Catherine Rawn

What's in the bag?

I’m having a blast with my research methods students as we explore the basics of the scientific inquiry process. Here, in small groups, they’re grappling with the “hypothesis generation — collect data — revise hypothesis — collect more data” process by exploring what’s in the bag without looking inside. Today, we were mucking around in the messy world of experimental design. All teams did a great job taking a first stab at desiging a study. Well done and thanks for your participation!

My goals for this coming term are to:

1) explicitly state, use, and communicate learning objectives to guide each lesson;

2) collect and use comprehension checks at the end of each lesson;

3) collect and use mid-course feedback;

4) develop more thoughtful clicker questions.

They all reflect things I wanted to do last term, but for various reasons. Goals 1-3 are actions I typically do, but for the most part they fell off my radar while I was managing to maintain day-to-day necessities. Last term was my first time using clickers, so I think I now have a better grasp of how they can be used to enhance learning. I did my best last term, but there’s certainly room for improvement.