Progress 09/01/10 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Undergraduate students, university professors, high school teachers, community college instructors Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Professional development was provided for high school teachers and community college instructors from Kentucky, Indiana and Washington. Faculty development was provided through workshops and curriculum development projects. Graduate students were trained to conduct educational research and design instructional resources through the curriculum development project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? High School Science and Agriculture Teachers and Community College Instructors from Kentucky, Indiana and Washington Inaugural International Congress of Innovation in Higher Education for Teaching and Learning Agriculture and Natural Resources, Universidad Nacional Agraria LaMolina, Lima, Peru North American College and Teachers of Agriculture American Association of Agricultural Educators Association of Career and Technical Education Research National Association of Equine Affiliated Academics American Society of Horticultural Science Universities, including University of British Columbia, Canada; Seattle University, Washington; North Carolina State University Historically Black Colleges and Universities, including Florida A&M University and North Carolina A&T State University A project website was used to disseminate the learning enhancement modules, professional development opportunities, and related outputs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The project focused on improving the learning experiences for undergraduate students in introductory STEM courses through engaging online, interactive learning modules to improve students' knowledge, interests, and abilities to apply science concepts in animal, plant, and food sciences courses. Overall, content faculty experts involved in teaching the courses and in assisting to conceive, design, and develop the online, interactive learning modules reported significant impacts. Faculty showed gains in their knowledge and application of student-centered teaching methodologies and grew in confidence throughout the life of the project in their ability to design student-centered teaching strategies and to transfer those strategies to other courses. Moreover, faculty expressed a much greater understanding of student assessment and they articulated their ability to evaluate student performance more accurately in their classroom. Additional impacts reported by content faculty experts in the project included greater use of critical thinking in their courses and the ability to use a systems approach when delivering challenging content - both as a result of their regular involvement with pedagogy experts throughout the life of this project. Gains in faculty growth led to productive efforts in developing and refining the online, interactive learning modules in order to maximize their effectiveness in transferring knowledge of difficult science concepts in their respective classes in animal, plant, and food science courses to their students. Pilot data showed promising results in student comprehension of procedural and situational knowledge with a 9% improvement for animal science students when comparing pre- and post-test results. In addition, student gains from pre- and post-test results reveal a 20% increase in student self-efficacy towards declarative, procedural, and situational knowledge in the introductory animal science course after exposure to the online, interactive learning module. Over one-third of the students reported the plant science educational game and over 90% of the students reported the food science educational game would help them learn the difficult science concepts in their respective courses. The project goal to develop an instructional network was realized. Faculty found the interdisciplinary experience to be educational and "enlightening" and "engaging." Each faculty member agreed that the positive change they experienced influenced their beliefs and their actions in the classroom. Faculty grew in their understanding of the "scholarship of teaching" and all reported learning much more about effective student assessment in the process. Content faculty experts recognized the benefit of individual learning opportunities that the online module affords, with students having unlimited access to the module for instruction tailored more specifically to individual learners. Faculty shared they plan to "transfer their newly discovered teaching strategies to other classes." They also stated that it "changed their methods for teaching basic information", and that they intend to teach their classes using a more "systematic approach to enhance critical thinking." Regarding the first objective, the greatest impact of this project was observed in the involvement and growth of the content faculty experts engaged in this project. Faculty from the various content areas (animal, plant, food) articulated the benefits of interacting with pedagogy experts throughout the project. These faculty described in detail how their understanding grew in the scholarship of teaching and learning, a greater ability to identify effective student-centered teaching strategies, and greater confidence in assessing student performance. Faculty content experts in animal, plant and food science all indicated their growing confidence in transferring what they learned in this project to other classes they taught. Faculty were clearly able to identify the difficult science concepts within their respective courses. Through reflective practice, faculty were able to draw upon their knowledge of previous classes and the evidence from student performance on assessment measures, and personal interactions with students relative to the difficulties students exhibited in coursework and exams, to identify the most difficult concepts students struggled with in each course. Regarding the second objective, through active and ongoing involvement in the instructional development