麻豆AV

Human agency, or the ability to set a goal and follow through with it, is affected by both personal and environmental factors. In social cognitive theory, agency is associated with personal self-efficacy (one鈥檚 confidence in being able to perform a task or behaviour), and can be broken down into forethought, self-regulation, and self-reflectiveness. While university courses are aimed at developing disciplinary self-efficacy in terms of knowledge and skills, they vary in their development of transferable self-efficacies like planful goal setting and self-reflection. The goal of this project is to investigate the relationship between course structure (including assessment and assignment types) and the fostering of transferable self-efficacies. The student undertaking this project will investigate previously collected data on course structure, engagement and instances of the development of disciplinary agency and/or self-efficacies.

Supervisor: Tamara Western (tamara.western [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Question%20about%20your%20proposed%20FSCI%20396%20project) )

Proposed terms(s): 1-term project - Winter 2023

Other project information: Taken

Undergraduate students frequently use poster presentations or short talks to summarize research projects. While these are excellent opportunities to practice science communication, they often are opportunities limited to a single class session that are completed, graded, and forgotten. An alternative assignment is to use a summary 鈥榙iagram鈥� or infographic to replace these formal oral or poster presentations. These summaries would form an illustrated abstract for the research that could be published online to make project results more openly available for other members of the university community and the public. It also may help the student reflect on what are their key findings and how best to summarize and represent them for a diverse audience, promoting their own metacognition and understanding of the topic. The FSCI 396 student undertaking this project would investigate the literature of the use of illustrated abstracts/Infographics as research summaries, non-disposable assessments, and the use of assignments to promote metacognition. They also would help develop a study to assess the effectiveness of illustrated abstracts to promote metacognition and deep learning and, depending on the availability of a test class, they may also collect and/or assess data from a pilot study.

Supervisor: Tamara Western (tamara.western [at] mcgill.ca)

Proposed terms(s): 1-term project - Winter 2023

Other project information: Taken

University students, like everyone else, have questions and interests that go beyond their chosen field of study. However, the constraints of their programs and/or focus on career goals often mean they do not have an opportunity to follow those passions in a supported academic environment. This project looks into what university opportunities exist for students to pursue their passion projects and how they are scaffolded in terms of supports and/or networking opportunities. In addition to investigating institutions and mining the literature on opportunities, the FSCI 396 student undertaking this project will also look into the use of communities of practise/learning communities as supports, and investigate who participates in such programs in terms of self-selection and equal opportunity.

Supervisor: Tamara Western (tamara.western [at] mcgill.ca)

Proposed terms(s): 1-term project - Winter 2023

Other project information: Taken

麻豆AV is committed to offer an equitable learning and working environment. As such, the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) appears as a desirable aim to ensure equity for learners. UDL is a series of adaptive tools that instructors should include when preparing and delivering course material. A simple example is the "Calibri" font that was designed to facilitate reading for people with reading disabilities. In addition, highlighting key elements using graphics and diagrams facilitates retention of the material. The benefits of UDL extend to everyone, including people with diagnosed learning disabilities. Breaking down the barriers to learning are known to increase student comprehension, engagement, motivation and persistence. This project aims at formally assessing the impact of pre vs post implementation of UDL principles in lecture-based courses within the School of Biomedical Sciences. In the first stage of this project, a FSCI 396 student will search literature about the principles of UDL, will design a survey asking students to self-report their perceptions of clarity of instruction, usefulness of course material for studying, overall motivation and their level of confidence when going to the Final. The student will also analyze current lecture slides and make UDL-based recommendations in two undergraduate lecture-based courses. The findings of this project will highlight the leading parameters to optimize lecture slides using UDL and will provide guidelines to instructors to adopt more inclusive teaching approaches in the School of Biomedical Sciences.

