Session 11.1: “Roll a six have another go” Serious games in STEM
Biological Sciences
Dr Ian Turner, University of Derby
Gamification - using the principles of game design - is being increasingly used as a tool in higher education. Games have been demonstrated to have value as teaching aids to reinforce learning and to develop key skills. This session will explore traditional board games role-playing games and collectable card games mechanics and their applications in STEM HE subjects.
Session 11.2: How soon is now? Promoting architecture for women from an early age
Built Environment
Ms Kelly MacKinnon and Mrs Emma Garrick, Northumbria University
‘Women in architecture’ has been looked at in some more scrutiny over the past few years; from the Architects Journal Survey through to the recognition of an annual award. Current research appears to be dominated in both practice and architectural education but surely if we want to make a difference to the notion of ‘what is an architect’ whilst creating a better understanding of our built environment we need to start with our children. The Architecture Programme at Northumbria University has been working on a number of workshops with ‘Think Physics‘ a project set up in conjunction with Northumbria University delivering STEM projects in schools; tailoring workshops to key stages within the National Curriculum. This concentrates on targeting the gender imbalance by changing the way young people particularly girls and under-represented groups engage from early years to 6th form through to university level through a variety of workshops and interventions within the community.
Session 11.3: A temporal operational analysis of big data in learning analytics
Computing
Mr Matthew Collins, Queen's University Belfast
Analysing learner's activity using FTP access logs is one method in collecting the big data for learner analytics. Gathering and analysing this data becomes even more important when access log data is linked to the software development cycle of each learner. The method applied in this study is outlined which enables researchers too quickly evaluate student activity against final results. The research does show that those students who perform better when learner longevity levels are high formally linking student engagement with performance. Further to this it suggests that using formative analysis of learner analytic data can be used to monitor student engagement levels.
Session 11.4: Broad Vision: A model of interdisciplinary research and collaborative learning
Interdisciplinary
Dr Mark Clements, University of Westminster
‘Broad Vision’ is an innovative platform for art / science collaboration providing a model for interdisciplinary learning teaching and research. Broad Vision is grounded in the theory of the emergent co-created curriculum. In this model students become teachers working in partnership with academics on a range of emergent student-led interdisciplinary art/science research projects. These projects evolve from a series of creative conversations providing an opportunity for collaborative sharing of disciplinary knowledge. This presentation will explore the value and challenges of emergent co-created curriculum as a pedagogic tool for interdisciplinary learning and will discuss how this model can be adapted to other interdisciplinary STEM contexts.
Session 11.5: Using virtual worlds in geosciences teaching
GEES
Dr Jacqueline Houghton, Dr Annabeth Robinson, Mrs Clare Gordon, Dr Geoffrey Lloyd and Dr Daniel Morgan, University of Leeds
We describe a serious games technology approach to enhance learning and teaching in the Geosciences. We have created a series of virtual worlds using the Unity game engine where students explore virtual terrains to learn basic geological skills. There are two different types of worlds: one on the techniques used to collect and interpret spatially distributed geological data (Geological Mapping and Field Skills virtual worlds); and the other one focuses on 3D visualisation and 3D/2D relationships (Geological Maps). Use of serious games video technology can be extended to other visual-spatial style exercises and situations where students benefit from being able to ‘get inside’ 3D objects. Our approach is a collaboration between Arts and Sciences and an example of the use of Unity in the context of STEM teaching. The Geological Field Skills virtual world is freely available as a web-based open educational resource: http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/virtual_worlds/demo/.
Session 11.6: Comedy in the classroom?: Engaging students at the frontiers of innovative teaching
Interdisciplinary
Dr Gill Seyfang, University of East Anglia
Is there room for comedy in the classroom? What is the pedagogical role of the performing arts? In an interdisciplinary School of Environmental Sciences students who are more used to dealing with ‘facts’ than ‘theories’ often struggle to get to grips with competing perspectives on society and the environment. This session showcases our award‐winning innovative teaching methods for enhancing student engagement and effective learning. ‘Theoretical Theatre’ is a semi-improvised performance/teaching method with wide applicability across the curriculum and our ideas are catching on.
Here I discuss our experiences of developing delivering and adapting this versatile teaching method to several different topics. I reflect on the benefits and limitations of what we’ve achieved make some suggestions about how the method might be adapted and used in other fields and discuss the potential for theatre and improvisation to play a larger role on the frontiers of teaching. We’ve got comedy glasses and we’re gonna use ‘em.
Session 11.7: Developing conceptual understanding through alternative assessment
Physical Sciences
Dr Katherine Haxton, Keele University
This ‘How to’ will cover the use of infographics and peer-assessment to encourage students to develop greater conceptual understanding of key topics. Producing an effective infographic on a concept requires students to develop deeper conceptual understanding and convey that in a primarily graphic manner. In this ‘How to’ presentation I will cover the advantages and potential pitfalls of these types of assessment including the challenge of writing clear assessment criteria. I will discuss different forms of peer-assessment that could be used and whether asking students to mark sample work is the best approach to enhancing assessment literacy. Other tasks will be discussed that can be used to aid the development of sufficient understanding of the assessment format and criteria prior to submission and the best way to help students develop confidence in tackling unfamiliar forms of work.
Session 11.8: Engaging students in research methods and statistics: A “how to” guide to making this possible.
Psychology
Dr Victoria Bourne, Royal Holloway University of London
Psychology is an increasingly popular subject for undergraduate study in the UK. However the degree curriculum typically includes large research methods and statistics components. Many students are concerned about these modules for two reasons: 1. Anxiety about mathematical abilities. 2. Lack of understanding of the relevance and need for research methods. Given that students with high levels of anxiety tend to perform less well academically it is important to attempt to reduce this anxiety and to engage students in these topics as early as possible in the learning process.
This “How to…” presentation will outline a four week programme which has been designed specifically to reduce the problems of the “maths anxiety” and the “understanding of relevance”. These four weeks of teaching occur at the very beginning of the first year of studies in an attempt to break down misconceptions and alleviate fears before core content is learned.
