Inquiry 1 Project: Annotated Bibliography

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DYlxy4IIp8OYiC-f0vVWa92L4pux1TPdD3PDbPq_OX4/edit?usp=sharing 

1. Yu, B., Tsiknis, G. and Allen, M. (2010). Turning exams into a learning experience. Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 41st ACM.

    One of many articles that experiments with Two-Stage Assessment, but the article has collections of feedback from the students on their experience.

2.Brian P. Rempel, Maria B. Dirks, and Elizabeth G. McGinitie. Journal of Chemical Education 2021 98 (8), 2527-2535. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00219 Two-Stage Testing Reduces Student-Perceived Exam Anxiety in Introductory Chemistry https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00219

    One of many articles that experiments with Two-Stage Assessment, but also attributes its' benefit to the psychology of the students during the exam, such as how it could be used to reduce the anxiety of the students.

3.Cooke, J. E., *Address correspondence to: James E. Cooke (E-mail Address: j2cooke@ucsd.edu).Biology Department, Weir, L., Initiative, C. W. S. E., Clarkston, B., Cortright, Deslauriers, Gilley, Giuliodori, Gorman, Ives, Jang, Kang, Leight, Liang, LoGiudice, Lusk, Mahoney, McDaniel, … Pan, S. C. (2019, April 22). Retention following two-stage collaborative exams depends on timing and student performance. CBE-Life Sciences Education. Retrieved November 24, 2021, from https://www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/cbe.17-07-0137.

    One of many articles that experiments with Two-Stage Assessment, but discusses the long-term benefit of the Two-Stage Assessment. This research shows that in terms of score, not many students show significant improvement of the score on the test, but students who are in the middle level benefited the most in terms of retention of the information.

4.Rieger, Georg, and Cynthia Heiner. Examinations That Support Collaborative Learning: The Student’s Perspective. 2014, https://cwsei.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/cwsei/outcomes/SEIresearch/Rieger-Heiner_2-stage-Exams_JCST2014.pdf.

    Another research paper on the Two-Stage Assessment presents the reader with the sample test used, which I can present as an example of what the assessment could look like. It also presents the feedback of the students. 

5.Newton, G., Rajakaruna, R., Kulak, V., A;babish, W., Gilley, B. H., & Ritchie, K. (n.d.). Two-stage (collaborative) testing in science teaching: Does it improve grades on short-answer questions and retention of material? NSTA. Retrieved November 25, 2021, from https://www.nsta.org/two-stage-collaborative-testing-science-teaching-does-it-improve-grades-short-answer-questions-and.

    This article discusses the impact of the Two-Stage Assessment in relation to short answer questions and long answer questions. 

6.McConnell, D. (2010, August 25). The experience of collaborative assessment in e-learning. Taylor & Francis. Retrieved November 25, 2021, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01580370220130459.

    This article discusses the implication and benefit of collaborative in e-learning setting, which might be relevant in Covid-19 era. 

7.Gilley, B. H. and Clarkston, B. (2012). Does collaborative testing increase students’ retention of concepts?. Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative, University of British Columbia.

     One of many articles that test the Two-Stage Assessment, but focused on the relationship between the improvement of the students to the score received by the students.

8. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1997-06939-007 A comparison of group and individual remembering: Does collaboration disrupt retrieval strategies?

    This article discusses the specifics in terms of what kind of strategies and categories of data need to be considered in implementing the Two-Stage Assessment. 

Exit Slip: Nov 18th

 Project Plan: Narrowing the Scope of the Topic and Preparing Activity

When it comes to the purpose of the presentation and the research, I would focus on informing the class what the Two-Stage assessment is and how it is supposed to function. I do not think I am necessarily arguing that we should implement this strategy, but what the benefits are. Also to give enough resources so all of us can discuss the cost-benefit of the strategy for each one of us and our style. 

When it comes to the activity, I want to demonstrate either 

    1. Recalling of memory could be enhanced by collaboration with other people.

    2. Retention of the information is greater after the test when working on it as a group compared to when     working on individually.

I want to do some sort of puzzle activity where it relies on the individual's memory where it can be tested at the end of the presentation. To simulate the Two-Stage assessment, the assessment of memorization of the materials will be conducted twice, once as an individual and one as a group. Ideally, everyone will show an increased score on the group portion. For this I am considering memorizing tile pattern activity. 

Exit Slip: Oct 21st

Gender Euqality in Physics:

    I remember when professor Donna Strickland came to do a colloquium at Hebb building at UBC, to give lecture on her research that won her the Nobel Prize. One thing I remember that she said was how many guest lecture request she was receiving now that she have won a very esteemed reward, when she had very little before. What really hit me the most was after the guest lecture and when we were having social meeting after ward. In one of the room in physics building, we were all gathered to have conversation with the professor and had some wine and cheese on the side. I noticed that one of the questions that she was most asked was "how is it like to be woman in field of physics?" What was interesting for me was her face expression (oh, how miss the days without masks). It was clear she was disturbed by the questions. I do not know how she felt exactly, but I am sure she wanted to approached by students to discuss physics and the question only made her feel as if she was only approached because she is woman. I understand where the question is coming from, but by asking the same the question we are treating her like how she have been treated before.

    I believe our job as teacher is to provide equal opportunity for all students to pursue any field. It is our job to break those gender stereotypes that students are often exposed to. We should never be the one to discriminate students depending on the gender, colour and etc. With socially constructed stereotypes and systematic biases I do not expect them to disappear over night. But it is our duty to dilute these ideas so in next generation there would be even less and the cycle repeats until they disappear, this should be our goal. Until the day where a person is judged only by their work and get proper credit for them, we should be an active model for the students. 