teams of content and pedagogy experts, content faculty experts engaged in this project were successfully able to conceive online, interactive learning modules that were appropriate for college students in learning difficult science concepts in introductory courses in animal, plant, and food science. By interacting with software development experts, faculty were able to articulate the design for the online, interactive learning modules and they provided the software developers with ongoing feedback throughout the development process. The greatest barrier in the development process of the online learning modules was the difficulty in identifying appropriate software development experts for the modules being developed. Due to the lost time in the online module development process, all modules were slow to reach the pilot test phase. All content faculty experts described how the pilot data for the online, interactive learning module serves to inform future use of the modules as well as their approaches to teaching the difficult science concepts in their classrooms. Animal science faculty reported their satisfaction with the pilot results from the online, interactive module developed for their course. Their assessment of the results revealed student gains in the areas of animal science vocabulary and anatomy. Regarding the third objective, professors and graduate students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, community college instructors, and high school teachers participated in innovative professional development of how students learn science and the new online modules. Participants reported the workshop helped them better understand how learner-centered teaching strategies could be used to help their students learn difficult science concepts. Participants were motivated to use learner-centered teaching strategies and they benefited from seeing the teaching strategies modeled in the workshop. Teachers planned to apply what they learned in the workshop with their students, and they saw utility in using the online, interactive modules with their students. Regarding the fourth objective, high school teachers, community college instructors, and professors at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who participated in professional development workshops agreed the online, interactive learning modules would be useful in helping their students learn difficult science concepts. Moreover, animal science and plant science faculty responded favorably to the prospects for transferability of the online, interactive learning modules to instructors of high schools, community colleges, and university biology courses. Some of the faculty had been involved in sharing the module with colleagues at other universities and they reported positive feedback. One faculty member reported interest among cooperative extension professionals for using the module in non-formal educational settings. The food science faculty expressed reservations about high school students having the necessary background and contextual understanding to succeed using the food science module without modification. Animal science faculty were uncertain if the faculty teaching university biology courses would have interest in the animal science online learning module simply because for many biology courses the content is taught using human examples as the context for those courses.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Balschweid, M., Knobloch, N. A., & Hains, B. J. (2014). Teaching Introductory Life Science Courses in Colleges of Agriculture: Faculty Experiences. Journal of Agricultural Education, 55(4), 162-175. doi: 10.5032/jae.2014.04162
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Knobloch, N. A., Hains, B., Keefe, L., Chang, S., Espinoza Morales, C., Welsh, M., Balschweid, M., Ballard, T., Liceaga, A., Orvis, K., Snyder, L., Zanis, M., Rossano, M., Silvia, W., Brady, C., Esters, L. T., Latour, M., & Graveel, J. (in press). Enhancing Introductory College Courses Using Educational Games in Animal, Plant and Food Sciences (Mejorando Cursos Universitario Introductorios Usando Juegos Educativos en Zootecnia, Botanica, y Ciencias Alimentarias). Published research paper at the Inaugural International Congress of Innovation in Higher Education for Teaching and Learning Agriculture and Natural Resources, Universidad Nacional Agraria LaMolina, Lima, Peru.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Rosanno, M., Hains, B., Silvia, W., Knobloch, N., & Balschweid, M. (2014). Microvets: Using an Interactive, online video game to teach equine digestion. Abstract presented at the anual meeting of the National Association of Equine Affiliated Academics, Louisville, KY.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Orvis, K. S., Knobloch, N., Espinoza Morales, C., Keefe, L., Hains, B., & Chang, S. K. (2014). A Pilot Study of College Students Experiences with an Educational Game to Learn Difficult Plant Science Concepts. Abstract presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Horticultural Science, Orlando, FL.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Ricketts, K., Hains, B., Rossano, M., Silvia, W., & Knobloch, N. (2014). An Exploration of the Effect of Instructional Training on Undergraduate Teaching Assistants in an Introductory Animal Science Course. NACTA Journal, 58, Supplement 1.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Hains, B., Rossano, M., Silvia, W., & Knobloch, N. (2014). Tackling Difficult Science Concepts Using 21st Century Pedagogy. NACTA Journal, 58, Supplement 1.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Esters, L., Knobloch, N., & Brown, B. (2014). Addressing Recruitment and Retention Using Learner-Centered Teaching Strategies. Invited faculty development workshop for Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Esters, L., & Knobloch, N. (2014). Enhancing the Human Capacity of Urban Agricultural Education Students Using Learner-Centered Teaching Strategies. Invited faculty development workshop for North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC.
