TEACHING AND LEARNING ABOUT TEACHING AND LEARNING: UBC’S GRADUATE COURSE IN EVIDENCE-BASED PEDAGOGY

Over 10 years ago, under the University of British Columbia’s mandate to transform science education by integrating more student-centered and active learning practices, a graduate course in evidence-based pedagogy was created. This course, entitled “EOSC516: Teaching and Learning in Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences”, has trained over 100 graduate students in educational theory and practice. It is inspired by the design of the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW; www.iswnetwork.ca) and takes place over seven weeks, alternating weekly between two-hour large group sessions and four-hour small group sessions. Large group sessions with the full cohort address foundational topics in education, based in part on student interests. Session topics include: lesson components, student motivation, facilitating discussions, evaluation techniques, and equity and inclusion. Small group sessions address instructional skills, by having students practice teaching 10 minute “mini-lessons”. Each small group has no more than six students and all participants provide each other with feedback to incorporate into future teaching sessions. The two-week time frame between small group teaching sessions supports individual reflection. After completing EOSC516, students have the option of enrolling in a student-led and presentation-focused graduate seminar.

Students who have taken EOSC516 scored higher on the Beliefs About Reformed Science Teaching and Learning (BARSTL; Sampson et al., 2013) survey than students who have not taken the course. Pre-post data from the 2015 and 2016 cohorts showed that students also scored higher on the BARSTL survey after taking the course. Summative evaluation findings indicate that after taking the course, students became more confident in their teaching, incorporated techniques into their classrooms and thought more about the self-directed nature of their own learning processes.