FACULTY NOTES

Ask your students to

1) describe the graphs - including the axes and data points, and then

2) describe and interpret the patterns.

      Before this in class you need to discuss how 1) and 2) are different and why it is so important to distinguish between them. Also, at this point you should have practiced doing 1) and 2) with the class with any data set. Most students jump quickly to interpretation before they have taken the time to understand what the data are and they need to practice with this skill.

      Figure 6A is pretty straightforward. You may have to explain the standard deviation bars if your students are unfamiliar with statistics. Fig. 6B will be more of a challenge because students are probably not used to seeing data represented this way. It may be helpful to discuss why the authors chose this kind of data presentation and what the grass beds would actually look like if students were snorkeling there in 1984 compared to 1994.

      The point of using these 2 figures together is for students to make the connection between loss of seagrass beds and decline in fish densities. Discuss the different ways that this might happen - in other words, how fish use seagrass beds (for refuge from predators, food, mating).


Student Assessment: Minute paper.

      In what ways are fish dependent on seagrasses in Florida Bay?



EVALUATING AN ISSUE: How do you know whether it is working?

      On-going (also called formative) evaluation of the approaches your are using is critical to the success of student-active teaching. Why try out new ideas if you don't know whether or not they are working? This is a brief overview of formative evaluation. For more information, go to the Formative Evaluation essay in the Teaching Section.

Course Goals:

      Formative evaluation only works if you have clearly described your course goals - because the purpose of the evaluation is to assess whether a particular technique is helping students reach these goals. For instance, most of us have "learn important ecological concepts and information" as a course goal. If I reviewed the nitrogen cycle in a class, for evaluation I might ask students to sketch out a nitrogen cycle for a particular habitat or system. Each student could work alone in class. Alternatively, I might ask students to work in groups of 3 and give each group a different situation (e.g. a pond receiving nitrate from septic systems, an organic agricultural field, an agricultural field receiving synthetic fertilizer). The students could draw their flows on a large sheet of paper (or an overhead transparency) and present this to the rest of the class.

The Minute Paper:

      Minute papers are very useful evaluative tools. If done well they give you good feedback quickly. Minute papers are done at the end of a class. The students are asked to respond anonymously to a short question that you ask. They take a minute or so to write their response in a 3x5 card or a piece of paper. You collect these and learn from common themes. In the next class it is important that you refer to one or two of these points so that students recognize that their input matters to you. The UW - FLAG site (www.wcer.wisc.edu/nise/cl1/flag/) gives a good deal of information about using minute papers including their limitations, how to phrase your question, step-by-step instructions, modifications, and the theory and research behind their use.