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Keefe, L. M. (2013). Contextualized measurement of self-efficacy and college students perceived sources of self-efficacy in introductory plant science courses (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Hains, B., Knobloch, N., Brady, C., Croney, C., Hains, D., Orvis, K., & Rossano, M. (2014). Navigating Difficult Agriscience Concepts: An Interactive Workshop on Learner-Centered Instruction. Innovative Professional Development Workshop, Carrollton, KY.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Keefe, L., Knobloch, N., Orvis, K., Zanis, M., Snyder, L., & Hains, B. (2013). Development of a College Student Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Introductory Studies of Plant Sciences. Paper presented at the National American Association of Agricultural Educators Conference, Columbus, OH.
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2012
Citation:
Knobloch, N. A., & Keefe, L. (2012). Enhancing Science Capacity through Learner-Centered Teaching. Available online at: www.ydae.purdue.edu/ESC/
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Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: This report summarizes the progress of the project in FY12 to enhance undergraduate learning in introductory animal, plant, and food science courses by developing human capacity through learner-centered online modules. The progress in the second year of this three-year project was characterized by three instructional design teams who worked closely in collaboratively designing and developing the online modules for animal, plant, and food sciences (Objectives 1 and 2). In doing so, three content pedagogy teams refined the difficult science concepts for three domains, clarified learning objectives, updated and revised the instructional design frameworks for the educational games, and developed content that would help students learn the difficult science concepts. Moreover, knowledge tests and questionnaires to assess student motivation were developed for each domain. For the Animal Science Modules, storylines and educational media were collected and will be used to develop the online module, and educational gamers were identified to develop the module for the animal digestive system. Animal science knowledge tests and student questionnaire was developed and is ready to be used for collecting data. For the Plant Science Modules, learning objectives and specific content was identified for a storyboard to help students learn the independent and interdependent relationships between photosynthesis and respiration. Plant science knowledge tests and student questionnaire was developed and is ready to be used for collecting data. For the Food Science Modules, a high resolution video was created to illustrate procedural and situational knowledge of a high acid canning process at a tomato processing plant. Two educational games were developed to illustrate the processes of tomato grading and blanching and teach the difficult science concept regarding enzymes. For innovative faculty development (Objective 3), 12 teaching assistants were trained and help facilitate labs and lecture for the Domestic Animal Biology course at the University of Kentucky. Over 100 faculty from a 1890 Historically Black College and University were engaged in learning about learner-centered teaching using resources created for professional development workshops. For expanding access (Objective 4), the team provided feedback on the project logo, website and plans for the modules. Difficult science concepts were confirmed and the project was shared with educators at the Kentucky Agricultural Education Conference and the National Science Teachers Association Conference. The homepage of the project website was developed, faculty and IT staff were interviewed for the formative and summative evaluation. PARTICIPANTS: Neil Knobloch and Bryan Hains served as the principal investigators of the project. They provided leadership for the instructional design teams. Lisa Keefe and Savannah Craddock organized the teams, assisted with communications, and helped professors develop instructional designs, storyboards, content and media resources. Mark Balschweid organized and conducted ongoing evaluation for the project. Fifteen undergraduate and graduate students were trained as future learner-centered educators. Seven professors of animal science (Mary Rossano & Bill Silvia), plant science (Kathryn Orvis, Lori Snyder, Michael Zanis), and food science (Tameshia Ballard & Andrea Liceaga) identified difficult science concepts and frameworks to engage learners to understand difficult science concepts. Faculty (Colleen Brady, Levon Esters, John Graveel & Mickey Latour) provided feedback regarding the utility of online modules for high school teachers and students. Over 200 professors were trained on learner-centered teaching strategies through professional development workshops. TARGET AUDIENCES: Professors in higher education and graduate students were the target audiences. Targeted efforts included development of innovative teaching methods through online learning modules and instructional design assignments. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The project experienced changes in personnel and delays in meeting some targeted deadlines. Mickey Latour took a new position at another university, David Kwan-Mensah resigned as the project co-evaluator due to a new job, and Savannah Robin graduated with a master's degree from the University of Kentucky. Because the project is highly collaborative, meeting project deadlines has been challenging due to busy schedules of faculty. Moreover, the project focus on being innovative has also created more challenges in unraveling the complexities of difficult science concepts and engaging pedagogies using educational gaming frameworks and information technology specialists. Although there is documented progress in reaching project objectives and outputs, the planning, design and development phase of the online learning enhancement modules has been arduous. However, the quality of the modules, motivation of faculty, and impact on learning should be much greater because of the level of professional investments made by the co-project directors.
