In-situ Inquiry: Engaging students through in-class activities

Seminar Overview:

Inquiry-based learning has received increasing attention and is shown to promote students’ learning in higher education. However, bringing inquiry-based activities such as case studies and hands-on demonstrations into the classrooms could be challenging for many. Some may find it hard to fit activities in already tight teaching schedule, others have limited time to develop new materials, and others may find it hard to encourage active participation. In this workshop, the presenter has shared my experience of designing and implementing interactive, guided inquiries for students in small (<20) and large (>100) classes for majors and non-majors both in Hong Kong and abroad and have demonstrated a few of those techniques. An open forum discussion was also be held to help participants explore how one may adapt these techniques in his/her own classrooms.

About the Speaker:

Prof. Karen Chan joined HKUST Division of Life Science in 2014. She received her PhD in Oceanography from the University of Washington and worked as a Coastal Ocean Institute and Croucher Postdoctoral Scholar at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Not only is Karen fascinated by the ocean drifters that she studies, she is also passionate about sharing her love of the ocean in both classroom and informal setting. To do that effectively, Karen is actively involved in several ocean science education and inquiry-based learning communities. She was awarded the Huckabay Teaching Fellowship in 2012 and was the first graduate student at UW Oceanography to be listed as course instructor to teach undergraduate scientific inquiry skills.