Dr. Bruce W. Grant
Department of Biology, Widener University
Chester, PA, 19013, office Kirk.200, 610-499-4017 grant@pop1.science.widener.edu

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This page was last modified 8 March 1998, and has been accessed times since 1 Jan, 1998.

ABSTRACT 1997 ANNUAL MEETING, ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
Poster Session 4, "Ecological Education"
Author: Bruce W. Grant.
Institution: Widener University
Address: Department of Biology, Widener University, One University Place, Chester PA 19013
Tel number: 610-499-4017, FAX: 610-499-4496.
 

BRUCE W. GRANT. Widener University, Chester, PA, 19013, USA.  A multiyear study of student attitudes toward using student-directed ecological research as curriculum in an introductory ecology course.      For the past four years I have used a semester-long student-directed ecological research model as the lab portion of my undergraduate ecology course. Student teams formulate an ecological research question, design and carry out a field study, co-author a manuscript and poster, present their results at an in-class symposium, submit their manuscript for anonymous review by other members of the class, review each others' manuscripts, and revise their manuscript for submission to an in-house ecological research journal. In sum, the students DO what ecologists do. For my role, I hold workshops and training sessions on ecological sampling, cooperation, problem solving, statistics, graphics, etc., and I am the "editor" of the in-house ecological research journal. In sum, I facilitate their research and their communication of it. Since 1994, I have been conducting post-course surveys of student attitudes toward this course. Data indicate that, despite the demands, students felt that this research-oriented course format enhanced their understanding of ecology and of the process of scientific thinking. Among year comparisons of student responses show significant effects of specific modifications to the course that I have made since 1994 that provide recommendations for others who wish to adopt my lab teaching model.

 

The reference for the above is:

Grant, B. W. 1997. A Multiyear Study of Student Attitudes Toward Using Student-Directed Ecological Research As Curriculum in an Introductory Ecology Course. Supplement to the Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 78 (#4): p. 253.

The abstract is Copyright - Ecological Society of America, 1997.

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