Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Progress Report
January 24, 2004
Michele Zwolinski - Biology
Social Skills in College Classrooms
Introduction
What skills do college students need
to be successful? Study skills? Group work skills? Test-taking skills? Writing
and communication skills? Many of these skills are not only important to
academic success, but are also transferable to life after college. Ideally,
students would come to college prepared with many of these skills, and some
students do. However instructors often observe that these skills are lacking in
their students. Sometimes instructors include these practical skills as
learning objectives in course syllabi. But, how are these skills taught and
how are they assessed? Stout does not currently offer a freshmen seminar
course to introduce students to these skills early in their college education,
so much of this learning occurs in their general education courses. My
objective is to design and test a series of skill-building activities for
Biology 101, a general education course. These activities will teach students
the social skills (Box 1) needed to work in an effective small group. My
goal is that these activities:
|
Box 1 Group-skills Emphasized in Biology 101 Skills Stations |
|
I call the skill-building activities
"Group Skill Stations" for consistency with other skill stations used
in the Biology labs (e.g. how to use a microscope). Each station requires
between five and fifteen minutes at the beginning of each lab for the activity
and two to three minutes at the end for group evaluation. Fourteen
group-building skill stations have been designed; an example and associated
teaching-notes are attached.
I’ve chosen to design skills stations
that address group interactions because small group work is a common in science
and other courses. Although students are often asked to work in small groups,
their efforts are not always cooperative. Students may not have learned, or
consciously practiced, the social skills required for cooperative group work.
My hypothesis is that providing the students with some direction on how to be a
successful group will help student groups function more efficiently and the
students will learn more biology. In addition to improving their performance in
school, these group skills will be valuable to students throughout their
professional careers.
Assessing skill station impact on student
learning
I am assessing how the application of these
skills stations impacts small-group function and content mastery. Table 1
presents a time-line for this project.
Four Biology faculty members implemented the
skills stations in Biology 101 (Fall 2003) laboratory classes; serving about
320 students. Each lab section was divided into eight groups of four students
each. These lab-groups were instructor assigned and permanent for the duration
of the semester. The lab-groups worked together to complete each week’s
lab. Each instructor had different criteria for grading the lab sessions, but
all required the groups to work together.
I met regularly with the instructors to
discuss the use of each group skill station, address questions, and receive
feedback. Instructor comments about the skills stations will be the basis for
altering the content of the stations for future semesters.
One instructor taught four sections (32
students each) of the Biology 101 laboratory. In two sections he used the group
skills, and in two he did not. I observed all of his sections periodically over
the semester to monitor the quality of the group interactions. I collected data
on student grades, attendance, and student responses to questions asked in the
group skills activities. All students were also administered a pre- and
post-semester survey that assessed their understanding of science and their
attitudes toward learning Biology. I am using the observations and the pre/post
survey results to determine if using the group skill stations had an impact on
student learning in the Biology 101 labs. Analysis of this data is on-going.
Table 1 Group Skills
Project Timeline.
|
Task |
Expected Completion |
Status |
|
Research and Design Skill Stations |
Summer 2003 |
Done |
|
Introduce Biology 101 faculty to skills stations, revise stations into new labs |
late summer 2003/Fall 2003 |
Done |
|
Design Experiment and Assessments |
Summer 2003 |
Done |
|
Apply for IRB Human Subjects Approval |
Summer 2003 |
Done |
|
Implement Experiment and begin Assessments (summarized below) |
Fall 2003 |
Done |
|
Collect data |
Fall 2003 |
Done |
|
Analyze data |
Winter/Spring 2004 |
Ongoing |
|
Reevaluate skills stations and modify as needed for Spring semester 2004 |
Winter 2004 |
Ongoing |
|
Summarize and publish findings |
Spring 2004 |
|
Outcomes So Far
Based on classroom observations and
discussion with faculty, I have identified the following results so far:
Groups in sections
using skill-stations:
Application to Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning Goals
This project has broad implications to
teaching and learning at Stout and beyond. I am investigating how small-group
interactions impact learning in introductory science courses. Although the
benefits of cooperative learning are well documented, not much research has been
done to understand how group work impacts learning in college-level science
courses or how group work can be implemented efficiently in theses courses.
This work addresses these questions.
This project has already had a substantial
community impact. It has stimulated thinking about the best ways to use groups
in science courses. The Biology 101 instructors met regularly during the Fall
2003 semester to discuss cooperative learning techniques and to share ideas for
troubleshooting classroom management issues related to student groups. In
addition, I presented the skill-station format and my project results as a
Professional Development Workshop in January. I plan on presenting this
material again at the American Society for Microbiology Undergraduate Education
conference this spring. The main product of this work will be a series of
modular social-skill building activities that can be applied to any course.
Once the project is complete these stations will be made available over the
internet. This work has also stimulated discussions and plans for extending the
skill-station model to other skills that students need, such as study, writing,
researching, and goal setting skills.
Example of a Group Skill Station
Lab 2 Cell Structure
Skill: Professionalism
Activity: t-Chart
Group Skill Station (occurs at beginning
of lab):
The behavior of the individual members of
your group will affect the overall success of your group. This semester we will
be identifying and practicing some of the skills that will help you work
effectively in your group. The skill we will address in this lab is professionalism.
As a group you will define what professionalism looks and sounds like in a
successful group. Fill in the table below.
Professionalism
|
Looks like: |
Sounds like: |
|
|
|
Having trouble? Think about what you can do
that would build trust and respect among members of your group and demonstrate
your professionalism as a student (for example, attending class, reading the
labs ahead of time).
Practice acting professional and identifying
professionalism in your group during today’s lab.
Group Processing (occurs at end of lab):
1.
Fill in the following table rating
how well your group preformed the skill today.
|
Skill |
1 Excellent |
2 Good |
3 OK |
4 Poor |
5 Not Applicable |
|
Professionalism |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
NA |
2.
What did our group do well today?
3. What do we need to improve?
Teaching Notes
Lab 2. Professionalism
Approximate Time Required
Skill
Station: ~5 min + a few minutes for class discussion
Group
processing: 5 min max.
|
Skill |
Looks like: |
Sounds like: |
|
Professionalism |
At class on time with lab
book Wearing closed-toed shoes
for safety |
I read about ___ in the
text book. We don’t hear the word "like" like every two minutes. |
|
Encouragement |
Have an extra pen on hand
for sharing Smile |
"Thank you"
when someone is helpful "Good idea" |
These skills do not
have to be complicated. Make sure you try adding some things to the t-chart
before class, it can feel a little awkward and it may help you address
students’ questions.