Impacts
There were two outcomes for the first year of this project. First, professors' knowledge of learner-centered instruction has increased and professors described that they are more intentional in using teaching strategies that promote active learning to help college students learn difficult science concepts in six introductory courses. Second, future scientists and educators (as undergraduate and graduate students) increased their knowledge of content, content pedagogy, and pedagogical practices in introductory life science courses.
Publications
- Anderson, M., Keefe, L., Knobloch, N., & Esters, L.T. (2012). Instructional Coherence of Standards and Assessment of Dual-Credit Courses in Advanced Life Sciences. Abstract presented to the annual meeting of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture, River Falls, WI.
- Keefe, L., Knobloch, N., Hains, B., Robin, S., Balschweid, M., et al. (2012). Building K-14 and University Partnerships to Enhance Science Capacity in Introductory Animal, Plant and Food Sciences Courses. Poster abstract presented to the annual meeting of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture, River Falls, WI.
- Keefe, L.M., Knobloch, N.A., Orvis, K.S., Zanis, M.J., & Unruh Snyder, L.J. (In review, 2013). Development of a Life Science Self-efficacy Instrument for Undergraduate Students in Introductory Plant Science Courses. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Conference, San Francisco, CA.
- Knobloch, N., Hains, B., Keefe, L., & Robin, S. (2012). Difficult Life Science Concepts in Introductory College Courses. Presentation proposal submitted to the 2012 National Science Teachers Association Conference, Indianapolis, IN.
- Knobloch, N., Keefe, L., Hains, B., Craddock, S., Esters, L., & Anderson, M. (2011). Opportunities and Challenges of Career and Technical Education in Preparing the Future STEM Workforce. Paper presented at the Association for Career and Technical Education Research Conference, St. Louis, MO.
- Balschweid, M., Hains, B.J., & Knobloch, N.A. (2012). Teaching Difficult Science Concepts to Introductory College Freshmen: Faculty Voices. Research abstract presented at the 2012 North Central Region of the American Association of Agricultural Educators, Champaign, IL.
- Keefe, L.M., & Knobloch, N.A. (2012). Identifying Sources of Self-efficacy in Introductory Plant Science Courses. Poster abstract presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Agricultural Educators, Ashville, NC.
- Robin, S.F., Pratt, B. & Hains, B.J. (2012). Good for the Goose, Good for the Gander: An Exploration of Difficult Science Concepts in Secondary Agricultural Education. American Association of Agricultural Educators Conference: Asheville, NC.
