2009 Event Archives

In 2009, Hope students developed a guided-inquiry lesson in biology that had the students develop a hypothesis, design an experiment, write a procedure and then test the hypothesis through a simple experiment. The activities emphasized using scientific process to discover truths about homoeostasis.

2009 Farmer’s Market: Kids Market Activities, July 8, 2009: “What Nutrients Do Plants Need”?

PURE and CURE Programs:

During the last three years Hope College has participated in the classroom undergraduate research experiences (CURE) assessment project. Over 30 different courses in different disciplines and of various levels participated during that period. We now have another opportunity to improve our courses!

PURE (Pedagogical implementation of undergraduate research experiences) is a newly funded HHMI program designed to provide opportunities for faculty to use research findings (as opposed to classroom assessment) from their own courses or institution to improve the effectiveness of their teaching and increase student learning gains. The findings of the CURE will provide a basis for implementing course changes that will move us toward more effective teaching and learning using inquiry based learning.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning movement suggests that Teaching-as-Research (i.e., TAR) “involves the deliberate, systematic, and reflective use of research methods to develop and implement teaching practices that advance the learning experiences and outcomes of students and teachers.” As scientists we are used to developing hypotheses, testing them, analyzing the results and developing new ideas from the findings. The same process can be used to improve science teaching and learning. Based on the findings from the CURE assessment project, faculty will be encouraged to identify aspects of their course that could be improved (i.e., hypothesis). Faculty members will be then asked to implement their changes (i.e., procedure) and rigorously test the effectiveness of the changes (i.e., analysis of student learning gains).

PURE is one of the programs funded under the new HHMI grant. It is designed to help faculty modify their science courses to achieve higher student learning gains. It is also designed to create a community among science teachers who would like to use a Teaching-as-Research (i.e., TAR) approach to their pedagogy. This community will provide Hope’s science teachers with a forum, to create, refine, and communicate successful teaching approaches based on inquiry learning following a scientific methodology.

PURE workshop events where faculty meets for a 3 hour workshop to become familiar with the CURE findings and identify desired changes in one of the course they teach. They will begin the process of developing an implementation plan, learn about the mentoring component of the program, and be introduced to a web site in which they will regularly post their progress.