Course Philosophy and Outline

HTH SCI 1E06/2D06

2017-2018

Welcome!!

The Facilitators:

Laurie Barlow, Lorna Colli, Del Harnish, Hartley Jafine, Jennifer Landicho, Annie Lee, Carrie McAiney, Rosanna Morales, Jennifer Nash, Stash Nastos, Debbie Nifakis, Margaret Secord, Mike Wong

In 1969 Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner published a book entitled ‘Teaching as a Subversive Activity’ (Delacorte Press, N.Y.). It was an appropriate condemnation of schooling that uses ‘methods based on fear, coercion, and rote memory testing’ in an environment where ‘subject matter becomes obsolete almost as it is taught’.

Not much has changed in the school systems. We know, we work with them and there is ample literature outlining the challenges.

Over the course of the next 80 or so years you will face challenges that previous generations may only have encountered in science fiction or Orwellian novels. We all need to be better equipped for those challenges.

One of the book chapters is entitled ‘The Inquiry Method’ but the book starts more appropriately with ‘Crap Detecting’. Our programme goals for you include the development of the skills necessary to become agents of change and to increase your comfort with uncertainty. You will probably need to become the embodiment of these chapters to succeed for the next 80 years.

Inquiry is a life-long journey. To get you started, we have developed an initial Inquiry Course. Inquiry invites you to take an active role in your own education meaning that you are fully engaged with your daily learning. It also means that the Inquiry course philosophy, skills and goals are the same as those we would have for any student (graduate or undergraduate) and for ourselves. It is what we do every day. It is what everyone is expected to do in life. We learn well with failure and the course will provide a safe environment for failure and success. The course doesn’t really have an end. What you learn about yourselves, others and process will guide you through a programme thread over 4 years and into the next adventure.

Inquiry is a process rather than a discrete entity with rigid boundaries. It goes by many names: student-centered learning, interdependent and independent, small-group, self-directed or problem-based learning. These are not interchangeable terms but they are good enough for now. It is never exactly the same twice.

Primarily, inquiry entails the development of skills in two contexts:

In the context of a body of knowledge

In the context of personal awareness and growth when evaluating yourself and your peers

LearnLink

In this course, we will be using LearnLink.Let us say that again; we will be using Learnlink. Over the past several years, students have moved away from Learnlink to FaceBook and a variety of other tools. Using a variety of tools is an issue for us. Here is why. When you leave McMaster and work somewhere, you will be compelled to follow their rules. In a workplace, you can’t browse the web or place a USB memory key in the computer; simply not allowed. We have struggled because students move to Facebook and in doing so automatically exclude a few students who don’t use Facebook and of course, we are excluded as well. If we are to help you this year, we need you in an environment where facilitators, students and peer tutors are visible to each other. That is the point, we need Learnlink to meet the learning outcomes for the course; pretty simple. We will get you more comfortable with a Tutorial.

Getting to the Skills

We (us included) will work with six Ps outlined as a skill set below. None of the essential skills listed will be completely developed this year. Your skill development will begin in Inquiry, Psychobiology and Cellular and Molecular Biology. You will continue to work on these skills this term, next term, and over the next four years. For some of these skills, there is a life-long struggle.

The Inquiry process requires development in the context of six essential Ps. In language you may be more familiar with, these embody the measurable learning objectives.

Note: The descriptors included for each P are only a few examples and not an extensive/comprehensive listing of all possible ways in which a skill can be demonstrated.

PERSONAL AWARENESS

The ability to understand yourself and how your behaviour impacts others.

  • Self-organization (achieving personal effectiveness, being emotionally present, achieving balance, determining a sense of self, setting priorities, staying on track and managing time).

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

The ability to ask and refine questions.

PROBLEM SOLVING

The ability to determine what needs to be learned in order to answer questions, identify appropriate resources for learning, and use them effectively.

  • Information literacy skills (being conscious of the research process as it takes place)
  • Identifying sources of information (in the library collection, on the web, from experts, etc.)
  • Evaluating information content and context
  • Using information appropriately to answer a question
  • Reflecting on and evaluating the research process
  • Constructing and deconstructing knowledge

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION

The ability to communicate effectively and appropriately including:

  • With peers, faculty, staff, parents, community members, etc.
  • Verbal, nonverbal and written forms

PEER COLLABORATION

The ability to work effectively with others.

  • Working with another person and a group
  • Identifying individual and group strengths and weaknesses
  • Dividing responsibility
  • Following through
  • Teaching each other and learning from each other
  • Giving and receiving constructive feedback
  • Dealing with conflict

PERSONAL/PEER EVALUATION

The ability to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of self and others (formally, informally and often).

IREC (Inquire, Research/Reflect, Evaluate, Construct)

IREC has been a tool used by countless Inquiry students over the years to make sense of how to work through ideas, projects and any other goals that may happen over the course of your time in the BHSc program and beyond.

If you follow the arrows on the diagram, you may notice something.

Along with the 6 Ps, think about how IREC may have an impact on your understanding of Inquiry.

Context for Skill Development

If we are going to work on all of these wonderful skills, we need a context. Several of the facilitators have trained with a group in Palo Alto, California, to work with a set of tools that are useful to map potential futures, 5, 10 or 15 years away. The organization is the ‘Institute for the Future’ ( and it has developed with a 50-year history of working as a non-profit for the corporate sector.

We will introduce you to the tools and process in the context of a single question that all groups will explore, ‘The Future of Technology’. This is about foresight and thinking about futures in useful and specific ways. It is also fun.

AND NOW WHAT...?

This is the difficult part. We recognize that there are many constraints and concerns. Our concern is to maintain our obligation to you in terms of fair assessment and a mark. On the other hand, it can be difficult (or at least different) to translate evaluation in an Inquiry course into a letter grade. We prefer to speak about evaluation and assessment, not marks.

Evaluation in this course will take several forms; we evaluate you, you evaluate yourself and you evaluate each other. We have started by describing a skill set. This is the focus of the evaluation. You need to demonstrate to yourself and to us, objectively and with evidence, that you have changed (better skills) from the start through to the end of the course. It is really that simple, in principle. We will sit down with you and have several discussions. The skills and your level of effort, engagement, development, and growth will translate to a letter grade using the descriptors listed below. Any facilitator or peer should be able to review your evidence and arrive at a similar evaluation.

Your opportunities for continued growth in these areas will not be limited to this course. All students will be expected to construct an evidence portfolio using LearnLink for items in the skill set. Formally, we will look at these as you progress in the program and through HTH SCI 4X03.

A range

  • has attained a higher level of competency in all, or almost all, of the stated skill areas.
  • aware of areas requiring further development and has developed strategies for continued growth.

B range

  • has attained a higher level of competency in many (but not all) of the stated skill areas, or has attained moderate competency in all of the skill areas.
  • will have developed a plan of action for further development in those areas that need it.

C range

  • has attained a moderate level of competency in some of the stated skill areas or has attained a low level of competency in all of the skill areas.
  • cannot appropriately recognize the concerns and has difficulty discussing a plan of action.

There are probably some other uncertainties we could discuss but you may need to ask.

ENJOY!

Page 1Updated: October 18, 2018