Science Literacy Week

2016: rethinking undergraduate education

sgupta — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 11:00:35 +0000

2016: rethinking undergraduate education sgupta Tue, 12/22/2015 - 06:00

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Fiona Rawle, assistant professor, teaching stream, holds walking office hours with her students at the University of Toronto Mississauga (photo by Blake Eligh)

Arthur Kaptainis

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Arthur Kaptainis

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Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Astronomy

“Research is often framed in the public mind as a noun, as a product,” Susan McCahan, vice-provost, innovations in undergraduate education, said in her office in Simcoe Hall, a few steps away from her other home at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “We produce research, something in a package that we send out the door.”

“But we in the academy think of research as a verb. It is process, a way of thinking, framing questions, answering questions, connecting new ideas. Those are processes, not products.”

It is a distinction worth making at a time when research is widely viewed as an important means of enhancing and even rethinking undergraduate education – and, reciprocally, tapping into the vitality of gifted young students.

Examining the potential of research as a component of undergraduate education will be the focus of the Undergraduate Research Working Group, a tri-campus, cross-disciplinary committee that convenes for the first time in January 2016.

“We want to look at the programs that we can put in place that will support new capacity-building in this area,” McCahan says. Among the members, of course, will be students.

How students and faculty find each other is one issue. Serendipity is not enough. The recently established online Co-curricular Record is a mechanism for students to build resumes and find clubs and activities of interest. It works also as an academic matchmaking engine.

Funding is another question. Certain established programs, such as Advancing Teaching and Learning in Arts & Science (ATLAS) and the Centre for Community Partnerships, can support courses with a research component, and some departments have budgets for undergraduate field work. But there is no central university-wide mechanism for the support of undergraduate research.

The scope for such activity has its limits. Not all undergraduates have research capacity in their first two years and not all third- or fourth-year students enrol in courses dedicated to independent research.

And the reality is that graduate students are fundamental to research support. “How many [undergraduate] spots can we make available?” McCahan asks. “Your bread and butter is how many PhDs you produce.”

Where there is no barrier is in the introduction of the concept of research into undergraduate education as path to critical thinking.

Other innovations in undergraduate learning continue to be explored: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have a confirmed place in the future of education and the success of “one” programs, convening small groups of students in their first year, is well documented.

Many courses – introduction to psychology is the classic example – will remain heavily subscribed. This does not mean they have to be impersonal. Steve Joordens, a psychology professor at ��οScarborough was named a 2015 3M National Teaching Fellow in part for his development of peerScholar, an online software package that enables feedback among students.

“The model allows students to help each other,” Joordens says. “We literally have students trying to help other students get a better mark, which is great because it gives everyone a reason to buy into the process.”

Not all innovations are based on technology. Fiona Rawle, an associate professor, teaching stream of biology at ��οMississauga, was one of four faculty members to receive the first-ever University of Toronto Early Career Teaching Awards. One of her teaching tactics is to assemble students in the classroom into a giant DNA string.

“Professor Rawle defies all stereotypes of university professors,” said Ashna Khanna, a biology for health sciences and psychology student who ended up doing research under Rawle’s supervision.

Adding research to the pedagogical mix can only enhance the comprehensive undergraduate experience.

“I’m not just teaching astronomy that’s written in the textbook,” says Mike Reid, astronomy and astrophysics lecturer, coordinator of public outreach and education for the Dunlap Institute and another Early Career Teaching Award winner.

“I’m teaching the work my colleagues and I are doing right now – about papers published last week, about the discoveries we are on the cusp of making. I think that goes a long way to motivating students to learn.”

The Reid approach worked for Jesse Hildebrand, a young alumnus who went on to found Science Literacy Week. “Mike conveys the sort of enthusiasm you dream about from all teachers,” he says. It is worth noting that Hildebrand was a student of ecology and evolutionary biology, not astronomy.

“I call it transferable expertise,” McCahan says of the kind of thinking research awareness can cultivate. “The ability to connect ideas in different contexts and transfer them from one frame of reference to another.

“That, I think, we are doing in many courses. We want to do more of it. And we have an aspiration to find a way to measure some of it, a way to know if the kinds of programs – such as summer research programs and independent research courses – that we’re putting in place are having a positive effect.”

