Research-Based Strategies for Teaching

The Takeaway: Changes are underway in higher education to incorporate three-dimensional learning: emphasis on (1) scientific and engineering practices, (2) crosscutting concepts,  and (3) disciplinary core ideas. This is based on literature about how people learn science and how we can help students put their knowledge to use.

The authors introduce the Three-Dimensional Learning Assessment Protocol (3D-LAP), which is designed to characterize and support the development of assessment tasks in biology, chemistry, and physics that align with transformation efforts.

This research considers not only what students should know, but also how they know it and how they can use that knowledge. Laverty et al. consider ways in which both curriculum and assessment of student learning should be transformed in addition to incorporating research-based pedagogical strategies. They developed a protocol to determine the extent to which assessments from gateway courses in biology, chemistry, and physics provide opportunities for students to engage with the three dimensions defined in the Framework.

Three-Dimensional Learning

What students should be able to do with their knowledge.
The Framework describes eight “scientific and engineering practices” that can be thought of as the disaggregated components of inquiry.

• These include ideas such as Developing and Using Models, Constructing Explanations, Planning and Carrying out Investigations, and Engaging in Argument from Evidence.
• These practices can engage students in the processes of science and engineering, by using their knowledge to model systems, explain phenomena, and design solutions to problems.

Ideas common across scientific disciplines.
The Framework identified seven “crosscutting concepts” that span science disciplines.

• The concepts include ideas such as Cause and Effect, Systems and System Models, and Structure and Function.
• These concepts can be thought of as “ways of thinking” about phenomena that have the potential to allow students to make connections across disciplines.

Concepts essential to the study of a discipline. 
The third dimension in the Framework suggests that students should develop their knowledge around “disciplinary core ideas” rather than try to assemble their understanding of important ideas from a large number of disparate facts and fragments of knowledge.

• Disciplinary experts have a great deal of knowledge at their disposal, and it is organized and contextualized around a few important concepts.
• By focusing learning around the core ideas of the discipline, students are given more support to make connections among the concepts and build a more robust framework of knowledge.

The 3D-LAP, detailed in the article and appendices, can be used to characterize the potential of assessment tasks to elicit evidence that students engage with scientific practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas in the context of college level introductory biology, chemistry, and physics courses. The protocol can be used reliably by researchers and differentiates exams that have the potential to elicit evidence of three-dimensional learning from those that do not.

How do your courses emphasize (1) scientific and engineering practices, (2) crosscutting concepts,  and (3) disciplinary core ideas?

Looking at the outlined assessment criteria, where do you see room for growth?