Supervisor: Maxime Denis (maxime.denis [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Question%20about%20FSCI%20396%20project) )

Proposed terms(s): 1-term project - Fall 2022

Other project information: Taken

Human agency, or the ability to set a goal and follow through with it, is affected by both personal and environmental factors. In social cognitive theory, agency is associated with personal self-efficacy (one鈥檚 confidence in being able to perform a task or behaviour), and can be broken down into forethought, self-regulation, and self-reflectiveness. While university courses are aimed at developing disciplinary self-efficacy in terms of knowledge and skills, they vary in their development of transferable self-efficacies like planful goal setting and self-reflection. The goal of this project is to investigate the relationship between course structure (including assessment and assignment types) and the fostering of transferable self-efficacies. The student undertaking this project will investigate a particular course, including a literature review of relevant assessment types, and use a questionnaire to investigate student agency and/or self-efficacies.

Supervisor: Tamara Western (tamara.western [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Question%20about%20your%20proposed%20FSCI%20396%20project) )

Proposed terms(s): 1-term project - Winter 2023

Other project information: Taken

Undergraduate research project students typically present their results both as a final paper and a presentation such as a short talk with slides or a poster. The goal of this project is to pilot the use of brief 'flash' presentations paired with a summary 'diagram' or infographic to replace formal oral or poster presentations in FSCI 396. These summaries would form an illustrated abstract for the final paper that could be published online to make project results more openly available for other members of the university community and the public. The FSCI student undertaking this project would investigate similar summaries in the literature, design a guide for FSCI 396 illustrated abstracts, draft a grading rubric, and propose methods to assess the effectiveness of this new form of assessment.

Supervisor: Tamara Western (tamara.western [at] mcgill.ca)

Proposed terms(s): 1-term project - Fall 2022

Other project information: Taken

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) are considered a high-impact practice in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) higher education by giving students an opportunity to engage with real world problems in their discipline. A key benefit of UREs is the development of a science identity, i.e., the feeling that one is a 'science person'. As the first step of a larger project to investigate the impact of different types of UREs on science identity, it is necessary to explore the known links between URE participation and student identity, agency, autonomy, and adaptability. This student undertaking this project will participate in a systematic literature review to critically analyze and synthesize extant literature linking UREs with critical transferable skills, science identity, and career trajectories. Further, they will identify theoretical frameworks and linked survey instruments to measure these characteristics for use in future studies of UREs.

Supervisor: Tamara Western (tamara.western [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Question%20about%20your%20proposed%20FSCI%20396%20project) )

Proposed terms(s): 1-term project - Fall 2022

Other project information: None

A convergence between student expertise in multiple fields, student interest in developing new potential courses, and the desire for getting out of disciplinary silos has led to the creation of student-led mini-courses at multiple institutions. Not only do they offer more options for student learning, but they also provide teaching experiences for students that broaden their skill sets. The goal of this project is to build upon preliminary work to investigate student-led mini-courses at other institutions and in the literature to design a pilot project for such an opportunity at 麻豆AV. The student engaged in this project will develop a review of best practices and expand previous work to create a pilot project plan.

Supervisor: Tamara Western (tamara.western [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Question%20about%20your%20proposed%20FSCI%20396%20project) )

Proposed terms(s): 1-term project - Fall 2022听

Other project information: None

Between Summer 2019 and Winter 2020, two-stage exams were instigated in Chem 212 and Chem 222. A two-stage exam involves a portion of the exam where students work in groups and then an individual exam to follow. We have collected student feedback after each instance and would like to analyze and process this student feedback data.

Supervisor: Laura Pavelka (laura.pavelka [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Question%20about%20proposed%20FSCI%20396%20project) )

Proposed terms(s): 1-term project - Fall 2022; 1-term project - Winter 2023

Other project information: None

BIOC 311 aims at improving students鈥� higher skills. However, are the current pedagogical approaches effective? We will go through scholarly literature in science education and select the gold standards to evaluate acquisition of critical thinking, independent learning, and communication skills. Next, we will develop quizzes to assess/quantify students鈥� progress throughout the semester based on those gold standards. Student performance will be analyzed to determine whether the current teaching approaches are effective. Recommendation to future teaching approaches will be made.

