The Rice Thresher, Vol. 99, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 21, 2011 Page: 5 of 20
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Friday, October 21,2011
the Rice Thresher
NEWS
•I •
• •
NEWS IN RHYME
National
Exotic animals shot
In Columbus Ohio the lion sleeps tonight
As well as the bears, tigers and other exotic
beasts
A man released them yesterday and they
took flight
And they went around looking for a human-
made feast
So the sheriff's departments broke out the
assault rifles
And had themselves a public safety hunt
Because huge animals in the open are not
small trifles
And you have to use force that is blunt
A tragedy befell Ohio on Wednesday as a
man released exotic animals from a preserve
forcing the authorities to kill them before
they caused harm to humans.
Classes test SCALE-UP method
International
Former Libyan president
declared dead
There was a colonel named Gadhafi
A most violent leader he could be
"Enough," people said
And now he is dead
Let's hope his subjects will now be free
Former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi
was announced dead on Thursday by interim
Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril.
There have also been reports from a member
of the Tripoli military council that Gad-
hafi's son Mutassim and Gadhafi's chief of
intelligence Abdullah al-Senussi were also
killed. Circumstances sur-
rounding the deaths still
remain unclear.
- ANTHONY LAURIELLO
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advice from our "Dear Athena
and Ares'* columnists.
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by Ellen Liu
Thresher Editorial Staff
A new interactive teaching format known as
SCALE-UP premiered in two Rice courses this
semester and is set to expand to more classes
next semester.
SCALE-UP stands for Student-Centered Ac-
tive Learning Environment for Undergraduate
Programs, and its primary aim is to involve
students actively in the instructional process,
Manager of Educational Technologies Carlos
Solis said. Through this format, students inter-
act with each other during class in addition to
listening to the instructor's lecture.
Solis said the instructor leads student
teams through a series of classroom exercises
focused on discussion and sharing to help
them learn. Traditional classroom furniture is
substituted with round tables, and three teams
of three students each sit at each table, ac-
cording to Solis. The teams are provided with
whiteboards where students outline ideas for
problem-based learning and share their an-
swers with others, he said.
"The basic idea behind this is that learning
should be a very active process of engagement,
discovery and collaboration," Solis noted.
SCALE-UP was piloted this semester in two
Biochemistry & Cell Biology courses: BIOC 311: Ad-
vanced Experimental Biosciences and BIOC 211: In-
troduction to Experimental Biosciences, taught by
Biochemistry & Cell Biology professors Beth Bea-
son Abmayr and Elizabeth Eich, respectively. The
classes are held in the commons of Jones College.
Solis said Educational Technologies fo-
cused on college commons when looking for
appropriate locations for the program because
they already had the proper seating arrange-
ment. SCALE-UP required flat spaces, and the
auditorium style of Rice's large classrooms
prevented them from being reconfigured, he
noted. He said that, in the end, the Jones Col-
lege commons proved to be the best location
for the pilot.
Educational Technology then installed vari-
ous technological enhancements in the com-
mons, including a high-lumen projector, multi-
point audio, connectivity plates for computers
and clicker technologies.
Abmayr said the new SCALE-UP format
has impacted her class positively. Rather than
lecture to the students, she said she walked
around during class, interacting with each
group and employed additional learning activi-
ties like clicker questions, demonstrations, re-
flective writing and student presentations.
"After just two class meetings using SCALE-
UP, the outcomes exceeded my expectations,"
Abmayr said. "The majority of students were
enthusiastic about the collaborative classroom
environment, and overall, the students seemed
better prepared for lab after interacting with
their teammates in class."
The students worked more efficiently, were
more confident, and seemed to enjoy the lec-
ture and lab more, Abmayr noted. However,
•she cited a lack of lecture time and the dis-
tracting noise level in the commons as draw-
backs to the format.
"Since we use class time to discuss the lab
and work on calculations, there is not enough
time for lectures on biochemistry theory and
experimental background," Abmayr said. "Stu-
dents who did not study the material before com-
ing to class did not participate in round table dis-
cussions and were not as prepared for lab later
during the week."
Still, Abmayr said she was satisfied with the
SCALE-UP approach and would continue to pro-
mote and use it for BIOC 311 in the sprir" with the
hopes of becoming even more student centered.
Baker College junior Lyahn Hwang, who is
a student in BIOC 311, said she appreciated the
SCALE-UP format and found it more engaging.
"In previous labs, the pre-lab discussions
were lectures by the professor, and I don't
think they improved our learning," Hwang
said. "Ever since [Abmayr] chose to implement
this more interactive set-up for pre-labs, there
were fewer students passed out, and the hour
seemed to go by faster."
Fellow instructor Eich added that she had
used some active learning techniques in a
traditional lecture room, but they were more
effective in the SCALE-UP format. She cited
students answering questions with individual
clickers as an example. Group discussions im-
proved the percentage of correct answers to
these questions.
"This highlights two important aspects of
SCALE-UP: discussion promotes understand-
ing, and feedback is immediate for both stu-
dent and instructor," Eich noted. "How many
instructors can say that they walk out of class
knowing whether students understood the
material?"
SCALE-UP was first championed by Robert
Beichner at North Carolina State University and
was started at Rice when Dean of Undergradu-
ates John Hutchinson brought Beichner to Rice
for a Scientia seminar in February 2011. Beichner's
SCALE-UP presentation sparked enough interest
among the faculty to facilitate the program's three-
month development and launch, Solis said.
44
Ever since [Abmayr]
chose to implement this
more interactive set-up
for pre-labs, there were
fewer students passed
out, and the hour
seemed to go faster.
Lyahn Hwang
Baker '13
w
He added that the program has not had any
serious challenges so far, but he anticipates the
conversion of existing classrooms into SCALE-
UP format as the biggest future obstacle.
"Because of their geometry and configura-
tion, SCALE-UP classrooms cannot seat as many
students as traditional classrooms," Solis noted.
"With increased enrollment, there will be a natu-
ral tension between these two aspects."
Converting an existing podium classroom
into a SCALE-UP space - which includes install-
ing new furniture, replacing traditional seats
with round tables and chairs, and buying small
whiteboards - could incur 10 to 12 percent in
additional costs, Solis said.
However, Solis said the assessment data Ed-
ucation Technologies collected about the pro-
gram has indicated generally positive student
attitudes toward it, and they have identified at
least eight other faculty members interested in
SCALE-UP.
He added that Educational Technologies
is looking into combining SCALE-UP with the
OWL-Socrates system to provide more review
materials to help students prepare for the team-
work that happens in a SCALE-UP classroom.
Solis said Rice was not the only school de-
veloping a SCALE-UP program. Schools like
MIT, Clemson University, the University of Min-
nesota, Florida Gulf Coast University and the
University of Wisconsin have also adopted the
new format, he noted.
Seniors reminisce about their time at Rice over food and drinks at the Senior Toast on Thurs-
day, Oct. 13 in the Rice Gallery courtyard. More than 120 seniors donated $2,800 to the
senior class gift. Senior were encouraged to donate $20.12 to honor this year's class.
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Rutenberg, Josh. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 99, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 21, 2011, newspaper, October 21, 2011; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398427/m1/5/: accessed May 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.