Kirsten Zimbardi - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Conference Presentations by Kirsten Zimbardi

Workshop: Best Practices for Undergraduate Research Experiences – Developing Authentic Large-Scal... more Workshop: Best Practices for Undergraduate Research Experiences – Developing Authentic Large-Scale Undergraduate Research Experiences (ALUREs) in your Science Course
Hosting staff:
Rowland, S., Green, M., Lawrie, G., Myatt, P., Pedwell, R., Wang, J., Worthy, P., Zimbardi, K.
Background context:
The model of undergraduate research where students undertake a research project over an extended period of time under the supervision of a researcher, has been associated with high levels of student engagement, academic success and a wide range of student benefits. The problem with this model is the numbers of students who can participate; most URE programs in Australia are still aimed at elite students, and in many cases only a small number of students can be accommodated each year. We have developed a model for up-scaling undergraduate research experiences to cohorts of several hundred students. We are now leading a national project in Australia to support the uptake of these Authentic Large-Scale Undergraduate Research Experiences (ALUREs) and provide the benefits of research experiences to thousands of undergraduate students; 2014 is the last year of the project.
The aims of this workshop:
In this workshop we will guide participants through the proces of developing and implementing an Authentic Large-Scale Undergraduate Reseach. Examples of ALUREs from the biosciences (ranging from physiology to molecular biology) will be provided to highlight key components and considerations for ALURE design and implementation. Workshop participants will then engage in the development of their own ALURE using a detailed checklist derived from our extensive experience in supporting faculty in the development, implementation, and evaluation of ALUREs.
After this workshop delegates will be able to return to their host institution with a working plan for the introduction of an ALURE into their undergraduate curriculum. They will be aware of the factors and people who can help them in their implementation, as well as be armed with strategies for identifying and overcoming possible hurdles they may encounter during their ALURE journey.
Timeline of activities:
We will present different ALURE examples in chemistry, biochemistry, physiology, and microbiology, interspersed with discussions on the participants' own ALURE ideas. Each ALURE example will highlight a different feature of the ALURE design and implementation process.
We will also work with attendees to examine methods and strategies for (i) negotiating with stakeholders about ALURE implementation, (ii) demonstrating the value of an ALURE, and (iii) making an ALURE implementation sustainable.
A light lunch and morning or afternoon tea will be served (financed by the team).

Papers by Kirsten Zimbardi

Feedback is one of the most influential factors on student learning gains (Hattie & Timperley 200... more Feedback is one of the most influential factors on student learning gains (Hattie & Timperley 2007). However, studies also show that when students do receive feedback it is often too brief, too broadly stated, and is often misinterpreted by students (Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006; Stern & Solomon, 2006). Furthermore, evaluating the actual extent to which students engage with and utilise feedback is difficult. This study evaluated a method of providing detailed, specific and timely feedback to allied health science students studying biomedical sciences in large class settings at a higher education institution in Australia. We investigated the extent and quality of feedback provided through analysis of annotated drafts, and examined how students interpreted and used the feedback received, by identifying how student work was modified in response to each item of feedback. This study has demonstrated that for feedback to elicit positive changes in student writing it must be specific, detailed and directed. The results indicate that the majority of the feedback given in the assignments analysed had a positive effect on subsequent student work, but also highlights that student responses to feedback can differ based on the type of feedback that is given.

Proceedings of the Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education, Sep 23, 2013

The first recommendation of The Boyer Commission Report (1998) was that research-based learning b... more The first recommendation of The Boyer Commission Report (1998) was that research-based learning be made the standard experience for students at university. The Australian university system has come a long way since 1998, but we still have a long way to go before our students have large-scale access to apprenticeship-style undergraduate research experiences, and avenues for communicating their findings.

Proceedings of the Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education, Sep 4, 2014

This study investigated student-reported experiences in Authentic Large-scale Undergraduate Resea... more This study investigated student-reported experiences in Authentic Large-scale Undergraduate Research Experiences (ALUREs) and in traditional laboratory-based practical sessions (LEAPS).

