Planning Bugs 101: Goals, Objectives & Alignment

Bugs 101 is the affectionate name I've given this series which documents my experiences and thought processes as a first time university instructor. This week I'm working on developing course goals and objectives, as well as making sure these early designs align with the goals, objectives, and mission statement of the center in which the actual course (ISB 201) is housed.

Perscribed Course Goals, Objectives, and Mission Statements

I'm very fortunate to get to teach a course that provides a ton of content flexibility, which is very different from the teaching expectations of public science ed. This course (ISB 201) is offered to meet the general science credit requirements of students at MSU (Michigan State University) and is situated within the Center for Integrated Studies in General Science (CISGS). As an instructor, I was provided a variety of goals and objectives, and given creative license to design this course with these parameters in mind. Below are these guidelines as provided by the center. Do note, these are the goals and competencies assigned to the biology courses hosted by the center, there are others assigned to the other courses, so this list is not exhaustive and specific to ISB courses.

Course Goals

After successfully completing this course, students will be able to: 

1. Describe and communicate scientific principles and ideas in the biological and physical sciences, and explain the origins of major scientific achievements and theories.

2. Discriminate between ideas that do and do not constitute subjects of scientific investigation, give examples of how scientific understanding constantly evolves, and apply scientific approaches to solving problems and reflect about the natural world.

3. Practice critical thinking to evaluate the credibility of information that is presented as being scientific.

4. Practice scientific thinking and evidence-based decision making, applying these skills to societally significant questions and challenges.

5. Value the efforts of biological and physical scientists as they continue to address practical needs and continue research into matters of fundamental and lasting importance.

Course Competencies

Through this course students will be assessed on their mastery of skills, outlined by domain as competencies and sub-competencies.

Domain: Scientific Literacy

• SL1. Students understand, experiment, and reason as well as interpret scientific facts and their meaning to answer questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences.

• SL2. Students describe, explain, and predict natural phenomena.

• SL3. Students identify scientific issues underlying national and local decisions, express positions, and make decisions that are scientifically and technologically informed.

Domain: Information Literacy

• IL1. Students search for information as a means of idea creation and exploration

• IL2. Students weigh the use of information according to the constructed and contextual authority that created that information.

• IL3. Students treat information as if it has value.

  • ILi. Students will cite a source correctly and describe the need for doing so.

  • ILii. Students will use research tools and indicators of authority to determine the credibility of sources, understanding the elements that might temper the credibility.

  • ILiii. Students will recognize that authoritative content may be packaged formally or informally and may include sources of all media types.

  • ILiv. Students will define different types of authority, such as subject expertise (e.g. scholarship), societal position (e.g. public office or title), or special experience (e.g. participating in a historic event)

  • ILv. Students will recognize issues of access or lack of access to information sources

  • ILvi. Students will identify why some groups/individuals may be underrepresented or systematically marginalized within the systems that produce and disseminate information.

  • Lvii. Students will evaluate a source using specific criteria to determine whether a source meets their information need.

Domain: Quantitative Literacy

• QL1. Students communicate with and learn from graphs, figures, and models.

• QL2. Students collect and transform data to make and interpret summary statistics and scientific calculations.

Domain: Diversity

• D1. Students interpret scientific findings and implications from multiple perspectives.

• D2. Students see themselves as potential producers and consumers of science.

  • Di. Students will see themselves as scientists through investigations of diverse people from diverse backgrounds that have made essential contributions to the body of scientific knowledge that exists.

  • Dii. Students will cultivate a growth mentality for learning about the diversity of communities and identities; histories and current examples of social and environmental injustices; and various ways of working for inclusiveness and equity.

  • Diii. Students will identify specific ways by which human health and / or environmental challenges that society faces can disproportionately affect certain populations due to socio-economic contributing factors.

  • Div. Students will reflect on and critically examine how life experiences and communities shape their knowledge, beliefs, values, and biases.

  • Dv. Students will identify specific strategies/interventions/actions for working toward social and environmental justice and equity in everyday life and/or in their own communities or career fields.

CISGS also provides a mission, vision, and values that helped me make decisions later on to make policy decisions and rationalize overarching structures that aligned to these statements.

Some targets are easier to hit than others.

CISGS Mission

To make a real-world difference in the lives of MSU students and future generations, by fostering Scientific Literacy among our undergraduate students and educators of tomorrow.

CISGS Vision

CISGS will provide the highest quality inclusive instruction, fostering Scientific Literacy, increasing our students’ curiosity for the natural world, enhancing their capacities for critical thinking and evidence-based argumentation, and instill in them a recognition of the value and importance of science in society. CISGS will leverage collaborative partnerships across campus to ensure the delivery of an innovative and cohesive curriculum providing knowledge and transferable skills that benefit students in their majors, their careers, and their lives beyond MSU.

CISGS Values

1. Community - Success and excellence are far more attainable when people recognize that they are valued members of a safe and supportive community. This is true for students, faculty, and staff. We are committed to supporting the academic, professional, and personal needs of every member of our community.

