and solving a real-world problem for their client.
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PLOS Biology 2016, 14(1): 1-11.
Despite significant efforts to reform undergraduate science education, students often perform worse on assessments of perceptions of science after introductory courses, demonstrating a need for new educational interventions to reverse this trend. To address this need, we created An Inexplicable Disease, an engaging, active-learning case study that is unusual because it aims to simulate scientific inquiry by allowing students to iteratively investigate the Kuru epidemic of 1957 in a choose-your-own-experiment format in large lectures. The case emphasizes the importance of specialization and communication in science and is broadly applicable to courses of any size and sub-discipline of the life sciences.
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Journal of Geography in Higher Education 2015, 39(3): 407-419.
Management of “wicked problems”, messy real-world problems that defy resolution, requires thinkers who can transcend disciplinary boundaries, work collaboratively, and handle complexity and obstacles. This paper explores how educators can train undergraduates in these skills through applied community-based research, using the example of an interdisciplinary research program at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Participating students strengthened their abilities to handle setbacks in the research process, improved communication and teamwork skills, and gained familiarity with interdisciplinary investigation. Programmatic elements that could transfer well to other settings include studying local human–environment problems, working in multigenerational, small groups, and using multiple methodologies.
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PLoS ONE 2018, 13(5): e0197916.
Active learning is a pedagogical approach that involves students engaging in collaborative learning, which enables them to take more responsibility for their learning and improve their critical thinking skills. While prior research examined student performance at majority universities, this study focuses on specifically Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) for the first time. Here we present work that focuses on the impact of active learning interventions at Florida A&M University, where we measured the impact of active learning strategies coupled with a SCALE-UP (Student Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies) learning environment on student success in General Biology. In biology sections where active learning techniques were employed, students watched online videos and completed specific activities before class covering information previously presented in a traditional lecture format. In-class activities were then carefully planned to reinforce critical concepts and enhance critical thinking skills through active learning techniques such as the one-minute paper, think-pair-share, and the utilization of clickers. Students in the active learning and control groups covered the same topics, took the same summative examinations and completed identical homework sets. In addition, the same instructor taught all of the sections included in this study. Testing demonstrated that these interventions increased learning gains by as much as 16%, and students reported an increase in their positive perceptions of active learning and biology. Overall, our results suggest that active learning approaches coupled with the SCALE-UP environment may provide an added opportunity for student success when compared with the standard modes of instruction in General Biology.
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Journal of Chemical Education 2015, 92: 148-152.
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) studies of art represent an attractive way to introduce undergraduate students to concepts in nanoscience, vibrational spectroscopy, and instrumental analysis. Here, we present an undergraduate analytical or physical chemistry laboratory wherein a combination of normal Raman and SERS spectroscopy is used to identify both inorganic and organic fluorescent colorants in an oil painting. On the basis of their experimental observations, students make procedural decisions to adjust acquisition settings and use SERS, thereby enabling the successful identification of unknowns. This laboratory engages undergraduate students by applying what they have learned about quantum mechanics, nanoscience, and spectroscopy to the real-world, problem-solving context of art conservation.
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