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Science Literacy Week: 280 events across the country

sgupta — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 11:57:17 +0000

Science Literacy Week: 280 events across the country sgupta Fri, 09/18/2015 - 07:57

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(Star image by Adam Evans via Flickr

Brianna Goldberg

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Brianna Goldberg

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How recent grad Jesse Hildebrand launched the science festival taking over Toronto – and Canada

Fresh from his undergraduate studies in ecology and evolutionary biology, ��οalumnus Jesse Hildebrand has turned his enthusiasm for science into a festival for the city.

“You look in a telescope and see back in time to stars that were there a million years ago,” said Hildebrand, founder of Science Literacy Week. “It gives me chills.”

“Who wouldn’t want to convey that wonder to everyone? It’s natural.” (Read more about Science Literacy Week)

After childhood days of taping up posters of Australian television personality and conservationist Steve Irwin and undergraduate years of liberating science texts from library stacks to front-lobby displays, Hildebrand’s entrepreneurial path to science leadership in 2014 led to the creation of Science Literacy Week. (Read about Science Literacy Week 2014)

This public event invited Toronto audiences to delight in topics often confined to textbooks and lectures: the science of space, dinosaurs and more came to life through expert-guided film screenings, lively discussion panels and stargazing. With major partners U of T, Toronto Public Libraries and York University on board, his effort was a GTA-wide success.

But Hildebrand was determined to give his project a bigger bang this year.

Science Literacy Week returns on Sept. 21 as an expanded Canada-wide festival with 280 events stretching from Victoria to St. John’s. Forty cities and 120 partner institutions have joined.

“I’m flabbergasted how many people said yes to this event,” said Hildebrand of his campaign of more than 4,500 emails. “I got 10 yes responses for every no.”

While working part-time as an educator for Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada and earning a master’s degree in science communication from England’s Open University, Hildebrand reached out to museums, libraries and researchers across the country to build the diverse program of events.

Toronto will be studded with more than 40 activities, ranging from nature walks to 3D-printing demonstrations to lunar-eclipse-watching parties and expert-guided screenings of Jurassic World. Many are hosted by the U of T.

“Science and Engineering Engagement at the University of Toronto is thrilled to bring this series of events to the Toronto community,” said Molly Shoichet, senior advisor to ��οPresident Meric Gertler on science and engineering engagement (SEE).

“With panel discussions on such hot topics as health, aging, sustainability and energy, as well as ‘science at the movies’ screenings taking audiences from dinosaurs to outer space, there is definitely something for everyone.”

(Reserve your free ticket for panel discussion on aging)

(Reserve your free ticket for panel discussion on sustainability)

(Reserve your ticket for SEE at the Movies: Jurassic World)

(Reserve your ticket for SEE at the Movies: Contact)

Shoichet said ��οis proud to work with an alumnus like Hildebrand to bring science to the community.

“Part of what makes the University of Toronto awesome is access to world-renowned scientists, right here on our doorstep. These events are accessible to the novice and appealing to the expert. It’s a way to learn more about our options individually and as a society, or just to have fun at the movies or staring up into the sky. We invite all of ��οto participate. Bring your friends and family.”

Hildebrand credited his undergraduate astronomy professor Mike Reid for help and encouragement. Reid’s team at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics will host a Total Lunar Eclipse Viewing Party on Sept. 27 alongside the Science Literacy Week activities. (Read more about the free Lunar Eclipse Viewing Party)

“In high school, there’s so much buildup about how scary university’s going to be but I never really experienced that,” said Hildebrand. “I had lovely teachers throughout.”

Hildebrand offered a few pieces of advice to undergrads at U of T.

“There’s a diversity of people there to help you,” he said. “Librarians are keen to make your life easier – they are so wonderful.

“Talk with professors as much as possible. My favourite experiences in university were chatting with them one-on-one.” (Read more advice for undergrads at U of T)

Hildebrand echoes Shoichet’s message that everyone will find something of interest in Science Literacy Week programming, insisting that “no science background is needed.”

For next year, he talks about adding cities and events, getting bigger.

“I’ve been so lucky to meet all these wonderful science communicators and passionate people at museums and libraries. It would be nice if more could be done to link them and bring more science activities, more science understanding to the public. That would be my dream.”

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