Due to COVID-19, courses at 麻豆AV have moved online, and it is possible that those with large enrolment may continue to be taught fully or partially online in future. One such course is COMP 202, which in Fall 2021 has an enrolment of ~500 students. This project will see a student assess the effectiveness of the various communication methods and motivating techniques employed by the teaching staff during the coming term as well as prior online terms. Research activities will include a survey of the pedagogical literature, analysis of qualitative data from student surveys of prior terms and design of and analysis of survey results from this semester.

General Chemistry 1 and 2 are introductory-level chemistry courses with a typical enrollment of ~1000 students. For Fall 2021, the course will be utilizing an open access textbook that is available online for free to students. In addition to the textbook, to enhance students鈥� understanding of the content there is a need for application-based extra practice problems and one-on-one help resources. The main aim of the project is to develop and assess the efficacy of the new learning resources in the course and their impact on student learning. The student undertaking the project will review literature and guidelines on content development focused on higher-level learning skills. Based on the literature search and guidelines, the student will develop new content and critique previously existing content. Finally, the student will investigate the efficacy of the new course content and tutoring resources (one-on-one help) and their impact on student learning.听

While science students are used to keeping a lab notebook or field journal for their research data and observations, they tend to be less familiar with using their notebook or journal for reflection on their research journey or being reflexive about their potential research biases. This project delves into the literature of reflective and reflexive journaling to extract best practices and design journal prompts to aid science students to adopt these practices.听

Group self-assessment activities were introduced into BIOL 202 (Basic Genetics) in 2019, in which students were invited to complete midterm-style questions together during low-stakes quizzes in class. The switch to remote learning in 2021 led to the adoption of two-stage self-assessment assignments using the myDALITE system paired with optional group worktimes in Virtual FRezCa on the MS TEAMs platform supported by peer mentors. This project is to compare student feedback between these two modes of self-assessment activities.听

Despite the problems of remote learning revealed from pedagogical studies in 2020-2021, the lectures of very large biology classes in 麻豆AV remained being delivered online in Fall 2021 due to the safety concerns. However, to mitigate the drawbacks such as low engagement and motivation raised from online teaching, instructors and coordinators of the very large biology courses have adopted a blended (partially remote) teaching format, which provided smaller-scale, in-person opportunities for students to connect with teaching staff and classmates. This project analyzes and compares the results from student surveys from of Fall 2021 to those and that of Fall 2020 for the same course.

Due to COVID-19, Fall 2020 at 麻豆AV will be primarily taught using remote instruction. This has resulted in an unprecedented mass switch of courses to a remote/online format, including aspects of both course delivery and student assessment schemes. Thus we have a unique opportunity to document the course changes that have occurred and student perception and engagement with those course changes across the Faculty of Science. Students working in this project will work in a cohort, with each studying an individual large, core U0 or U1 Biology, Chemistry, Math or Physics course. Research activities will include investigating the pedagogical literature for remote/blended learning in the course subject as well as analyze changes in course structure for Fall 2019 and student feedback on their reaction to those delivery methods.

The First Year Residence Cafe tutorials, or FRezCa, is a drop-in help centre hosted by teaching assistants and undergraduate peer (TEAM) mentors. Initially serving Freshman Chemistry, Math and Physics courses, FRezCa has expanded to serve a range of Freshman and U1 Science courses. With primarily remote learning at 麻豆AV this fall, a Virtual FRezCa is being created to make sure that this resource is available to students who cannot come to campus.听This project will focus on the pedagogical literature surrounding the impact of online community engagement on听student learning, and quantitative and qualitative听assessment of the Virtual FRezCa project.

Due to COVID-19, it is expected that very large lecture courses at 麻豆AV will continue to be primarily taught using remote instruction in the Winter 2021 term. One such course is BIOL 202 - Basic Genetics, which has an enrollment of ~700 students. In this project, a student will both assess the efficacy of current BIOL 202 student resources and active learning strategies using data collected during the Winter 2020 term and use Fall 2020 data collected during the Office of Science Education remote learning project to make recommendations for the adaptation of BIOL 202 to the remote learning context.

