1. STEM Retreat Facilitators Karl Wirth Kaatje Kraft Macalester College
Whatcom CC
This retreat is supported by Award#: All opinions are those of the workshop conveners and not necessarily those of the National Science Foundation. Support also provided by Whatcom Foundation

2. The National Association of Geoscience Teachers
23 October 2015
Works to foster improvement in the teaching of the Earth sciences at all levels of formal and informal instruction, to emphasize the cultural significance of the Earth sciences and to disseminate knowledge in this field to the general public.

3. Create an adaptive model for improving undergraduate STEM education
Improve undergraduate STEM teaching and learning in participating institutions
Increase the engagement and success of underrepresented minority students in STEM majors
Create an adaptive model for improving undergraduate STEM education
C Core Project Goals
Improve undergraduate STEM teaching and learning in participating institutions
Increase the engagement and success of underrepresented minority students in STEM majors
Create an adaptive model for improving undergraduate STEM education

4. Retreat Goals Identify goals and essential questions of their courses
Articulate big ideas for student learning
Articulate learning targets and design aligned assessments (success criteria)
Design/modify a learning activity based on best practices from research on learning
Align learning goals, assessments and instruction
Build a community of practice that supports student learning across STEM at WCC

5. Retreat Program Tuesday Eve Overview & Enduring Concepts Wednesday AM
Essential Questions, Goals and Learning Targets
Wednesday PM
Success Criteria, Instructional Design I (Metacognition & Motivation)
Thursday AM
Instructional Design II (Active Learning)
Thursday PM
Group & Individual work time
Report outs
Workshop Evaluation

6. Kinesthetic “mixer”
Arrange yourself in how you see yourself on the “pure science” continuum and introduce yourself to your neighbors.
XKCD.com

7. Kinesthetic “mixer” Place “yourself” on the x-y axis
Practitioner of student-centered instruction
Knowledge of Research on Teaching & Learning

8. Please enjoy appetizers and mix with your fellow STEMers

9. “BIG Picture” Gallery Walk
Count off (1 - 7)
Start at poster with your number
Discuss prompt with others in group (2-3 mins)
Add a few responses to Poster
Add “*” to previous response to indicate agreement
Move to next poster when indicated (~5 mins ea.)

10. Gallery Walk
What are the goals of higher education, particularly at a community college?
What is the MOST important thing you want students to take away from your course?
What do you MOST wish students understood about their own learning?
What is important to consider when designing a course?
How will you know when your students have learned something?
How do you motivate students to act on feedback about their learning?
When are students most effective and engaged in their learning?

11. Approaches to Course Design
2016 NFO Course Design Workshop
Approaches to Course Design
15 August 2016
“Traditional”
“Backward”
Enduring Understandings and Learning Goals
Acceptable Evidence
Instructional Activities
List Course Topics
Design Instruction
Design Exams/Papers
Wiggins and McTighe (1998)

12. 2016 NFO Course Design Workshop
“Backward Design”
2016 NFO Course Design Workshop
15 August 2016
Identify Desired
Results
Determine
Acceptable
Evidence
What do you want them to learn?
How will you know they learned it?
How will you teach to help them learn it?
Plan Learning
Experiences
and Instruction

13. 2016 NFO Course Design Workshop
Course Design Template

14. 2016 NFO Course Design Workshop
An Example: Driver Education
2016 NFO Course Design Workshop
What does a beginning driver need to know?
What does an experienced driver understand that a beginner does not?

15. Driver Education Worth being familiar with Important to know and do
15 August 2016
Knowledge
Basic car features and functions
State and country driving laws
Rules of the road for legal and courteous driving
Skills
Procedures for safe driving
Signaling/communication
Parallel parking
Worth being
familiar with
Important to
know and do
Big Ideas & Enduring
Understandings
Understandings
Defensive driving
Required reaction times
Adapting to traffic, road, weather conditions
Essential Questions
What must I anticipate and do to minimize risk and accidents
What makes a courteous and defensive driver

16. Establishing Curricular Priorities
15 August 2016
Worth being
familiar with
Important to
know and do
Big Ideas & Enduring
Understanding
Wiggins and McTighe (1998)

17. 2016 NFO Course Design Workshop
Course Design Template

18. Enduring Understandings Filter
15 August 2016
Unit Topics, Standards, Goals & Objectives
Enduring, course-scale goals (big ideas), having lasting value beyond classroom
Course-scale goals (big ideas) and core processes at the heart of the discipline
Abstract, counterintuitive, and often misunderstood ideas
Big ideas embedded in facts, skills, and activities
Wiggins and
McTighe (1998)
Possible Enduring Understandings

19. Checklist for “Big Ideas”
2016 NFO Course Design Workshop
Checklist for “Big Ideas”
15 August 2016
Broad and abstract; universal
Represented by one or two words
Universal in application
Timeless – carry through the ages
Embedded in facts, skills, activities
Provides a focusing conceptual “lens” for any study
Points to ideas at heart of expert understanding of subject
Connects and organizes many facts
Meaning is counterintuitive or prone to misunderstanding
Has great transfer value, both across subjects and life
Often manifest as a helpful: concept, theme, point of view, paradox, theory, assumption, recurring question, principle

20. Questions To Illuminate “Big Ideas”
2016 NFO Course Design Workshop
Questions To Illuminate “Big Ideas”
15 August 2016
Why study...? So what?
What makes the study of... universal?
If the unit on… is a story, what’s the moral of the story?
What’s the “big idea” implied in the skill or process of…?
What larger concept, issue, or problem underlies…?
What couldn’t we do if we didn’t understand…?
How is… used and applied in the larger world?
What is a “real-world” insight about…?
What is the value of studying…?

21. 2016 NFO Course Design Workshop
Example Nouns
15 August 2016
Adaptation
Change
Connections
Correlation
Cycles
Environment
Equilibrium
Evolution
Interactions
Interdependence
Patterns
Perspective
Proof
Rhythm
System
Variability

22. Big Ideas & Enduring Understanding
2016 NFO Course Design Workshop
Big Ideas & Enduring Understanding
15 August 2016
Identify a 1-2 “Course-Scale Goals” or “enduring understandings” for your course
~10 minutes individual
~10 mins share in small groups
Worth being
familiar with
Important to
know and do
Big Ideas & Enduring
Understanding