Print PageDespite considerable efforts to improve introductory biology and ecology teaching overt he last decade, most faculty would agreed that students cannot apply scientific reasoning to questions about key concepts. We describe a faculty development model in which faculty use research-based Diagnostic Question Clusters (DQCs) concerning transformations and pathways of energy and matter to assess whether students apply principle-based reasoning, e.g. use Laws of Conservation of Matter and Energy when asked to explain ecological and biological processes. Used pre-and post-instruction, the DQCs help faculty target especially problematic concepts and provide data about improvement after students engage in active teaching exercises. Both the DQCs and active approaches are explicitly linked to a conceptual framework that systematizes patterns in students’ alternative conceptions.
Results/Conclusions
To illustrate how research-based diagnostics based on conceptual understanding can transform biology and ecology courses, we describe a three-year program for 15 faculty from universities, four-year colleges, and community colleges. These faculty used a common set of DQC questions pre-and post instruction. The percentage of students using principle-based reasoning increased from 9% to 24% after instruction, but 55% still poorly used principle-based reasoning in their responses and 15% exhibited informal reasoning with no attempt to trace matter or energy. These post-instruction data were a key motivator for change in subsequent courses because faculty were shocked to see poor performance by their own students. Critical components of the program include: a set of DQCs and active teaching lessons, a professional society for annual workshops and dissemination; effective communities of practice and reflection; meaningful rewards for faculty; and ongoing feedback from faculty about DQCs and other aspects of the program.
