First-year Seminar Course Research Articles

Learning to see the infinite: Measuring visual literacy skills in a 1st-year seminar course

Visual literacy, defined as the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in an image, was a stated learning objective for the fall 2009 iteration of a first-year seminar course. To help students develop visual literacy skills, they received formal instruction throughout the semester and completed a series of carefully designed learning activities. The effects of these interventions were measured using a pre-/post-semester methodology where students were asked to look at two different—but stylistically similar—paintings and write a response to the following two questions: what do you see and what do you think it means? Students’ responses were analyzed based on the visual evidence recorded, and 2) the strength of their arguments using Toulmin’s argument model. After instructional interventions, paired t-tests indicate that students made significantly more basic and advanced observations, offered more supporting visual evidence for their best-supported claims, and made stronger connections between their claims and the visual evidence.

Using a First-Year Seminar to Introduce Nursing

First-year seminar courses designed to aid the transition of freshmen students to the collegiate experience are commonplace requirements at many 4-year institutions. The authors describe the development, implementation, and outcomes of a first-year seminar course with introductory nursing content.

Service-Learning Project in a First-Year Seminar: A Social Network Analysis

Understanding the effects of a service-learning component on the classroom culture, socially and academically, brings a novel perspective to designing, executing, and assessing these types of active-learning projects. This paper evaluates the success of a service-learning project from a perspective of social networks by investigating the question: How does a service-learning project affect friendship and academic collaborations in the classroom? We believe that the benefits of service-learning involvement extend beyond helping students' academic success. Especially in a first-year seminar course, building a support system for the incoming student in order to ease the translation to a college setting is beneficial to students and to colleges. Here we use social network analysis tools to analyze relational data where relations are described as friendships or academic collaborations among classmates. Our results show that a group-based service learning project in an introductory level Statistics course has different effects on the evolution of friendship and academic collaboration networks among classmates.

Gender in Motion: Developmental Changes in Students’ Conceptualizations of Gender Through Participation in a First-Year Seminar Course

Students enrolled in a first-year seminar course focused on gender provided attitudinal and experiential responses at two points during the course: during the first week of class and during the last week of class. A qualitative-quantitative method using concurrent triangulation was used to investigate pre- and post-test responses to core concepts of a gender class and to potential changes in students’ perceptions of gender, masculinity, femininity, and corporate media on enacted gender. Qualitative analyses suggested that course curricula moved students to conceptualize dimensions of gender in new and more intellectually complex ways. Two dominant themes—the power of social-structural forces to channel gender appropriateness and personal transformations of embodying an authentic gender—emerged from narrative analyses. Narratives also elucidated the importance of pedagogical tenor in creating a class environment where students felt safe to challenge currently-held intellectual and interpersonal conceptualizations of gender.

Putting twitter to the test: Assessing outcomes for student collaboration, engagement and success

AbstractHerein, we present data from two studies of Twitter usage in different postsecondary courses with the goal of analyzing the relationships surrounding student engagement and collaboration as they intersect learning outcomes. Study 1 was conducted with 125 students taking a first‐year seminar course, half of who were required to use Twitter while the other half used Ning. Study 2 was conducted with 135 students taking a large lecture general education course where Twitter participation was voluntary. Faculty in Study 1 engaged with students on Twitter in activities based on an a priori theoretical model, while faculty in Study 2 only engaged students sporadically on the platform. Qualitative analyses of tweets and quantitative outcomes show that faculty participation on the platform, integration of Twitter into the course based on a theoretically driven pedagogical model and requiring students to use Twitter are essential components of improved outcomes.Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Student use of social media is integrally related to how students engage the world. Little research exists on how social media use is linked to college student engagement in relation to academic outcomes. One study using a controlled design demonstrated a relationship between Twitter use and student engagement. What this paper adds An empirical comparison of two ways in which Twitter was differently integrated into college courses. The utilization of quantitative and qualitative data to assess real‐world academic outcomes related to Twitter use. Evidence‐based best practices for using Twitter in educationally relevant and productive ways. Implications for practice and/or policy If integrating Twitter in their courses, faculty should require and structure its use along educationally relevant criteria. To achieve the most effective results, faculty should have a theoretically driven pedagogical basis for incorporating Twitter. Faculty should actively engage with students on the platform to obtain maximum benefit.

