“Biology 350---Microbial Diversity”

1. “Biology 350---Microbial Diversity” Student characteristics: Mostly seniors, Biology majors, 24 total enrolled in lecture, 8 students per lab section (X3). Primarily undergraduate institution in the Northwest. Learning Objective(s) Context: Student teams of two • Select a peer reviewed paper fitting into Five Microbial Principles of course. • Prepare a 20-30 minute PowerPoint presentation of the article. • Write a 2-3 page outline/summary of article. • Write two possible exam questions, with a clear grading rubric.

2. Goals and Challenges • My overall goal here is to teach seniors to critically read and analyze cutting edge peer reviewed articles in the microbiological literature, with a “Five Overarching Microbial Concepts” framework I use throughout the course. • I want students to critically evaluate articles, both in terms of overall contentand in particular interpretation of graphs and figures. • I want students to be able to orallypresent an article to peers, as well as write an outline/summary for that audience. • I want students to be able to write insightful potential exam questions (and clear and concise answer keys) based on that article. • I want students to work collaboratively as a team to achieve these goals. • I anticipate the usual problems of engagement, last minute work, and reluctance to think deeply about article choices. Scaffolding, enthusiasm, and clear expectations will help.

3. Learning Activities • The student team will work together to select a journal article with regard to appropriateness (microbiological framework), clarity, etc. Get approval and discussion (and points) from instructor. • The student team will work together collaborativelyto analyze and explore the article to fit the stated requirements (focusing on two figures, summary, and context to microbiology). They will discuss their understanding with the instructor. • The student team will prepare a PowerPoint show following the stated guidelines. • The student team will prepare a short outline of the article for their peers. • All audience members will have read the paper prior to the presentation, and sent preliminary comments (about unclear and clear concepts) to the presenters prior to their talk. • All audience members will ask questions or comment following each presentation, and rate the presentations with an established rubric.

4. Formative Assessments • Each student team will discuss their topic choices with the instructor and receive feedback and suggestions. • Each student team will discuss the scope and challenges of their choices with the instructor prior to the presentation and receive feedback and suggestions. • Each student team will receive comments from class members prior to their talk regarding “clear as mud” and “very straightforward” portions of their journal article choice, to help make clear how the paper will “appear” to students first encountering it.

5. Summative Assessments • The PowerPoint presentation will be evaluated by the instructor using a standard rubric (distributed earlier to the class to make expectations clear). • The outline will be evaluated in a similar manner by the instructor, again using a standard rubric. • The audience will evaluate the presentation using an appropriate rubric. • Questions will appear on exams for the course that are related to the figure discussion in some presentations.

6. After the Learning Objective… • Students will have experience searching out cutting edge articles in microbiology. • Students will have experience critically reading cutting edge articles in microbiology. • Students will be able to dissect and analyze particular figures from such articles. • Student will gain experience writing challenging exam questions based on such articles and designing answer keys for those questions. • Students will gain experience with collaborative learning. • Students will gain experience asking insightful scientific questions based on presentations. • Students will be able to place such articles into the context of the overall course.

7. Task Scaffolding for the exercise • The following will take place after the student teams have selected their journal articles. • T-minus two weeks: journal article made available to laboratory section, while presenters prepare, meet with instructor, etc. • T-minus one week: students in relevant laboratory section send comments to presenters (according to rubric), while presenters continue to prepare. • Presentation day: presenters show PowerPoint and distribute outline, hand in possible test questions and answer keys, and receive questions from audience. • T+2 weeks: presenters receive feedback from instructor on PowerPoint, outline, and possible test questions/keys. • Future tests will contain analytical questions based on some of the figures discussed during presentation.

8. Timeline • Because I already use a greatly simplified version of this exercise in my microbiology course, I should be able to easily “insert” this new and improved version into my Fall 2012 Microbiology course. • I will model the outline, PowerPoint, and question-building portions of this exercise first (during Week Two of lab), so that students will see what I am requiring in future weeks. Rubrics will be distributed. • After discussions with students, I will begin staggering the teams throughout the course (so there will be one presentation per lab section). • A formal schedule will be distributed to the class, so that the scaffolding will be multistep and relatively painless.