1. A Scientific Approach to Achieving
Learning in Your Course
Leilani Arthurs
Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

2. Welcome!
Every participant will have a participant number.
We’ll count off.
Please remember what your number is.
L. Arthurs; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; CLEAN Workshop Slide 2 of 19

3. What kind of institution is closest to the kind of
institution that you teach at?
A. Elementary to Middle school
B. High school
C. 2-year college
D. 4-year primarily teaching college
E. 4-year research university
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4. In which department or discipline do you primarily
teach your course(s)?
A. Geology / Geoscience / Earth Science
B. Geography / Environmental Studies
C. Meteorology / Climatology
D. Astronomy / Physics
E. Chemistry
L. Arthurs; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; CLEAN Workshop Slide 4 of 19

5. How much do you already know about developing
learning goals, classroom activities, and assessments?
A. I consider myself an expert in these areas, and I
could totally be giving this workshop! 
B. I have a high level of familiarity with these, and
am always trying to learn more about them.
C. I have a high level of familiarity with 1 or 2 of
these areas, but not all 3.
D. I have a modest understanding of these areas.
E. Developing these 3 things myself is new to me.
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6. What is one thing that you hope to get out of this
workshop?
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7. What does “effective learning” mean to you?
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8. What is your target course (e.g. Historical Geology,
Environmental Geochemistry, Intro Astronomy)?
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9. A basic scientific approach to achieving learning in your
course involves a systematic three-step process.
1. Set & comm. 2. Use activities
learning goals for to help students
self & students achieve goals
3. Assess whether
students achieved
goals
L. Arthurs; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; CLEAN Workshop Slide 9 of 19

10. A learning goal is a statement of what students
should be able to do and at what level.
Evaluation
Increasing levels of sophistication
Internalizing
Synthesis
Analysis Organizing
Application Valuing
Comprehension Responding
Knowledge Receiving
Levels of intellectual behavior, Levels of attitudinal behavior,
Bloom’s taxonomy (1956). Krathwohl’s taxonomy (1973).
L. Arthurs; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; CLEAN Workshop Slide 10 of 19

11. These statements are written with specific language
(esp. verbs) and are assessable.
Students will be able to …
A. understand how surface properties affect albedo.
B. appreciate the connection between the chemistry of
Earth’s atmosphere and Earth’s climate.
C. define latent heat.
D. apply knowledge of feedbacks to predict possible
climate outcomes given a hypothetical scenario.
E. compare temporal CO2, CH4, and temperature data and
interpret what they mean.
Useful Action Words: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html
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12. LGs can be written to address different levels of the
course structure.
 Course-level LGs provide the “Big Picture” for the overall
desired learning outcomes after taking your course.
 Topic-level LGs are behaviors students should be able to
do after learning about a specific topic.
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13. LGs can be written to address different levels of the
course structure.
 Course-level LGs provide the “Big Picture” for the overall
desired learning outcomes after taking your course.
 Topic-level LGs are behaviors students should be able to
do after learning about a specific topic.
1. Take out a piece of paper.
2. If you haven’t already, write the name of target course.
3. Write 3 overall course-level LGs for your target course.
4. List 3 topics addressed in your target course.
5. For each topic, write 1-3 topic-level LGs.
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14. What are some examples that you all came up with for
course- and topic-level LGs? “Students will be able to ….”
C = course-level LG; T = topic-level LG
C:
C:
C:
T:
T:
T:
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15. After establishing learning goals for your students, it’s
time to ask: What can I do to help my students achieve
these learning goals?
 Traditional lecture vs. Transformed teaching
 Many options for transformed teaching
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16. After establishing learning goals for your students, it’s
time to ask: What can I do to help my students achieve
these learning goals?
 Traditional lecture vs. Transformed teaching
 Many options for transformed teaching
• ConcepTests & peer instruction (Mazur, 1997)
• Contrasting cases (Swartz, 1998)
• Authentic performance tasks (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005)
• Process-oriented guided-inquiry learning (Hanson, 2006)
• Lecture tutorials (e.g. Prather et al., 2008; Kortz &
Smay, 2010)
• Integration of instructional technology: GE, sims, clickers..
• and more!
L. Arthurs; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; CLEAN Workshop Slide 14 of 19

17. Activities that enhance student learning share
several common characteristics.
• They are associated with a specific learning goal(s).
• They are based on a single well thought out and well
designed question or series of questions.
• They engage students beyond the lowest levels of
intellectual or attitudinal behaviors.
• They promote communication and discussion between
students about course concepts.
• They are spring boards for instructor-facilitated class
discussion about students’ current level of understanding.
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18. After setting goals and structuring learning activities to aid
in their attainment, it’s time to ask: To what extent did
students achieve the learning goals?
 Formative Assessments
• Done throughout the semester
• Often not graded
• Informs instructional decisions
• e.g. CATs (Angelo & Cross, 1993)
 Summative Assessments
• Done at the end of semester, module, chapter
• Usually graded
• Generally, does not inform instructional decisions (for that
semester/term)
• e.g. exams, final projects, final papers
L. Arthurs; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; CLEAN Workshop Slide 16 of 19

19. After setting goals and structuring learning activities to aid
in their attainment, it’s time to ask: To what extent did
students achieve the learning goals?
 Formative Assessments
• Done throughout the semester
• Often not graded
• Informs instructional decisions
• e.g. CATs (Angelo & Cross, 1993)
 Summative Assessments
• Done at the end of semester, module, chapter
• Usually graded
• Generally, does not inform instructional decisions (for that
semester/term)
• e.g. exams, final projects, final papers
L. Arthurs; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; CLEAN Workshop Slide 16 of 19

20. The results of assessments can help to inform you
on matters such as …
• To what extent your students achieved the learning goals
• How effective the activities and classroom practices were at
facilitating student learning
• Whether and how you might revise one or more activities
• Whether and how you might revise a learning goal(s)
• Where there may be room to improve the alignment
between what you expect students to learn, how you help
them meet those expectations, and how you assess their
learning
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21. Aligning these three aspects of a course can be an
iterative and energy/time intensive process, but is
extremely worthwhile in terms of helping students learn.
1. Set & comm. 2. Use activities
learning goals for to help students
self & students achieve goals
3. Assess whether
students achieved
goals
Be patient with yourself and have fun when undertaking this process! 
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22. Thank you for your participation in this workshop!
Questions?
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