Speaker
Description
We will discuss the two most recent iterations of a Physical Science in Contemporary Society course, a senior-level physics course at the University of Toronto that encourages physics students to explore how physics and society influence each other. A different instructor taught each iteration of the course while an education PhD student acting as a “critical friend” assisted in the handover of principles between the iterations. These principles included ungrading, student-led instruction, and student-defined final projects.
In the course, student groups are encouraged to select their topics for in-class facilitations on the topic and final projects that may take on different formats. Some topics explored include “gender bias in physics careers,” “physics funding and politics,” and “invention’s effects on society.” The students were asked to prepare an in-class facilitation where they should avoid lectures and instead use active learning techniques to engage their classmates on the topic. Each facilitation week finished with a 500-word reflective writing assignment (six in total) where the students had to discuss the topics presented that week, link them to another example outside the classroom, and reflect on their learning from the facilitation.
This course used ungrading as the assessment practice for the students’ facilitations and the reflective essays. Ungrading involves giving students feedback without numerical grades on their assignments, facilitating learning and inclusion. Students are then included in the discussions to determine final grading decisions based on demonstrated growth. The students’ writing abilities in both course iterations also showed dramatic improvement through the use of ungrading and feedback-focused assessments by the teaching assistants.Students, despite some initial reluctance to the purpose and design of the course, praised the course’s usefulness and were surprised by how much it changed their understanding of physics.
| Keyword-1 | Active Learning |
|---|---|
| Keyword-2 | Student-Led Instruction |
| Keyword-3 | Ungrading |
