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| astro300_f11:day4 [2011/09/12 01:25] – a_lee | astro300_f11:day4 [2011/09/12 23:20] (current) – a_lee | ||
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| =====Preface===== | =====Preface===== | ||
| - | Today' | + | Today' |
| ==== GOALS ==== | ==== GOALS ==== | ||
| - | * ... | + | * Review what makes an effective lesson plan. |
| - | * .... | + | * Touch on how to effectively administer demos. |
| - | * .. | + | * Discuss how to write quiz questions. What are the pitfalls? |
| - | * . | + | * Chose Design-A-Demo partners. |
| + | * Practice board work. | ||
| - | =====Section/ | + | =====Section/ |
| The person on call for this week will share their section experience. Some questions include: | The person on call for this week will share their section experience. Some questions include: | ||
| Line 36: | Line 37: | ||
| (10 min) Discussion as a class: What is important for a lesson plan? | (10 min) Discussion as a class: What is important for a lesson plan? | ||
| + | Some notes: | ||
| - | =====Administering Demos (5 min)===== | + | Here is a 12-step program for writing effective lesson plans. Here is the same content in {{: |
| + | |||
| + | - Identify topics to cover. | ||
| + | * Lecture meets for ~150 minutes a week, while discussion section meets only 50 minutes a week. You cannot be expected to recap a week's worth of material. Don't even try! Pick **two**, at most three, topics to cover during your 50 minutes. Encourage students to attend office hours if they have more questions. | ||
| + | - Define the learning objectives of the section. | ||
| + | * Ask yourself ``What do I want students to leave with at the end of our 50 minutes together?" | ||
| + | - Determine what method and materials you will use to accomplish these goals. | ||
| + | * Will you spend section having a classroom discussion, individualized problem solving, or group work? Will there be demonstrations? | ||
| + | - Think of a motivation or ``hook" | ||
| + | * How will you get the student' | ||
| + | - Write a draft of the discussion section. Including an opening hook, procedures, and closing. | ||
| + | * Do not forget things such as conveying any administrative notes and allowing time for questions. | ||
| + | - Add details and specific examples. Eliminate vague words like ``discuss," | ||
| + | * HOW will you explain a particular topic? Give details. What will you write on the board to aid in your explanation? | ||
| + | - Criticize your timetable. | ||
| + | * The average attention span is 10--15 minutes. Are you spending longer than this on a particular exercise? Break up your discussion section with demos, lecture work, group work, class discussions, | ||
| + | - Come up with a backup plan. | ||
| + | * Wednesday lecture was canceled and students are not ready to discuss the material you had planned to cover. Or your students are so smart that you finish your discussion section in 30 minutes. What do you do now? Have backup plans. | ||
| + | - Critique your lesson plan globally. | ||
| + | * Look over your entire plan. Does it work to accomplish your learning objectives? If not, have your learning objectives changed or does your plan need revising? | ||
| + | - Critique your lesson plan meticulously. | ||
| + | * You should be able to write a sentence on how each part of your lesson plan goes to accomplishing your learning objectives. If you cannot, that may be alerting you to revise your learning objectives or to revise your plan. | ||
| + | - Determine how you will assess the success of your discussion section. | ||
| + | * Will you ask questions near the end of section to probe whether section was successful? Will you ask for written or oral feedback? | ||
| + | - Repeat any of the above steps as necessary. | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | =====Administering Demos (10 min)===== | ||
| * Demo basics: | * Demo basics: | ||
| Line 93: | Line 123: | ||
| =====Writing Quiz Questions / Administering Quizzes (20 min)===== | =====Writing Quiz Questions / Administering Quizzes (20 min)===== | ||
| - | (10 min) Discussion | ||
| - | (10 min) Editing | + | ==== Activity ==== |
| + | |||
| + | * Start by having them try to answer each other' | ||
| + | * Critique each other' | ||
| + | * Discuss what we've come up with in large group (10 mins) | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ==== Notes: ==== | ||
| + | |||
| + | * We'll pass out a handout in a few minutes which summarizes pretty much all the points we're about to make. | ||
| + | * These points are valid for both quizzes | ||
| + | * Test the material emphasized - Exams should reflect the fact that students should know the big concepts really well, as opposed to knowing a bunch of smaller concepts only peripherally. | ||
| + | * Keep questions short and to the point - Students should spend the majority of their test time thinking and answering/ | ||
| + | * Edit questions for clarity - Clear questions tend to be shorter and if anything is ambiguous it confuses and slows down students and makes it harder for you to grade it fairly. | ||
| + | * Don't write a long test - Keep it concise, to the point, and clear! | ||
| + | * Quizzes vs. Homeworks | ||
| + | * They' | ||
| + | * The main difference is that quizzes should be shorter and have easier questions, since students have much less time to work on quizzes and must work on them alone. | ||
| + | * Quizzes are: | ||
| + | * short | ||
| + | * usually given in section | ||
| + | * questions are of exam difficulty (//i.e.// easier than homework questions) | ||
| + | * Not too in-depth or calculation-based. Some light calculation might be OK, but take care. (Not everyone will remember a calculator no matter how many times you remind them, and many people will be petrified of the idea of computing things on their own.) | ||
| + | * usually only cover recent material (//i.e.// the past 2-3 weeks) | ||
| + | * Quizzes are used: | ||
| + | * by the GSI to gauge each students' | ||
| + | * by the student to gauge their own understanding of recent material **and** get a feel for what a college level intro science course non-Scantron exam will look like and what level of understanding they are expected to have for the exams | ||
| + | * by the prof to get a grade early in the semester that's more important than a single homework, but isn't the big production that an exam is (you might not have covered enough material for a full exam) | ||
| + | * What makes good ones? | ||
| + | * not too long (both in length of individual questions and number of questions) | ||
| + | * not too hard | ||
| + | * not too easy (shoot for a variety of difficulties in questions) | ||
| + | * relevant to recent material | ||
| + | * varied in the //types// of questions (multiple choice, fill in the blank, calculation/ | ||
| + | * unambiguous with easy-to-read questions | ||
| + | * not mathematically demanding - questions should probably not require a calculator and should definitely not include extensive tedious calculations | ||
| + | * representative of same knowledge required for exams | ||
| + | * gradable for partial credit (not simply binary right/wrong like Scantron exams) | ||
| + | * specific about what you're looking for in free response type questions: Don't give students the opportunity to ' | ||
| + | * quick to grade (this makes your life much easier and helps the grading be more fair for all of your students) | ||
| + | * Quizzes are meant to be // | ||
| + | * Distribute the anonymized quiz questions | ||
| + | * Break into groups of 2-3 and critique the questions | ||
| + | * Come back together as a class and discuss a question or two from each group | ||
| + | * Hand out the [[astro300_f09: | ||
| + | * **We will discuss grading these quizzes next week** | ||
| =====Board Work Activity (25 min)===== | =====Board Work Activity (25 min)===== | ||