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have been identified as a form of "high impact" student... more Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have been identified as a form of "high impact" student learning (Kuh, 2008). Large databases of diverse models for involving undergraduate students in research across a broad range of disciplines have been published (Jenkins 2004, Healey & Jenkins 2009. It is apparent that the academic practice of undergraduate research transcends national, cultural and disciplinary differences. This paper explores the extent to which the local context of the discipline, and hence differences between disciplines, impact on the nature and characteristics of UREs, and the subsequent outcomes for students.

Proceedings of the Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education, Sep 4, 2014

Science graduates need to be able to tackle the complex, novel problems they will face in the 21 ... more Science graduates need to be able to tackle the complex, novel problems they will face in the 21 st Century workplace. In Australia, these skills have been formalised as a set of national academic standards for science graduates that highlight essential skills in inquiry and problem solving. Such scientific thinking skills have been shown to be enhanced by inquiry-based curricula. However, within this curriculum, the extent of student learning gains depends on implementation and how student engage with class activities. We video recorded students undertaking inquiry classes to investigate how students engage with the curricula, and asked students to annotate their videos to highlight instances of scientific thinking, with specific reference to the Australian national academic standards for scientific thinking. Interviews through the semester elucidated the development of students' critical thinking skills during the classes. This methodology allowed us to unpack which specific experiences within inquiry classes provide the most potent learning experiences and drive the maturation of students' scientific thinking skills. In particular, when students need to integrate their novel or unexpected findings with the scientific literature, most are prompted to develop a more mature understanding of the contestable nature of scientific knowledge and the role of inquiry and experimentation in knowledge creation. This article reports on the places where student thinking appears to go awry, the indicators that signal that students have reached these crucial crossroads, and potential approaches to inquiry curriculum implementation to propel students toward a more mature, nuanced and critical way of interacting with their data and the primary scientific literature.

In science courses with large enrollments, students typically have the greatest interactions with... more In science courses with large enrollments, students typically have the greatest interactions with teaching assistants (TAs) who are employed as laboratory demonstrators (Seymour, Melton, Wiese, & Pedersen-Gallegos, 2005; Percy et al., 2008) and who have a large influence over the laboratory class climate and, in turn, student retention (O’Neal, Wright, Cook, Perorazio, & Purkiss, 2007). We therefore investigated the impact of changing student–TA relations to include a sense of mentoring by redesigning TA allocations so that students worked with the same TA throughout the semester, but without changing studentto- TA ratios. Our TA training sessions also suffered from the common problem of focusing on what to teach but not how to teach (Jensen, Farrand, Redman, Varcoe, & Coleman, 2005). Therefore we incorporated advice on how to mentor and motivate students into the existing training sessions. These changes to the allocation and training of TAs were associated with improved student perceptions of their TAs’ enthusiasm, knowledge, key aspects of mentoring and motivation, improvements in TAs’ teaching experience, and increases in student academic performance. Conversely, these benefits were reduced for students who did not stay with their assigned TA throughout the semester. This study illustrates ways of improving student–TA relationships without increasing the number of TAs or their training time.

Please contact me if you would like a full-text copy of this paper

Scientific writing skills are an important aspect of undergraduate science curricula, and science... more Scientific writing skills are an important aspect of undergraduate science curricula, and science careers. Learning activities and assessment tasks that are designed to enhance students’ scientific writing skills place emphasis on the students’ existing ability to search and cite valid references. This can sometimes be an intimidating expectation, especially for international students. This study investigated a simple way to cultivate and sustain appropriate referencing habits in first year undergraduate science students, and related these habits to academic performance. The students were enrolled at The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia, but studying at Taylor’s University, Malaysia, as part of a twinning arrangement between the two institutions. This study found that careful scaffolding of practical reports and the inclusion of one challenging question per practical report was enough to significantly improve student skills in referencing and academic performance. It further found that students generally preferred to use the course textbook as their major reference, followed by a variety of sources including journal articles.

