NUTSHELL NOTES "Teaching tips in a nutshell" - The University of Colorado at Denver's One-page Newsletter for Teaching Excellence

Teaching to Elicit Higher Levels of Thinking (II - Rubrics) In our last issue, we presented Bloom’s taxonomy and advised giving it to students with an assignment to construct their own review or quiz questions and to recognize the level of thinking addressed. We also cautioned that an instructor cannot rely on the level of question being asked as the sole basis to insure that students exercise high-level thinking. For example, consider this question: Two viewpoints are expressed about exposure to normal amounts of radon gas: (a) fear of the “hazard” is unwarranted even though fear is fostered by the media, or (b) radon is a hazard that accounts for tens of thousands of deaths annually. What is the basis for each viewpoint, and which of the two controversies expressed has the best current scientific support? This is a high-level question (level 6 on Bloom’s scale) that we may presume demands use of evidence and evaluative thinking. However, suppose we get the following answer from a student: “The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conveys at their web site ‘Radon Myths and Facts’ (http://www.epa.gov/iaq/radon/pubs/myths.html) that ‘…all the major health organizations (like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Lung Association and the American Medical Association) agree with estimates that radon causes thousands of preventable lung cancer deaths every year.’ Therefore radon is a serious hazard, and option ‘b’ is correct.” Although the question cries out for evaluative thinking, the student responds by operating from the low Perry stage 2 (prelegitimate multiplicity). Instead of presenting and evaluating evidence, this student has mistaken an appeal to authority as evidence—a mistake which not only reveals low-level thinking under all models (see NN v9 n4), but also invokes logical fallacy. We prevent such responses and any nebulous grading of open-ended questions by accompanying such assignments with clear rubrics. Rubrics are the disclosed criteria to be used for evaluation, and rubrics are essential to elicit high-level thinking. Students cannot “rise to our expectations” unless we convey good criteria for what indeed constitutes a quality response To get a high-quality response, we need to accompany any high-level challenge with a rubric. So for our assigned question on radon, a suitable rubric might be: In your answer, describe the physiological basis for defining radon as a hazard. Clearly separate testable hypotheses from advocacy as a basis for evidence. Clearly distinguish the evidence generated by the method of repeated experiments from that generated by the historical method. Use the definition of science as a basis to evaluate quality of evidence, and formulate a decision about the risks posed to you. By supplying the rubric, we have clearly shut the door on simplistic appeals to authority, and we have opened the door to helping students meet our expectations at a Perry stage 6 or 7. Obviously, such a challenge is preceded by instruction in what science is and how it works, what radon is, how radiation causes damage, and when answers that contain ambiguity are often the most legitimate ones available. Rubrics are not required for questions that test rote memorization or mere computation. One does not need a rubric to evaluate “What is the capital of Kentucky?” or “If a triangle has a base of 3 m and a height of 4 m, what is its area?” One probably doesn’t need a rubric for most convergent questions. The fact that rubrics are not indexed in major “teaching tips” books for professors reveals how rarely college courses demand high-level thinking. Such thinking won’t occur spontaneously; we have to build it in and convey what it is to students. Rubrics can inform both pedagogy and content. For example, those who do cooperative learning may visit http://www.stedwards.edu/cte/grub.htm to see a rubric that helps learning groups to function more effectively. Smart Classroom Training The University offers training in the use of the new smart classrooms to all instructors at UCD. The equipment is easy to use and the training is not time consuming. We encourage individual faculty members and departmental groups to make appointments for training. The Auraria campus is the only major campus in the United States at which all of the classrooms are “smart” at the instructor’s station, and where all are configured alike. As the “Chronicle of Higher Education” points out (see http://chronicle.com/free/2001/08/2001082301t.htm) this guarantees that instructors who develop electronic learning materials will always be teaching in classrooms where they can use them; instructors will not have to learn to use any new configuration of equipment when they are assigned to new classrooms. Training covers 1) efficient use of the touch panel that controls the whole system; 2) proper use of the document camera as well as the minor adjustments that need to be made in switching from the overhead projector to the document camera; 3) how to control the stereo system, the DVD player and the VHS tape player from the touch panel; 4) how to hook up a laptop computer to the proper network port at the podium and get to the internet. Tips on preparing for class in this new environment will also be provided. Training takes no more than an hour. Throughout the fall semester, training is scheduled on Friday afternoons from 2:00 to 4:00 PM in North Classroom Building 1207. Please contact Jeremy Smith via e-mail: jdsmith@carbon.cudenver.edu, or by phone at 6-4468. (Training does not take place on days when no one signs up in advance.) Training for groups can be scheduled at other times if Jeremy has enough notice to reserve a room. BOOKMARK THIS LINK IN YOUR BROWSER. CU Denver has an institutional on-line subscription to National Teaching and Learning Forum. This is a reviewed newsletter that you can publish in as well as learn from. ENJOY! Bookmark this in your browser: http://www.ntlf.com/restricted/ The secure server automatically recognizes the “.cudenver.edu” signature received by logging on from our campus as the password. Therefore, you can access the site from your office, but not from your home.