01/04/2009 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Hyatt Seaview Ballroom C
Education research such as the persuasive data from Richard Hake illustrates the tremendous difference interactive engagement of students makes in conceptual gains, in schools ranging from junior colleges to Harvard. This workshop will demonstrate a variety of ways in which active questioning can be used to enhance students’ conceptual understanding and retention. Active questioning not only addresses short attention spans but also initial conceptions and allows misconceptions to be identified and addressed. We will describe the characteristics of good questions. Participants will construct and critique their own questions, identifying different levels of conceptual depth of based on “Bloom’s Taxonomy.” Participants will end up with tiered levels of “active questions” ideally leading to the higher levels of conceptual understanding which Bloom called “synthesis and evaluation.” We will also describe existing resources for good questions in astronomy. The workshop will then demonstrate low and hi-tech (“clicker;” computer-based) ways of implementing active questioning and learning. Interesting new results from the Univ. of Colorado will be presented that show these techniques are as important to advanced classes for majors as for introductory classes. Copies of Doug Duncan’s book “Clickers in the Classroom”, Paul Green’s book “Peer Instruction in Astronomy”, and the computer-based peer instructional material of the ClassAction will be provided to participants.
Organizer: Doug Duncan, University of Colorado