2. Leadership - In the face of an ever-evolving institutional landscape, proactive innovations are essential in support of our learning community. We are committed to providing campus-wide leadership to enhance the undergraduate experience and general education.

3. Collaboration - We believe that the delivery of a world-class undergraduate education is enhanced by and requires deliberate and thoughtful collaborative partnerships with diverse stakeholders across the institution. Collaborative partnerships enhance faculty and student success.

4. Diversity - We are committed to actively supporting a diverse learning community, for both our students and our teaching faculty. We seek to create welcoming and inclusive learning environments that respect and affirms diverse backgrounds, experiences, and rich perspectives.

This course, which I've been calling Bugs 101, in actuality is ISB 201: Insects, Globalization, and Sustainability. ISB 201 is offered each semester to upwards of 1200 undergraduate students, and each professor puts their own spin on the content and instruction style. Different sections are taught by different professors, via different modes of engagement (in-person, online, and hybrid), and engage students in a wide variety of topics related to insects in order to achieve the defined objectives. Regardless of these differences, all sections receive the same course description as a result of administrative rigidity within the larger institution:

The relationship between insects, human society, and the environment with an emphasis on ecological and evolutionary processes. Critical evaluation of current regional and global environmental problems and how they are effecting the development of a sustainable society.

Bugs 101 Goals & Objectives

Like any good educational practitioner, the very first steps of planning Bugs 101is to set course goals and objectives so that I can achieve backwards planning and instructional decisions can be made with end goals kept on the periphery.

Learning goals are specific statements that describe what students will know or be able to do as a result of instruction (Marzano 2010). These goals are general and describe the overarching learning expectations for the course. Learning objectives, on the other hand, provide specific examples of how students are engaging with, and being successful. This dichotomy is honestly something I mix up and have to google every time I hit this phase of development. I tend to think of objectives as being lofty statements that take a 10,000 foot view but lack specificity, which is why objectives are there to provide more concrete and specific definitions.

Bugs 101 Course Goals

The course goals for Bugs 101 are as follows:

1. Use insects as a model to help students understand principles and processes that occur in the natural world

2. Provide support and opportunities for students to develop their self-efficacy as it pertains to scientific and information literacy skills.  

3. Foster in students a sense of STEM belonging, regardless of personal or career trajectories.

These goals were designed to address the different aspects of a student’s learning, while answering the question “Why is this course important?” (Caffarella & Daffron 2013). Course Goal 1 emphasizes a conceptual element of the course, establishing an avenue for students to develop understanding related to entomology and broader science topics; ecology, evolution, climate change, industrialization, etc. This course goal aligns to CISGS Goal A and the Course Description. Course Goal 2 addresses the cognitive aspects of this course, related to the development of student abilities in science literacy and the development of translatable skills, providing alignment to CISGS Goals B, C, and D. Finally, Course Goal 3 addresses the affective components of this course and roots the practice of fostering a sense of STEM belonging at the heart of this course. Assessment of STEM belonging is not reflected in the course grades and the results are only considered as an element of course evaluation, but STEM belonging relates to CISGS’s Mission and Value A.

Developing course objectives was more of an iterative processes bouncing back and forth between CISGS goals, my own desired objectives, and traditional course structures so that I could ensure that course assessment would align with the objectives in a cohesive way and work synergistically to create transparency on behalf of course expectations. Next week, I'll be posting a breakdown of how I developed those assessment categories, my thought process when selecting a performance based grading system, and the mastery rubrics I've been drafting to evaluate, but for now I'll just drop the objectives.

Bugs 101 Course Objectives

In this course, students will:

• Contribute…to the learning environment by attending class, being engaged, and equitably dividing up group tasks.

• Design…products that demonstrate attention to detail, creativity, innovation, and flexible thinking.

• Expand…your perspective by making predictions, identify connections, and draw conclusions.

• Find…, evaluate, use, and appropriately cite sources from your research.

• Know…some basic information about insects, and their relationships with both society and the environment.

• Model…your thinking by interpreting, using, and building graphs, figures, diagrams, manipulatives, etc. to support your claims.

• Reason…logically and provide the support and explanations that helped you develop your claim.

Developing course objectives that could meet the myriad of goals listed by the center, while also supporting the performance based grading system and transparent teaching practices I was hoping to implement took some finagling, but the rationale is best saved for my next post on assessment. I will also admit that these objectives are somewhat broad, they are lacking the specificity and granularity that I would prefer, but they provide a clear foundation for me go on and develop evaluation rubrics and define success criteria.

TL;DR - This week I'm developing goals and objectives for  Bugs 101 (aka ISB 201: Insects, Globalization, and Sustainability), ensuring alignment with the Center for Integrated Studies in General Science (CISGS) mission, vision, and values. I started with course goals and competencies provided by CISGS, then set more specific goals and objectives for this course. Next week I'll be addressing assessment.

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References:

• Caffarella, R. S., & Daffron, S. R. (2013). Planning programs for adult learners: A practical guide. John Wiley & Sons.

• Marzano, R. J. (2010). Designing & teaching learning goals & objectives. Solution Tree Press.