Date/Time
Date(s) - 11/03/2015
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Title: Applying the Scientific Method to University Science Teaching Remarkable effort; Remarkable success

Speaker: Dr. Douglas Duncan

Institute: University of Colorado

Location: ABB 102

Description:

Over approximately the last decade a new kind of research â?? Discipline-Based Education Research — has burgeoned at the Univ. of Colorado (and rather similarly at the Univ. of British Columbia). This $15M effort involves more than 20 faculty members, postdocs, and graduate students, in multiple science departments. The research closely examines what takes place during university science teaching. Extensive oral interviews of students, ethnographic observations of faculty and students in action, and a new kind of testing, coupled with advances in understanding how the brain works, have led to much better understanding of how students learn science. I will present the strong evidence that we can significantly increase student learning, with methods ranging from simple to implement to more complex. I will also describe two of the best known results from Colorado: the free PHeT science-teaching applets that have been used 110 million times, and the â??Learning Assistantâ? program that has been copied at over 50 universities. I will present the most recent experimental results on how technology such as smart phone and laptop use often decreases student learning.