It has even been said that feedback is the single most powerful moderator that enhances achievement. There are many ways in which an instructor can deliver feedback. The key goal of feedback is for students to understand how to improve and where. However, in many undergraduate classes this aspect of learning is either completely overlooked, or feedback is approached as a simple input/output method in which students are not required to think critically and reflect upon their own work. The goal of this project is to explore the relationship between a variety of feedback methods and student satisfaction and learning development through the assessment process of two assignments. A literature review on the feedback pedagogy will first be conducted, followed by data collection and analysis from surveys in which students are asked about their satisfaction with the feedback as well as to reflect upon personal growth and critical thinking throughout the feedback experience.

See the Project Description for the Fall 2020 Remote Learning project, these will be a continuation of the analysis of the Fall courses and it is expected that some Winter courses will also be studied depending on the mode of delivery.

In the context of a pandemic in which education must all be delivered remotely, there is a rising concern that students may be penalized for not being able to attend classes in person. This is an intriguing concern, because in non-pandemic situations, the teaching material of many courses is readily accessible online, and yet many students choose to skip class. In addition, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and even entire programs are fully offered online by universities like TELUQ or Arthabasca who specialize in remote learning. The aim of this project is to determine whether students perceive class attendance as a contributing factor to their academic performance.

The student undertaking this project will perform qualitative data analysis of student perceptions of the importance of class attendance on their academic success. He/she will work on data collected from large-size classes whose students were asked to fill out a quick survey about their "perception of success (or not)" on the exam based on their attendance rate. This information could help opting for the optimal teaching approach that maximizes student's performance.

Active Learning Pedagogy has been reported to improve student's engagement, motivation, retention of information and grades. However, some students have a negative perception of, and show resistance towards Active Learning Pedagogy. The aim of this project is to determine whether modifying the Active Learning delivery approach over the years improves students' perception and the overall learning experience in Biochemistry.

The student undertaking this project will first review literature on Active Learning Pedagogy. Then, she/he will analyze Course Evaluations and contrast student perceptions from two academic years in courses taught using similar/different delivery approaches. Finally, the student will provide recommendations on how to better integrate Active Learning Pedagogy to our curriculum and optimize its benefits on students.

In a context where electronic-learning (e-learning) becomes more prevalent 鈥� and sometimes urgent 鈥�, designing e-learning tools should not compromise the acquisition of higher skills for undergraduates. Hence, like for in-person learning, the pedagogical design of e-learning tools should aim at learner-centered outcomes that strengthen long-term memory and foster acquisition of transferable skills, making the learning experience meaningful to students. The aim of this project is to develop e-learning activities to be implemented in a real situation, i.e. BIOC 311 - Metabolic Biochemistry, a large class comprising students from various disciplines.

The student will first search literature for scholar parameters defining a "well designed" e-learning activity; second he/she will use those guidelines to design e-learning activities that are effective at developing higher skills (as per Bloom's taxonomy) in undergraduate students. These activities may range from self-assessment quizzes to authentic tasks that require work in small teams. Finally, the student will analyze how his/her own work and demonstrate how criteria derived from the literature review are met.

The main objective will be to assess the efficacy of the laboratory redesign of BIOL 301 鈥� Cell and Molecular Biology towards inquiry guided learning. (IGL). IGL is aimed at providing students with authentic research experiences to foster competencies required for future STEM professions. Over the 2019-2020 academic year, BIOL 301 has undergone a step-wise change in course delivery. The student will investigate the efficacy of the new course design and its impact on student learning, as well as informing the redesign process to ensure that the revised course framework addresses areas where student learning within the course could be improved.

Literature strongly suggests that Active Learning Pedagogy positively affects student's learning experience, by improving student's engagement, motivation, retention of information and grades. Hence, some initiatives were put in place to integrate Active Learning Pedagogy to the teaching approach in Biochemistry. However, despite instructors' efforts at explaining the pedagogical benefits of active learning activities, many students show resistance to those unconventional approaches. The aim of this project is to analyze student's perception of the benefits of Active Learning Pedagogy on their overall learning experience in Biochemistry.

