Active student participation in lectures with large enrollments: An experiment in progress

We have designed a new undergraduate biology course that allows students to learn biology concepts in a lecture hall setting while experiencing the kind of personal interactions students would normally have in a traditional laboratory setting. This approach to teaching in a large lecture hall was implemented to offset the loss of introductory laboratories. The course was designed to maintain the hands-on, critical thinking, writing, and teamwork skills developed in the labs. We used lab materials for inspiration in developing interactive lectures to teach basic biology actively, in a participating audience of 570 students. By incorporating interactive student activities with technology-based tools, students learn biology in three different ways: (1) interactions with their instructors via CPS response pads during lectures; (2) interactions with their peers during small-group activities in the lecture hall; and (3) interactions with their instructors and peers via online instructional software outside of class (Blackboard). Implementation of this new course was conducted in Fall 2006 and continues through Spring 2007. Empirically, we can demonstrate that attendance and student participation in the activities have been excellent, particularly in comparison to former passive learning lectures, although we still have to subject learning outcome achievement to further analysis. We are encouraged by early test outcomes and by our ability to manage such large classes with considerable student involvement in learning activities.