Description

The EOS Science Education Initiative (EOS-SEI) is a Departmental initiative carried out under the auspices of UBC's Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative ( CWSEI ). Further information about this work can be found via the menu to the left.

For more info. please contact any of the EOS Science Teaching and Learning Fellows:
<fjones@eos.ubc.ca>  <bgilley@eos.ubc.ca>  <bkennedy@eos.ubc.ca>  <elane@eos.ubc.ca> 604-822-2138

---

News:

NOTE: For students who have helped by completing End of Term Surveys, or contributed time in interviews and focus groups, we have added summaries of some of the data gathered with your help. See the feedback page. Hopefully this helps show how useful your time and support are.

1. July 31: Introduction of The EOSSEI Times, a regular newsletter about the project's work on Raising the Standards in Undergraduate Education.
2. July 25: Additional feedback and interview results pages have been added to the feedback page, as part of curriculum work.
3. July 16: Learning goals workshop for the Goldschmidt conference. Handouts are available via our resources page.
4. July 09: Updated long term project plan posted. Also a list of 47 science education journals, and some other "artifacts" of work under way via the feedback page.
5. June 30: Posted additional feedback information - from eosc112, eosc310, and ECAC usage (students and TAs).
6. June 22: Posted updated resources used in the Learning Goals workshop we ran on June 20th. See our resources page.
7. June 16: Welcome Erin Lane, the newest STLF to start working in EOS. Please see the weekly news items for an introduction to Erin.
8. June 10: Posted a summary and audio of today's discussion about science article reading skills. See our resources page.
9. June 9: Introduction of weekly news items.
10. June 3: This website was updated June 3rd. Several new pages exist, including pointers to feedback from students.
11. May: First annual CWSEI End-of-Year-Event. See "Calendar" on the CWSEI website for copies of presentations.
12. April: Sara Harris receives the 2007/2008 Faculty of Science Achievement Award: Congratulations to Sara Harris for receiving the 2007/2008 Faculty of Science Achievement Award for her exceptional contribution to the Faculty of Science. 
13. March: There have been several short guidelines produced by the collected wisdom of Carl Wieman, Sarah Gilbert and all STLFs at UBC and all STFs at Colorado University. These represent a significantly efficient representation of wisdom about science teaching and learning. Check them out at our resources page, or via the CWSEI website.
14. January 29: The eagerly awaited guidelines document on use of "clickers" is finally ready. It is called "An instructor's guide to the effective use of personal response systems ("clickers") in teaching", prepared by staff of the CU Science Education Initiative and the UBC Carl Wieman SEI. Download this from our resources page.
15. January 25: Compressed version of the Carl Wieman Learning Goals workshop was attended by approximately 10 EOS faculty. Introduced by Carl Wieman, then some lecture and much time on brainstorming goals at the course level and topic or lecture level. See our resources page for materials used.
16. January 1, 2008: Welcome to Ben Kennedy, our new STLF (science teaching and learning fellow), who starts Januar 2008. Ben has been finishing off a Post Doc here at EOS, and was teaching several sections of courses here last term (fall 2007).
17. Nov. 1, 2007: EOS-SEI in the news: UBC Reports: Winds of Classroom Change. "Prof. Roland Stull Finds a Sense of Excitement in His Revamped Large Class on Natural Disasters" By Brian Lin.

---

The general project goal: To increase the effectiveness of post-secondary science education for all undergraduate students taking courses offered by our Department.   Proven pedagogic strategies will be incorporated into our courses, faculty will increase their understanding about learning and their expertise at teaching, and all changes & innovations will become a permanent part of the department's commitment to excellence in teaching. Work at EOS is being carried out under the guidance of the CWSEI.

Long term project plan: This is an outline (July 02 2008) of plans for this 5 year project. It is constantly evolving.

---

From the proposal of Dec 1, 2006, goals were summarized in two parts as follows. (PDF of the proposal.)

1) To promote student achievement of the following learning outcomes:

• Develop skills for making reasoned judgments based on scientific evidence and organized knowledge.
• Enhance the ability to transfer knowledge, skills and concepts to new situations or contexts, for professional, academic, or general societal purposes.
• Develop the ability to assess and remedy one's own understanding.
• Achieve an appropriate balance between breadth and depth of knowledge, in order to recognize and express linkages among systems and concepts.
• Explore the interacting frameworks of economic development and environmental stewardship in the richly multi-disciplinary context of earth, ocean, and atmospheric sciences
  

2) As a department, we will expand and coordinate our efforts in the following areas:

• Increase teaching effectiveness and efficiency in our undergraduate courses and programs.
• Raise university-wide levels of scientific literacy and global awareness.
• Emphasize contemporary thought and new directions in science and science education.
• Enable, facilitate, and support faculty and TAs to follow best practices for achieving departmental teaching and learning goals while retaining ownership of their courses.

For specifics about components of the EOS-SEI projects, see links under Project Components to the left.