The student undertaking this project will first perform a literature review on Active Learning Pedagogy. Then, she/he will analyze Course Evaluation comments from students in courses which contain an Active Learning component in both large and small class setups and compare those results to literature. Finally, the student will provide recommendations on how to best integrate Active Learning Pedagogy to our curriculum in order to improve students' perception.

Science Outreach at 麻豆AV takes many different shapes and forms, and involves many different groups of students and staff. What does science outreach look like across the Faculty of Science? Where do collaborations exist within the Faculty and with other Faculties such as Education and Medicine? What areas, organizations, and types of students do these groups reach in Quebec? Where do gaps in reach exist?

The student undertaking this project will first perform a literature review on the pedagogical foundations for using mapping as a tool for sharing data from many different sources, for conveying information and for building community. He/she will collect data from the existing science outreach group and produce a multilayered map representing those data. He/she will identify which Quebec communities/neighbourhoods our educational efforts are reaching and which ones we are not, with the goal of helping to guide decisions about where to prioritize science outreach efforts.

The main objective will be to assess the existing supplementary resources offered in CHEM 212 鈥� Organic Chemistry I. These resources include textbook problems, Sapling online homework assignments, myDALITE assignments, chapter problem sets, tutorial problems, and practice exams. Assessment will involve investigating the use of each resource based on myCourses statistics and student feedback as well as the impact on student learning. The student will also be involved in the creation of a new study guide/workbook, based on the results of the resource assessment, to better meet the needs for organic chemistry students.

Science undergraduate students will be paired with pre-service teachers (B.Ed students) to co-teach science modules to students in after-school programs within three under-served elementary schools in the Montreal region. These modules will be offered as part of the 鈥淭eaching Science in Homework Zone鈥� project run through a collaboration between 麻豆AV鈥檚 SEDE Office and the Faculty of Education. 麻豆AV students participating in this project will work under the supervision of Prof Allison Gonsalves from the Department of Integrated Studies in Education. Students will serve as mentors in the HZ program (7 weeks) as well as co-teach the science teaching modules to give them background in working with youth. As part of their FSCI 396 project, the Science undergraduate students will design follow-up modules using the 鈥淎mbitious Science Teaching鈥� framework that can form the basis of further HZ activities as well as inform teaching and learning in higher level science education.

The course will immerse and train students in science interpretation in a world class public natural history museum, the Redpath Museum. The course will focus on any topic within the natural sciences agreed upon by the student and instructor. That topic will be researched to a level where it can be publicly interpreted in a variety of media, including gallery exhibits, online supplemental exhibits, guided tours, and interactive learning modules. Projects will include elements of literature surveys, gallery design, text and digital media development, and implementation of at least some portion of the overall design. The goal of the course is to develop novel science interpretation exhibits and learning tools to bring science to the public. The project will be supervised by a Museum faculty member and associated with the Redpath Museum's Public Programming unit and curators.

The main objective will be to assess the existing supplementary resources offered in CHEM 110/120 鈥� General Chemistry I/II. These resources include textbook problems, Connect online homework assignments, tutorial problems, and practice exams. Assessment will involve investigating the use of each resource based on myCourses statistics and student feedback as well as the impact on student learning. The student will also be involved in the creation of a new study guide/workbook, based on the results of the resource assessment, to better meet the needs for general chemistry students.

Several new active learning components were incorporated into BIOL 202 (Basic Genetics) in Winter 2019. These included the use of an asynchronous peer instruction platform, the addition a longitudinal case study aimed at tying the different modules of the course together, the introduction of in-class quizzes, and a pilot study to use an online platform of biological simulations. This project will investigate various data regarding student response to these activities to assess the efficacy of their employment to improve student engagement and learning.

