Title:

Making Student Learning Visible

Speaker:

Dr. Cara Gormally

Affiliation:

University of Georgia

When:

Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

Library Building, Room Wilby

Host:

Felicia Turner
felicia.turner@cetl.gatech.edu
404-894-9418

Abstract

How do we know what our students know and understand? Although multiple choice exams are common measures, there are many other ways to reveal student understanding. In this workshop, you will consider alternative ways to make understanding visible to both you and your students. The workshop facilitators will introduce relevant evidence from the literature, and share strategies and resources. You will spend time working with other participants to brainstorm ways to make student thinking visible, and strategize innovative ways to adapt them to your own courses. As a result of engaging in workshop activities, you can expect to leave with tangible strategies to make understanding visible to you and your students.

Biography

Cara Gormally received her B.A. from St. John's College, in Annapolis, Maryland, and she earned her doctorate from the University of Georgia in evolutionary ecology. As a graduate student, she was part of a collaboration to completely redesign a lab course for introductory biology. Her research interests in biology education include the design, implementation, and evaluation of courses using active, collaborative learning strategies, the development of novel assessment tools to better understand how to help students learn to do science and to spark their interest in informal science learning, and advancing pedagogical development for future biology instructors.

Nancy Ruggeri has a diverse background, ranging from field research on primate behavioral ecology in Africa and Asia to research in college science education. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in biological anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison before teaching introductory biology there for over eight years. She also directed the community outreach program in the College of Engineering at Madison, and is currently completing her doctorate in science education. Her research interests include: assessing student learning; the changing nature of scientific knowledge; and the instructional importance of highlighting uncertainties that arise in scientific data and models. She is very excited to be melding these interests with her work as Faculty Development Fellow at Georgia Tech.

Notes

Lunch will be provided.