Tomorrow’s People Using Facebook to Advance Civic Engagement

This research examines the use of Facebook as an instructional tool in two first-year seminar courses during two consecutive years. The convergence of social media and in-class instruction throughout the semesters was examined to identify whether Facebook has positive utility in teaching and learning. The areas of convergence focused on two learning outcomes, global learning and civic awareness and engagement. In order to assess learning effectiveness and participation, student perception of the efficacy of convergence was collected using an automated response and data collection system. Additionally, pre- and post-course surveys, real-time assessment of learning goals, and a questionnaire on Facebook were used to assess Facebook utility. This research found a significant level of viability for Facebook in a first-year seminar course for students in transition. Accordingly this research offers the foundation for the use of Facebook as a pedagogical technique and how to best execute these learning opportunities. While research concerning Facebook utility appears to offer mixed assessment of value, these results are consistent with the ever-increasing evaluation that tends to offer a positive assessment of Facebook’s viability and effectiveness.

Statistics in the News

We describe the structure, topics, and activities used in teaching a first-year seminar course in statistical literacy. This course is entirely structured around current affairs, although common themes emerge that reflect the core material for most quantitative literacy courses. Special emphasis is given to the computing and calculating used in the course to illustrate key concepts. This approach has also had quite a positive impact on our teaching of more advanced courses. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

An AFM Learning Module Employing Diffraction Gratings

The Physics and Astronomy Department of Appalachian State University acquired a Nanosurf Easyscan 2 system in the Fall of 2008 with funds from an NSF MRI award (DMR 0821124). We have used this AFM in over a dozen outreach activities for middle and high school students. We also have incorporated the AFM into several of our college courses, including an overview course on microscopy, a first-year seminar course on nanotechnology, and a senior-level lab course for physics students. We have learned from our outreach and teaching experience that introducing AFM to students excites them about nanoscience and nanotechnology and provides an important opportunity for implementing experiential learning in the classroom. Several principles are reinforced by having the students learn to operate the microscope and acquire images themselves. When students take ownership of acquiring AFM data during sample analysis and are able to take with them a digital file or print out the imaging results, it allows them to share what they learned with their peers and family. This learning cycle, from abstract conceptualization to concrete experience, has proven to be an effective pedagogy for students of all ages. To improve our outreach and teaching activities, we have developed several new learning modules for AFM, and we share one physics-based module here.

Making Chemistry Relevant to the Engineering Major

As part of a campus-wide, externally funded project to increase performance in, enthusiasm for, and retention within STEM disciplines, we developed an interdisciplinary, team-taught first-year seminar course. The construction and delivery of this course was designed to show the relevance of selected general chemistry topics such as matter and energy to students in STEM disciplines outside of chemistry, particularly to pre-engineering students. Centered on a “science in space” theme, students in the course participated in a series of hands-on, open-ended activities adapted from the chemical education literature. Concept maps were used as assessment tools to measure improvement of cognition, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. These instruments were also useful in evaluating the students’ grasp of relevance regarding general chemistry topics. At the end of the course, participating students have shown improvement in all targeted skill areas and articulate the relevance of chemistry to engineering, physics, and other STEM disciplines. Additionally, students participating in this program have increased academic success during their first year and beyond, as measured by retention, test performance, GPA, and progression metrics.

Measuring Advisor Relationship Perceptions Among First-Year Students at a Small Midwestern University

In this article, I report on the development and validation of a new survey instrument measuring first-year students' perceptions of the advising relationship. I collected survey data from 113 residential freshmen enrolled in a first-year seminar course at a small, public, midwestern university during the fall of 2009. Factor analysis of students' responses to the survey revealed three key components of the advising relationships: advisor concern, advisor contact, and advising relationship quality. Internal consistency of students' responses to questions loading on each factor, as measured with Cronbach's a, ranged from .89 to. 93, and the internal consistency for all survey items was .95. The article concludes with a revised version of the questionnaire as a basis for future replication studies.

