Teaching Ecology in a SCALE-UP (Student-Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs) room

Background/Question/Methods

The traditional lecture can be an efficient way to communicate a lot of information to a large audience, but may not compel the audience to exercise higher-order thinking, reasoning, and creativity. Science courses across the country are beginning to employ active learning approaches in the classroom that seek to more fully engage students with course material. Students work on activities – problem sets and group projects – in small groups during class time. Active learning pedagogies are effective in introductory ecology courses but can be challenging in a traditional lecture hall with stadium style seating, tight rows that restrict movement, small desks, and a lack of access to computers to utilize for data analysis and simulation tools. In fall of 2012, the University of North Dakota opened a SCALE UP (Student-Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs) room with twenty round tables that seat 9 students each with a total capacity of 180. The SCALE-UP concept originated at North Carolina State University in Physics and was designed to facilitate active learning in small groups that have access to group laptops, white-boards, and monitors for each table. We report on our experience of teaching a general ecology course to 168 undergraduate majors.

Results/Conclusions

Teaching in the SCALE UP room changed how we taught the course. Despite having 168 students enrolled we lectured less than 10% of the time. Students worked in groups to find and evaluate literature, explore data sets, use simulations to solve problems, and present their findings in the form of brief reports, presentations, or posters. The class average for each of three multiple-choice exams was around half a letter grade higher from the previous year's lecture-based course, and the failures or withdrawals rate declined from 12% to 7%. We also found that accountability for reading material, which can be as simple as assigning an online reading quiz, was an important part of this success. We were also pleased with the higher order thinking that we heard from students as they discussed the problems with their peers in class. Nonetheless, about one third of the students showing mild to extreme dissatisfaction with the SCALE UP room, which includes some upper-class students that are reluctant to embrace new pedagogy after learning how to succeed in a lecture-style course. We encourage ecology educators to discuss with their administrators the need for instructional spaces on campus that facilitate active group learning.