The main objective will be to assess the efficacy of the laboratory redesign of BIOL 301 鈥� Cell and Molecular Biology: inquiry based learning aimed at providing students with authentic research experiences to foster competencies required for future STEM professions. Assessment will involve investigating the efficacy of the current course design and its impact on student learning, as well as investigating the redesign process will help to ensure that the revised course framework addresses areas where student learning within the course could be improved.

The work covered in this independent study will be two-fold. First, it will be a chance to complete a more in-depth data analysis on the extensive student survey data that was collected over the course of the Winter 2019 session of PHYS 102. This survey data was gathered in order to better understand the learning experience of students who underwent the first installment of the adapted flipped class model for PHYS 102. Second, it will serve as a designated time to plan out the details of the second installment of the adapted flipped class model, which will have significant differences from that of last year. As opposed to last year, this year鈥檚 PHYS 102 class will incorporate new learning techniques with more in-class concept discussion and the addition of 4 weekly tutorial sessions.

The main objective of the project is to prepare videos/study guides, which equip students with basic chemistry and math concepts, for what is most likely their first chemistry class at university. This guide will be geared towards Chem110 and 120 (General Chemistry 1 and 2) and will include fundamental math and chemistry concepts that are built upon in first year chemistry courses. The student will help to 1) identify the topics/concepts that are most relevant based on the syllabus and content of the course, 2) create an assessment (a prior knowledge quiz) to be administered at the beginning of the class to test these concepts, and 3) prepare videos/study guides that explain these concepts and provide practice examples. Topics such as significant figures, equation of a line, proportionality, basic algebra concepts, concepts of mole, dimensional analysis, atomic number, atomic mass and others will be covered to better prepare students for chemistry courses.

Lectures in Chem 212 have been redesigned to follow a more logical flow of key concepts and create a more dynamic, active learning environment for students. This project aims to assess student engagement and learning in this new model through the collection and analysis of survey and focus group data.

The introductory organic chemistry courses at 麻豆AV are going through course redesign and moving away from the traditional textbooks. The goal of this project is to assess the current practice resources available in Chem 222 and help create a streamlined, custom workbook for the students.

Implementing evidence-based pedagogy is one of the key goals of the Faculty of Medicine's Education Strategic Plan. We have identified a need for a peer-to-peer "teaching coach" program to support faculty members in implementing evidence-based approaches in their practice. In this project, the student will be conducting a literature search and environmental scan to identify best practices and help formulate a pilot project for the Faculty of Medicine.

The First Year Residence Cafe tutorials, or FRezCa, is a drop-in help centre hosted by teaching assistants and undergraduate peer (TEAM) mentors. Initially serving Freshman Chemistry, Math and Physics courses, FRezCa has expanded to serve a range of Freshman and U1 Science courses. This project will focus on the pedagogical literature surrounding the impact of community engagement on听student learning, and quantitative and qualitative听assessment of the FRezCa project.

It has been well established in the education literature that different students respond better to different styles of teaching. In particular, the methods used to evaluate students canhave a wide range. However, in undergraduate courses, often only a few methods are used and a large percentage of the final grade comes from the final examination. The goal of this project is to explore the relationship between diversity in grading schemes and student success and satisfaction within certain departments in the Faculty of Science using a quantitative measure for diversity of grading, we will compare performance, satisfaction, and other variables reflecting the student experience across different groups (e.g., gender).

Evidence shows that the use of interactive strategies and activities in teaching and learning leads to deeper understanding and retention of concepts and competencies, as well as making courses more engaging for students. The instructors of BIOL 202 (Basic Genetics) are working on adding and refining course active learning components. To assess the efficacy of new additions and changes to course interactive strategies, this project proposes to collect and analyze data to investigate student engagement and learning.

The main objective will be to assess the efficacy of the laboratory redesign of BIOL 301 鈥� Cell and Molecular Biology: inquiry based learning aimed at providing students with authentic research experiences to foster competencies required for future STEM professions. Assessment will involve investigating the efficacy of the current course design and its impact on student learning, as well as investigating the redesign process will help to ensure that the revised course framework addresses areas where student learning within the course could be improved.