Transitioning Non-Traditional Students To An Undergraduate Business Program

This paper reports experiences of non-traditional students in a specially designed section of seminar course which was primarily designed for first-year traditional business students. The College of Business’s BSN101, Foundations of Business Administration (FBA), is designed to serves as a course to assist the students with transitioning into the business program. Typical traditional classes have enrollments of about 80 students. The special section for non-traditional students had seven students, 24 years of age or older, who were returning to undergraduate business school. This paper reports results of the implementation of the new program design in the FBA classes. Results are important not only to the College of Business, but also to the other Colleges as interest in first-year seminar courses and better serving the needs of non-traditional student increases. Currently, the University Retention Committee and the First-Year Seminar Sub-Committee are exploring the possibility of implementing a first-year seminar courses in the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education and Human Services to be recommended to the Provost. Data collected for the experimental section in the study reported here will support decision-making regarding new seminar courses.

Putting Frindle to Paper

Putting Frindle to Paper

Forensics as a Gateway: Promoting Undergraduate Interest in Science, and Graduate Student Professional Development through a First-Year Seminar Course

A group of five graduate students and a faculty mentor used the cultural popularity of forensics to develop a first-year undergraduate seminar. This course fulfilled two main objectives: First, the graduate student instructors developed professionally through a two-year process of creating, instructing, and revising a course. Second, a variety of pedagogical techniques including lectures, in-class demonstrations, laboratories, student presentations, and mock criminal investigations were used to teach an introductory-level forensics seminar course with substantial chemistry content. Herein, we share our experiences in developing an effective course structure in which students were introduced to science through forensics, with an emphasis on the development of essential skills, including critical thinking and public speaking. An assessment of the project's impact on graduate students, undergraduate students, and the department is also provided.

Innovations in Nanoscience Education at Kenyon College

A program to enhance the teaching of nanoscience concepts in multiple pedagogical contexts at Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, is described. In an introductory physics laboratory course, students use a Veeco model CP-II scanning probe microscope to image an optical diffraction grating. The results of a survey of student reaction to their experience are reported as is faculty assessment of the exercise. Use of the CP-II by senior-level physics students in an advanced laboratory course is also detailed. A novel first-year seminar course in nanoscience concepts is described, including an experiment on self-assembled monolayers. Since quantum mechanics governs physics on the nanoscale, education about quantum mechanics needs to be included as a topic in nanoscience education. Hence, progress on efforts to produce an inexpensive source of entangled photons, so that students can directly confront quantum logic in the laboratory, is reported. Finally, the results of a summer outreach program for high school science teachers on nanoscience topics are presented.

Full-Cycle Assessment of Critical Thinking in an Ethics and Science Course

Enhancing critical thinking skills for undergraduate students is important across the curriculum and between disciplines. We report on a method of improving critical thinking skills, which was studied through an Ethics and Science First-Year Seminar course. We used full cycle assessment over a three-year period to assess students’ development and to modify the course teaching and assignments with the goal of increasing student development of critical thinking skills. Data were obtained from student writing throughout the semester during each offering. Modest, but significant, overall gains of ~0.7 on a 4 point scale are reported between early and midterm assignments in the course using a seven trait assessment rubric. Key factors that contribute to the increase in critical thinking skills are identified including peer review, scaffolded assignments, and the use of a grading rubric for each assignment.

Some Mathematical Elements in a First-Year Seminar Course

A first-year seminar general education course provides a good opportunity to search for mathematical topics associated with the popular culture represented in the course's required films and readings. We discuss mathematical connections to several books, including Life of Pi and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and to the film Goodbye, Lenin! We also describe a few games and tricks to explore the use of logical reasoning as a component of the “ways of knowing” theme for the first-year seminar course and we consider the potential limitation of a lack of quantitative reasoning skills.

Student as Teacher: the Insiders’ View of Peer Instruction

Rutgers College, the oldest college of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, relies solely on peer instructors to teach its first-year seminar course. The authors offer a look inside the selection and training of these peer instructors and share the students’ thoughts on their experiences.