The Science Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) developed recently as part of the Learning and Tea... more The Science Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) developed recently as part of the Learning and Teaching Academic Standards project, reinforce that the ability to develop evidence-based, well-reasoned arguments and to clearly communicate those arguments in a variety of communication modes, are key graduate attributes (Jones, Yates & Kelder, 2011). However, in practice, specific measurement of these skills is limited, particularly in oral presentations. This study describes the initial literature-based development of a rubric for the evaluation of scientific argument in oral presentations (Toulmin, 1958; Sampson, Grooms & Walker, 2009), and the reiterative, data-driven process of refinement of that rubric. The rubric reflects the established framework for the scientific argument, by including criteria for claim, evidence and reasoning, and evaluates these three components across standards that represent the variation within a mid-level undergraduate cohort. Using this rubric, we evaluated the ability of undergraduate science students to communicate scientific arguments in an oral presentation task in which they presented data acquired from an inquiry-based practical (Bugarcic, Zimbardi, Macaranas & Thorn, 2012). Students demonstrated the ability to make claims, supply evidence and articulate reasoning that linked claims with supporting evidence. However, the standard of these elements was varied, and the structure of students’ arguments was not always complete. Using an actionresearch approach, these initial findings were used to develop student guidelines and alter the curriculum in a subsequent iteration of the course. This intervention resulted in students presenting more complete and higherquality arguments. Overall, this study reports on the development of the rubric and describes the design and impact of an evidence-driven teaching intervention that enhances students’ scientific argument development in oral presentations.

Proceedings of the 26th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference on Designing Futures the Future of Design - OzCHI '14, 2014

Effective science communication is one of the key skills undergraduates must achieve and is one o... more Effective science communication is one of the key skills undergraduates must achieve and is one of the threshold learning outcomes for Science (TLO 4.1). In addition, presenting published research to their peers allows students to critically evaluate scientific research (TLO 3.1) and develop a deeper appreciation for the link between experimental methodologies and the contestable nature of scientific knowledge. Although it is recognised that feedback given to students has positive impacts on student learning, increasing workload pressures may restrict academics’ capacity to provide effective feedback. An alternate approach is to facilitate the exchange of feedback between peers, where gaining experience in providing feedback can further develop students’ skills in critique, which enhances their learning outcomes. In this study, 3rd year undergraduate biomedical science students were asked to provide anonymous, written feedback on the quality of an oral “journal club” presentation of a primary research article by a group of their peers. Students gave extensive, rich and detailed feedback to their peers. The quality of the feedback given was high, with most students receiving a grade of distinction or higher for the feedback they provided. In addition, the improvement in student learning outcomes was significantly greater with peer feedback than with academic feedback alone, suggesting that performing peer review provides students with additional benefits.

... View all references), and in the way that research experiences are provided to undergraduate ... more ... View all references), and in the way that research experiences are provided to undergraduate students (Jenkins, Healey and Zetter 200729. Jenkins, A., Healey, M. and Zetter, R. 2007. ... http://www.uq.edu.au/sbms/staff/dr-kirsten-zimbardi View all references). ...

Science graduates require critical thinking skills to deal with the complex problems they will fa... more Science graduates require critical thinking skills to deal with the complex problems they will face in their 21st century workplaces. Inquiry-based curricula can provide students with the opportunities to develop such critical thinking skills; however, evidence suggests that an inappropriate level of autonomy provided to underprepared students may not only be daunting to students but also detrimental to their learning. After a major review of the Bachelor of Science, we developed, implemented, and evaluated a series of three vertically integrated courses with inquiry-style laboratory practicals for early stage undergraduate students in biomedical science. These practical curricula were designed so that students would work with increasing autonomy and ownership of their research projects to develop increasingly advanced scientific thinking and communication skills. Students undertaking the first iteration of these three vertically integrated courses reported learning gains in course content as well as skills in scientific writing, hypothesis construction, experimental design, data analysis, and interpreting results. Students also demonstrated increasing skills in both hypothesis formulation and communication of findings as a result of participating in the inquiry-based curricula and completing the associated practical assessment tasks. Here, we report the specific aspects of the curricula that students reported as having the greatest impact on their learning and the particular elements of hypothesis formulation and communication of findings that were more challenging for students to master. These findings provide important implications for science educators concerned with designing curricula to promote scientific thinking and communication skills alongside content acquisition.

Proceedings of the Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education, Sep 23, 2013

Proceedings of the Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education, Sep 4, 2014

Please contact me if you would like a full-text copy of this paper

Proceedings of the 26th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference on Designing Futures the Future of Design - OzCHI '14, 2014