Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education最新文献

The use of case studies in college courses can increase student engagement with the subject matter and improve analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills. Case studies were introduced in a relatively large (54 students) undergraduate world food and population course at Colorado State University in the spring semester of 2008 and evaluated for their effectiveness. Groups of two to four students selected and presented case studies developed at Cornell University that address human health and nutrition, food production, poverty alleviation, and natural resource management. The quality of the presentations and the learning experience varied considerably among the 16 presenting groups. The most successful presentations were those that had been rehearsed with an instructor, incorporated role playing or other creative techniques, and demonstrated enthusiasm for the topic. In an evaluation at the end of the semester, a majority of students felt the case studies were an important learning experience, improved their presentation skills, and should be retained in future offerings of the course. However, in multiple choice exams, students performed less well on questions based on case studies compared with questions derived from lecture material. This may be a reflection of the ineffectiveness of multiple choice exams to evaluate higher-level learning. Based on our experience, case studies can make positive contributions to similar courses, especially if efforts are made to improve class discussions and synthesis comments are made by the instructor to tie the case studies to the rest of the course.

Students in introductory courses generally respond favorably to novel approaches to learning. To this end, I developed and used three crossword puzzles in spring and fall 2009 semesters in Introductory Soil Science Laboratory at Colorado State University. The first hypothesis was that crossword puzzles would improve introductory soil science students’ interest in lab assignments. I used a five-question survey and one-way analyses of variance and chi-square statistical tests of the responses (responses were coded to a Likert scale) to test this hypothesis. Results indicated positive responses to crossword-puzzle usage; but, I found different average responses between the six sets of puzzles relative to their difficulty. The second hypothesis was that student reaction to each survey question would correlate to their total points earned or their academic major. The best correlation coefficient was a negative relationship between the survey question asking about the difficulty of the puzzle and the total points earned. Based on the positive student response for spring 2009 and fall 2009, I will routinely use crossword and possibly other “puzzles” in the Introductory Soil Science Laboratory course.

The notion of risk in relation to food and food production has heightened the need to educate students to effectively deal with risk in relation to decision making from a science-based perspective. Curricula and related materials were developed and adopted to support graduate learning opportunities in risk analysis and decision making as applied in agriculture, veterinary medicine, and the life sciences. Student and instructor interviews, course evaluations, and expert reviews of course syllabi and the program description were used to determine the value of formalizing this interdisciplinary graduate minor/certificate program. The quality of the three graduate level core courses developed and delivered exhibited the merit of the program but a major challenge remains with regard to long-term sustainability of this specialized training.

Students who feel like part of a classroom community gain more enjoyment and are more academically successful than students who do not feel similar levels of community. This study intended to determine if students in online courses perceive the same level of community as students in face-to-face classes and if outside factors impacted community perceptions. The Classroom Community Survey (CCS) was administered to students in three introductory-level science classes, each with a face-to-face section and an online section. The CCS consists of 20 questions, measuring overall community and two subscales, connectedness and learning. Five possible responses were given scores of 1 through 5 for a total of 100 possible points. Demographic questions were asked to establish if out-of-class factors affected community scores. Students in face-to-face sections (n = 183, M = 58.10) had significantly higher community scores than online students (n = 74, M = 55.24), t (255) = 3.55, p < 0.05. Connectedness scores for students in face-to-face sections were significantly higher than scores for their online counterparts, t (255) = 2.81, p < 0.05. Scores for the learning subscale were not significantly different based on course delivery method, t (255) = –1.80, ns. Of the eight demographic questions, only the question regarding if the course was required had a significant impact on community scores, t (186) = 2.95, p < 0.05. Results of this study showed that face-to-face students perceived significantly higher levels of community than did online students. Perception of learning and course grades were not significantly different for students across delivery methods.

Student discussions are a common teaching approach in graduate and advanced undergraduate courses because of their benefits to student learning, and to future professional development for natural resources professionals. However, traditional student-led discussions often are ineffective at meeting course and learning objectives and suffer from many common pitfalls, such as dominance by a few vocal students. I present the “student facilitator approach” to student-led discussions that changes the roles of all students in the discussion classroom, particularly the leader, and provides students clear guidelines about preparing for and participating in classroom discussions. A key feature of the approach is the replacement of the student discussion leader (who has control over both discussion content and process) with a student facilitator (who has control over only the discussion process). Using this approach, I found that students responded very positively, that it tended to encourage student participation, and that it created an environment where students took more ownership of the discussion.

The focus of this study is direct marketing of produce from an urban market garden. Rather than discussing broad issues of direct marketing, we use a case study to frame the decisions a market gardener is likely to face in developing both production and marketing plans. The garden featured in this study is located in Seattle, Washington, a city with a very active direct marketing culture. The study covers several of the decisions that market gardeners must consider when determining their marketing plan including production plans, current and projected market conditions, and specific marketing plans.

A set of publicly available online learning modules was created as an educational supplement to a university extension program. Because the modules created for this program—like many online modules developed as a part of university outreach—are supplementary to programs featuring in-person instruction and hard-copy materials, it is not required that they be completed. An exploratory evaluation aimed to determine whether program participants make use of the non-compulsory modules and whether the modules are effective in helping participants to gain a greater understanding of watershed concepts. Such findings may extend to similar supplementary online learning experiences being developed through university extension and other similar programs. Participants in the evaluation demonstrated a >30% increase in content knowledge from pre-test scores to post-test scores; 70% of participants retained this knowledge through a 2-month follow-up test. Participants also provided very positive feedback regarding their experience with the modules. Online usage statistics indicated sustained site visitation for many months following the modules’ release and advertisement. Modules were found to be an asset to the hard-copy text used for the extension course. Evaluators expressed appreciation for interactive learning objects and seemed to use the modules over time as a ready reference. However, the modules are clearly not a substitute for in-person instruction. Overall, the exploratory evaluation indicated that the modules were a welcome supplement to the course and were effective in reinforcing key concepts.