Complementarity of teaching approaches in Soil Science Education: Instructor and student perspectives
Project Investigator(s): Sandra Brown, Instructor, Applied Biology Project Description Currently three upper level soil science courses in the Applied Biology program are taught using distinct instructional approaches: direct instruction, problem based learning and experiential learning. This project aims to evaluate the complementarity of these courses as a package from both instructor and student perspectives, to answer […]
“Paying Attention to Attention”: Exploring the Integration of Games in a Popular Culture Course to Enhance the Quality of the Student Learning Experience
Project Investigator(s): Janice Stewart, Senior Instructor, Institute of Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice Project Description This project explores the integration of gaming as a pedagogical tool in a Popular Culture undergraduate course that is taught in the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia. In “Paying Attention to […]
Instructor versus Student Perspectives of Cognitive Tasks in Chemistry Laboratories
Project Investigator(s): Robin Stoodley, Senior Instructor, Chemistry Project Description Do students and instructors share the same view of which cognitive tasks are present in chemistry laboratory experiments? Anecdotal evidence suggests they do not, but to what extent do they differ? Are there patterns to the differences? Why do they differ? The instructors’ views have already been […]
Exploring the Potential for First-Year Undergraduate Courses to Participate in Research Projects at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum
Project Investigator(s): Bridgette Clarkston, Instructor, Botany Project Description The Beaty Biodiversity Museum (BBM) is home to UBC’s biological research collections and contains over two million specimens—a wealth of potential for teaching and research projects. However, most courses in the Biology Program do not use the Museum and those that do interact mostly with the public displays. […]
Seating the Scene: Identifying antecedents and consequences of micro-segregation and testing an intervention to disrupt it
Project Investigator(s): Simon Lolliot, Instructor, Psychology, Steven Barnes, Senior Instructor, Psychology, Trish Varao-Sousa, PhD student, Psychology Project Description The present project aims to identify patterns of segregation in university classrooms, and implement a learning tool to ameliorate this segregation. Based on prior research on micro-segregation (segregation that occurs in every-day living spaces, including classrooms), we plan […]
Impact of placement of questions within videos on student learning
Project Investigator(s): Eugenia Yu, Senior Instructor, Department of Statistics, Nancy Heckman, Professor, Department of Statistics, Bruce Dunham, Professor of Teaching, Department of Statistics , Caitlin Donnelly, Lecture, Botany Project Description The Flexible Learning Introductory Statistics (FLIS) project is a multi-disciplinary, cross-faculty collaboration between UBC statistics instructors, focused on the development of instructional resources. We have created […]
Building a Participatory Participation Model for Discussion Based Courses
Project Investigator(s): Kristen Walker, Instructor, Faculty of Land and Food Systems Project Description University discussion-based courses often involve a participation component, including participation evaluation. However, many issues arise in how best to objectively and effectively assess participation. Students often perceive the evaluation process of participation as subjective and dependent on the relationship between the instructor and […]
An Analysis of Curriculum and Pedagogy Through a Consideration of Outdoor Learning Perceptions and Practices in UBC Education Courses
Project Investigator(s): Hartley Banack, Lecturer, Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy Project Description Much literature indicates that time spent outdoors (TSO): 1) is healthy for us, 2) develops key environmental practices, and 3) enhances learning. However, most learning experiences, in K-12 and post-secondary, predominantly take place indoors. This project considers shifts in student-teacher outdoor learning perceptions and […]
The Role of Metacognition in Developing Transdisciplinary Skills in First Year Engineering Students
Project Investigator(s): Susan Nesbit, Professor of Teaching, Civil Engineering, Naoko Ellis, Pete Ostafichuk, Tanya Tan Project Description This study investigates the influence of metacognition lessons, developed for the first year engineering program, on levels of students’ transdisciplinary skills. We propose the use of a pre-post survey, as well as course performance evaluations to measure student levels […]