Choosing an Area for Inquiry Project

Main Topic: Two-Stage Test/Exams

For those who do not know Two-Stage test/exam is a test that has two parts. The first part of the test is done individually like any test we all might be familiar with. There is a second part where you are given a portion of the test from the first part again to the students, but have students come to the group and come up with a solution together. The given questions are usually the hardest part of the test, so could be a long answer question or a multilayered question. The purpose of this exam is to reduce the stress level of the students and to turn the test into a learning tool and not just an assessment tool.

I wanted to talk about this because this is something that I've only experienced in the Physics department once I came to UBC. I think this was a unique experience that I think was beneficial in my learning. This is why I started to wonder why this type of strategy has not been implemented into 'rework' the system around testing and assessment. I feel like we only ever think about moving away from a standardized tests, but why can't we change the test to better suit our desired outcome? 

1. Define Your Question:

    What are some ways that you could turn tests into a learning experience and not just a tool for an assessment? Is Two-Stage a good tool to achieve such a goal?

2. Analyze Your Topic into Concepts:

    a. Vygotsky's Sociocultural & Social interaction in learning

    b. Assessment for Learning (AfL). AfL has disseminated four interventions: questioning, feedback through marking, peer- and self-assessment, and formative use of summative tests.

Entrance Slip: Oct 21st

 Learning The Grammar of Animacy

There are two things I like to talk about when talking about terminology in science and mathematics.

1. Origine of the terminology, such as prefixes and how some terms are derived from various cultures.

2. How to approach the teaching of the terminology. A word could be completely new to the student, or they may already have a slightly different definition of the word that is out of the context of science.

In the case of number 2, I do not know if the two cases require different approaches in teaching because, in the end, the student will require a concrete understanding of the word, so perhaps how you decide to assist the student in learning or experiencing such words does not matter. 

Personally speaking, etymology always has been interesting for me, because it shows the way of thinking of the time period of that particular culture. It is true that all the scientific words are euro-centric but on the other hand, things were named after someone or whoever discovered came up with words however they see fit. Honestly, I have no issue with this, because I know that words only exist if people use them. There are words that get put up in the dictionary because enough population of people uses them, even the word itself has only existed for few years. There are cultural words such as Kimchi or Bibimbap that get put in the dictionary because there is enough awareness of the words and could represent new ideas that did not exist in this part of the world. (and yes I am of Korean heritage so I chose those words) I also think that indigenous words such as puhpowee could hold their own once people become aware of it because they represent something that had no 'name' for its Euro-centric ideas. I think this is one way to indigenize my classroom. Students can learn traditional European scientific words as well as these words to reinforce one another. It is not like the usage of these words are irrelevant, because students can always cite these words into their essay or projects and may help them communicate better and efficiently without using too many words to describe.

Exit Slip: Oct 14th

 Engaging Students and Moving Away From Grades

In general, I agreed with everything that was shown today, especially with Jo Boaler because that is something I have experience as a student in my university classes. The 'Think-Pair-Share' strategy is something that I am very fond of because I believe in such a style of the social aspect of learning that I will most definitely implement in my profession.

On the other hand, I have a sense of uneasiness in me regarding Alfie Kohn's idea of why grades do more harm than do good. On one hand, I can totally relate to where is coming from. I have chosen my high school elective and grades I received because I had to go into a university. Even in university, I was surrounded by friends who did research on the average GPA of the class so they can find the easiest elective they can take and receive the highest grade possible. There was no passion or interest in the topic involve when deciding on those electives. I do not know if this is something we can address by changing the system we live in, and if it is then the change has to be from top to bottom or bottom-up. 

Another idea that I was wondering was if there is no grade then what will replace that formal assessment. Would the assessment be in reflection of the progression of the individual students? If it is not done at the individual level, it means there would be certain thresholds and standards that all students have to meet, but is that not the same as having a grade? If it is assessed as individual, then that requires a very thorough understanding of students and their knowledge. Would that mean there has to be some sort of formal assessment to find where everyone is? 

I feel like, this class was good in that I encountered a lot of ideas that I really connect with and agree with, but still came out with more questions than answers. 

Entrance Slip: Oct 14th

 Dancing teacher into being

"For teachers, the sorting of curriculum, students, resources, timetables and grades into charts and tables tames the potentially overwhelming task of educating dozens or hundreds of young people, year after year."

This quote represents one of the things I am scared of, being too comfortable at where I will be. The first couple of years of my career will be some of my hardest years because I will be new at the job. It will take some time for me to learn how to interact with various students, try out various teaching methods and approaches, and at some point, I will be like I found something. It would be my default setting that I find that works, but once I get too comfortable, I might forget that when students are having a hard time, it might be me that is the problem. I do not want to fall into this false sense that I am doing everything right but its the students who are not putting enough effort into it. Flow like water, because water that does not flow gets tainted. 

My takeaway of metaphors in this article is that many that a lot of structures derived from the western influence which is based on ownership and power. I do have issues with putting students in square rooms and in a square desk, within the school that is shaped like a stack of boxes of room. On the other hand, I wonder if finding that grid system is something that is just natural for us. When we look at nature, hardly anything is perfectly square and in grid format, but when we look closely, all the building blocks are in the grid. Cells and cell walls are nicely organized blocks with their own compartments that have different functions. It is only with the combination of these building blocks that are in grids, that trees can grow into a shape it is now. I think it might be similar for us humans as well. It is true that we follow a particular timetable and live in a square building, but maybe that is okay as long as we can all come together to become a building block for something greater and not so square. I think our problem is not the fact that we live in a square world, but the fact that we often do not let anyone leave that square grid. If someone does not fit into that grid, perhaps we should change our 'grid' to better fit everyone, and perhaps the finished product would not be just a collection of a square box, but a unique shape. (now I feel like it took this more into general philosophy style of approach)