Today@Dal

June 13, 2023

10:00 -11:30 am

https://www.dal.ca/dept/clt/events-news.html

Facilitators: Shawn Xiong, Instructor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Susan Gass, University Teaching Fellow, Department of Earth, and Environmental Sciences

Motivating students to get excited about our content can be a real challenge. Students often wonder, “why do I need to know this?” They want a concrete, real-world reason why they should learn it. “Because knowledge is good” is not an answer. “Because critical thinking is important” is also not convincing to a student. Clarifying relevance of our course materials will be increasingly essential for each new generation of students, and we must anticipate students repeatedly inquiring explicitly “Why do we need to know this?” It’s so glaringly obvious to us why everyone in the world should know what we think is important and how to do the things we know how to do, but students often don’t share our perspectives. 

Case studies are an excellent active learning tool to demonstrate the relevance of our content to students. Case studies also help students apply concepts within varied contexts and build teamwork skills. In this workshop, we will explore many examples of how a STEM educator may employ case studies to teach, engage, and assess our students.