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Progress 09/01/10 to 08/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: This report summarizes the progress of the project in FY11 to enhance undergraduate learning in introductory animal, plant, and food science courses by developing human capacity through learner-centered online modules. The progress in the first year of this three-year project was characterized by mobilizing three instructional design teams consisting of content, pedagogy and content-pedagogy specialists who worked collaboratively in designing and developing the online modules for their respective areas, animal, plant, and food science (Objectives 1 and 2). In doing so, three content pedagogy teams identified difficult science concepts for three courses and narrowed the list down to focus on one concept that the modules would address. Instructional design frameworks created for the modules that would be developed for each of the introductory courses. Content plans and story boards were created for each of the modules. For the Animal Science Modules, declarative and procedural knowledge was developed for the animal digestive system, specifically the ruminant digestive system. Over 70 images and 15 videos were developed for the animal science module. A case study video was developed to enhance the higher-level knowledge for the animal digestive system. For the Plant Science Modules, a systems approach of organizing difficult science concepts was used to develop a storyboard to help students learn the independent and interdependent relationships between photosynthesis and respiration. For the Food Science Modules, a storyboard was created for an existing corn processing video, and high resolution video was recorded to capture a high acid canning process at a tomato processing plant. For innovative faculty development (Objective 3), an advanced teaching methods course engaged graduate students to develop learner-centered teaching resources for the animal science module. Moreover, a pedagogical training video about the bumpy road of learner-centered teaching was created for professional development workshops. For expanding access (Objective 4), the team identified opportunities and barriers in sharing the modules with high school teachers and students. As such, three studies were developed to investigate performance, curriculum alignment, and the nature of science of the Advanced Life Science curriculum in Indiana. The homepage of the project website is in development, and an interview protocol for faculty was developed for the formative and summative evaluation. PARTICIPANTS: Neil Knobloch and Bryan Hains served as the principal investigators of the project. They provided leadership for the instructional design teams. Lisa Keefe, Lindsay Nobbe, and Savannah Craddock organized the teams, assisted with communications, and helped professors develop instructional designs and storyboards. Mark Balschweid and David Kwaw-Mensah organized the evaluation for the project. Thirteen graduate students were trained as future learner-centered educators. Seven professors of animal science (Mary Rossano & Bill Silvia), plant science (Kathryn Orvis, Lori Snyder, Michael Zanis), and food science (Tameshia Ballard & Andrea Liceaga) identified difficult science concepts and frameworks to engage learners to understand difficult science concepts. (Colleen Brady, Levon Esters, John Graveel & Mickey Latour) identified potential opportunities and barriers to expanding access of the online modules to high school teachers and students. TARGET AUDIENCES: Professors in higher education and graduate students were the target audiences. Targeted efforts included development of innovative teaching methods through online learning modules and instructional design assignments. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The project started three months later than originally proposed. As such, this delayed the timeline for the overall project and modules were not pilot-tested in the Fall, 2011 semester. Moreover, because of the delayed start date, the kick-off conference was facilitated by having the lead project directors meet with each of the four teams (3 content teams and the expanding access team). The proposal identified three modules would be developed for each content area. Instead of distinctly different modules, the modules have become more integrated. As such, the three components of declarative, procedural and situation knowledge were combined to facilitate learning of the difficult science concepts. To accommodate a reduction in the budget, the evaluation team was asked to start one semester later than originally planned. However, there were institutional communication errors and the evaluation did not start until 9 months after the start date of the project. As such, the evaluation for year one did not accomplish the objectives as planned.
Impacts
There were two outcomes for the first year of this project. First, professors reflected critically on their craft to narrow down the difficult science concepts students need learn in six introductory college courses. Second, future educators (as graduate students) increased their knowledge of content, content pedagogy, and pedagogical practices in a digital learning venue in life science courses.
Publications
- Knobloch, N., Keefe, L., Hains, B., Craddock, S., Esters, L., & Anderson, M. (2011). Opportunities and Challenges of Career and Technical Education in Preparing the Future Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Workforce. Symposium paper presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Association for Career and Technical Education Research Conference, St. Louis, MO. (accepted)
- Knobloch, N., Hains, B., Keefe, L., & Craddock, S. (2012). Difficult Life Science Concepts in Introductory College Courses. Presentation proposal submitted to the 2012 National Science Teachers Association Conference, Indianapolis, IN. (in review)
- Keefe, L., Esters, L., & Knobloch, N. (2011). High school students performance on a dual-credit advanced life science exam. Poster abstract presented at the annual meeting of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture, Edmonton, Canada.
- Anderson, M., & Esters, L.T. (2011). Do the tenets of nature of science exist in a science-intensive agriculture and life-science course Paper presented at the 2011 North Central American Association of Agricultural Educators, State College, PA.
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