2.1

ABC-CBV-RAL: a pedagogy for highly engaging lessons

In the 1980s, the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, now known as BSCS Science Learning, initiated a research-based lesson plan model designed to engage students in learning, uncover misconceptions, and improve student outcomes. Called the 5E model ¹, it serves as the foundation for inquiry-based learning and helps for students to establish relationships between what they already know, what they will learn, and the ways that teachers can assess their learning. The model relies on the ability of conducting the lesson and associated assessment over a sustained period of time, which is compatible with classroom-based teaching. Active engagement methods, with activities and laboratory experiences at the core of the learning, have been applied in Physics Education ². The model is challenged for outreach activities, both in formal and informal environments.

The active engagement model is extended here to help prepare activities that are inquiry-based and compatible with outreach education activities. First, activities are designed to engage students in meaningful ways, whereby they capture the attention and create the conditions where students must apply key critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Such activities enable a better understanding of scientific concepts. The discussion and sharing of these concepts naturally lead to better understanding of the associated vocabulary, which teachers can thoroughly discuss at the end of the activity. Reading is critical to understanding the subject. The model proposed encourages students to read at the end. The process flow is defined as Activity before Concept (ABC), Concept before Vocabulary (CBC) and Reading at last (RAL), which is illustrated in Figure 1. Traditional teaching may require reading before the classroom and, in this approach, the engagement activity becomes the pre-reading activity.

Figure 1.

ABC-CBV-RAL: a model for designing inquiry-based activities.

2.2

Interactive techniques and effective communication

Interactive techniques can be used in formal and informal settings. The intrinsic benefits to the participants are revived from their passivity of merely listening to a lecture, instead becoming attentive and engaged, two prerequisites for effective learning. These techniques are often perceived as “fun”, yet they are frequently more effective than lectures at enabling student learning. There are many techniques, including, but not limited to, opinion polls, think-pair-share, brainstorms or four corners; a full list would be too comprehensive for the scope of this report and the reader is referred to the works of Angelo et al. ³ and Morrison-Shetlar et al. ⁴ for details. A comprehensive list of techniques used in the context of this course is also available as a resource from the authors on request.

The ABC-CBV-RAL approach is intended to permit students to become more fluid in using scientific vocabulary. For example, an audience may not be aware of the term “refraction” with respect to light transmitted through a lens. Prior to an experiment, participants can be challenged to think about what happens when light goes through a lens. Participants may say light bends or focuses. Later, after participants experiment with such phenomena, complex terminology that is specifically tied to the activity can be introduced. The pedagogy encourages the use of terms that are more common across many disciplines first, and then use experiences in the activity for the students to learn new content. A recommended preparation exercise to the expert is to list terms often used in their research field and create a list of terminology that can be used for audiences of different backgrounds, thus being able to speak simply or appropriately with the audience.

The design of the activity itself may take into consideration other factors, such as the gender of the audience. A recent report outlined that activities that are collaborative, not elitist, and include relatable role models and/or mothers may have greater impact on female audiences ⁵. The choice of the descriptive language to describe careers can also be an important factor in the preparation of material; the use of adjective-oriented language instead of action-oriented language has been discussed in previous reports as a means for more effective engagement with a female audience ⁶.

2.3

Practical considerations

The delivery of the activity will need to consider the setting, i.e. whether it is formal or informal. Formal settings are characterized by longer activities (labs, classes) with worksheet that develop one or two ideas, generally with activities tied to a curriculum and more time (30-60 minutes) for questions and the exploration of multiple concepts. Informal settings are generally characterized by shorter activities, with the need of grabbing attention quickly and little time to develop concepts, thus requiring ideas simple to communicate. These generalizations can help prepare an activity for a given audience and location.

A set of practical considerations for audience and location are outlined in Table 1. The reader is referred to the wider literature for further illustrative examples, and in particular previous proceedings of the Conference on Education and Training in Optics and Photonics (ETOP) and the Proceedings of the SPIE Optics Education and Outreach Conference.

Table 1.

Checklist of considerations for location and audience when preparing an activity.

2.4

Teaching others

Part of this workshop is to learn how to engage participants in their own learning and create the feeling within an individual of “why do I want to know this?” The same should apply for the reader wishing to conduct this workshop with others, i.e. to model all the engagement techniques conducted. Often, teachers or presenters are reluctant to use an inquiry-based model because they say they don’t know all the possible answers which may come up from the various questions. The best answer to an unknown question is “I don’t know but let’s try some things to find out” and use this as an opportunity for further learning. This behavior will encourage exploration of new concepts. The same philosophy is used in the delivery of the workshop, which is presented in the following section.

3.1

The course in practice: making use of interactive techniques

The workshop was designed as a 4-hour course and was attended by 12 participants. The participants were split into three work groups, organized around pairs of tables – see Figure 2 (a). The class focused on introducing methods of teaching pedagogy following the ABC-CBV-RAL method. For instance, to introduce the interactive techniques “Think Pair Share” and “Four Corners”, participants were asked to think of an outreach activity and what had made it successful. The participants then classified the importance of the factors of success following a “4 corners” approach, where they were asked to move to corners of the room based on the criteria they selected and asked to justify it – see Figure 2 (b). The experience was used to then discuss the concepts linked to teaching methods, followed by introducing the vocabulary of the interactive techniques. Participants were invited to read about these techniques in the course book after the class, to complete the learning cycle.

Figure 2.

First workshop delivery at SPIE Optics + Photonics 2018. (a) Illustrative classroom layout for the course. Participants were divided into work groups for the some of the activities in the workshop. (b) Course attendees participating in a “Four Corners” discussion during the workshop. Photo credits Mr. Adam Resnick, SPIE.

A similar pedagogical approach was employed throughout the course to demonstrate the diversity of scenarios where the ABC-CBV-RAL method could be employed. These consisted of

The modularity of the course permits for activities to be added or removed as function of audience and constraints, following considerations outlined in Table 1.

3.2

Course feedback

Participants were asked to evaluate the course based on 8 criteria using a 5-point Likert scale. Results were processed by the SPIE Education Services department. The feedback results were presented and compared with the symposium course average. Eight participant responses were considered in the evaluation summary. The course’s average grade was of 4.61/5, ranking close to the symposia average of 4.66/5. Table 2 classifies the feedback obtained with respect to the average grades of symposia courses. A challenge with trying to use the ABC-CBV-RAL approach with students is that it is very different from traditional learning experiences, with unusual succession of the course material. This may account for the lower marks on the organization and ease of following of course materials, which will be reviewed for future implementations. Additional verbatim feedback was obtained (“The course was fun and engaging”; “Great course and instructors”), providing positive input for continuation.

Table 2.

Course feedback ranked with respect to symposia average for criteria used to evaluate the quality of the course.