Students transition and integration into science higher education challenges and strategies

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1 Students transition and integration into science higher education challenges and strategies TUK conference 16 March 2016 Uppsala University Lars Ulriksen Department of Science Education University of Copenhagen

2 Transitions can be challenging

3 Transition, cultures and socialisation Educations and study programmes are cultures (Becher, Gerholm) Studying is a process of socialisation Trajectories Becoming; Negotiations; Navigation Blindness and sight Social and academic integration (Tinto) Entering university is a transition from one culture to another Studying is both about developing disciplinary competences and developing a sense of belonging

4 Experiences with the content of the programme JAVA is a language that quite a lot of enthusiasts have used for coding before, and therefore it feels like they [the teachers] expect that most of us already have experiences with programming in JAVA, and then they expect that we almost all of us are able to use if for coding. And I haven t coded before, and it s a bit like offsiding new programmers, cause I m sitting there thinking great, and then they are standing there just talking and talking and talking, and you are thinking you re not really learning anything from it (Computer science student)

5 First-year experience What about exercises where you go to the lab? Officially, we haven t had them yet. We won t get them until the next block. But we have been lucky, because we have been there and been around looking at it and have been allowed to do some of the things, and I think that was really, really interesting. They started in our introduction period, one of the first two days, when we actually were in the lab, looking at some DNA analysis of the gene related to breast cancer, and actually identified It was a family, and there were some samples, and then we were to find out who in the family had an increased risk for developing breast cancer simply by doing those analyses ourselves. And that really caught your attention! Really, like: Yes! This is what we are to do with our lives. Way to go! But then one gets a little disappointed when you begin at the actual courses and find out that you will not be in a lab at least within the first half year. That was a bit okay, slam, slam. (Student, biochemistry)

6 What are students challenged by? The content of the programme Sequence Tool-box courses Students different interests The academic level and expectations What is challenging?

7 Different interests different experiences

8 The teaching I don t think the content in itself is difficult, but there is just so much of it at one time, so you easily get lagging behind (Engineering student) It was very difficult in the beginning. Then I didn t understand anything. He is writing really fast. The only thing I could focus on was to write down what was happening, what was on the blackboard and then just not understanding it (Engineering student) Toiling away through 70 pages in English and you know that at the lectures you will probably not be getting through it all anyway, or you still don t really know what is important. And I think it s a bit difficult to read up because people say: Just pick out the important stuff, and then you kind of stand there INT: What is the important stuff? What is the important, right? [laughing] You haven t really learned that yet. (Molecular-biomedicine student)

9 What are students challenged by? The content of the programme Tool-box courses Sequence Students different interests The academic level and expectations What is challenging? The teaching The pace Criteria: Identifying the relevant Organising the time Structure and selfdiscipline Coping with the amount of content

10 Organising the time I had this huge plan that should be executed, but.. Well, I got to making a draft for it and I used it, like, the first half a week, and then it didn t work anymore. The problem was that it was all too tight and I feared it would be that, and then it wouldn t work. INT: Then you run cold? No, but I have gradually become better at actually pulling myself together and do the stuff. Or I was for a while. Now it s on its way down again (Engineering student)

11 What are students challenged by? The content of the programme Tool-box courses Sequence Students different interests The academic level and expectations What is challenging? The teaching The pace Criteria: Identifying the relevant Social integration as help Of importance to the academic learning Important for hanging on Organising the time Structure and selfdiscipline Coping with the amount of content

12 Social integration I don t think I would have gotten this far. I think the social has been really important for me both having somebody to study with, but also having a social life in here. [...] Those girls [in the study group] have really helped me a lot with understanding some of the theory behind the assignments (Biochemistry student)

13 What are students challenged by? The teachers expectations The content of the programme Tool-box courses Sequence Students different interests The academic level and expectations What is challenging? The teaching The pace Criteria: Identifying the relevant Social integration as help Of importance to the academic learning Important for hanging on Organising the time Structure and selfdiscipline Coping with the amount of content

14 Teachers expectations I think that there is a group that is very clear about what physics is: That you have to sit down and calculate and read until you figure it out along the way. And there is a plan and I follow that plan and I will probably get through it well enough. I believe that those old ones say have to say and I do it. And then there is a group that is questioning everything and wants to be convinced about why I must do A and why I must do B or C and a lot of us really have difficulties with that. Because I think most physicists, at least during their own studies have thought, okay, I taking this course there must be some reason for me taking this course, and I just do as I m told. And then we have difficulties handling them. But I think we have become better at that. And then there is a group, I think, who have seen Holger Bech on TV and they believe physics is something where you go to a café and discuss the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics, that is a discussion club, and when they come and have to do assignments they become very surprised. (First-year teacher in physics)

15 What do you expect of first-year students? A: That they can work hard and are prepared that it requires a huge effort B: That they can design their own curriculum: They shouldn t just read what they are presented with. Sometimes the important stuff comes when the teacher is explaining something, sometimes they need to find additional readings C: That they are able to become puzzled Not necessarily contradictory, but not the same either

16 Students are challenged by The teaching, the curriculum (sequencing), how they should discipline themselves, and by the teachers expectations But also by the students mutual expectations: Adele: The thing that makes physics even more interesting is that somehow there is some technology there, too. I have a feeling of maybe being able to contribute with some more than if I could analyse a short story or a poem (Physics student)

17 Frederic: [ ] that the world may learn from it too, that s just a bonus. But it s mainly for myself that I m doing it. It is my own interest I m caring for, right Phil: That s what I feel too. I am selfish. I don t really thing that much about what I can give the world, but maybe more what the world can give me Diana: I would not sit down and think that somebody out there, outside the scientific world, would have this problem. Then I wouldn t think, what could I do to solve this problem. I m sure I wouldn t think like that at all. It is what I find interesting and, yes, what they can teach me

18 Adele: It is not that I am thinking about whether it s useful as such, about usefulness when I m talking about it. Because, I know that if I am going to do research in something then it will be my own interest that will motivate me and decide what to do. But I mean it is just this bonus that Frederic mentioned, that hopefully it is something that can give something eh that I like about it (First-year physics students)

19 The implied student -A study programme presupposes that students hold a particular set of practices, interests, attitudes etc. towards studying in order for the teaching and learning to succeed. -The implied student acts through the curriculum (structure, pedagogical methods), the lecturers/teachers, and the fellow students -It is presupposed that the students can act within this structure and it provides the students with specific possibilities for acting as a student -There may be more than one implied student in a programme (Ulriksen, 2009)

20 Implications The implied student of the programmes means that students - Have to submit themselves to the teachers and the curriculum - Have to endure boredom and to wait for several courses until they meet what they applied for - Have to accept a sense of irrelevance - Are able either to create their own connection between the different courses and modules, or to accept that there are no connections Students who do not comply with these requirements are prone to be excluded from the programme

21 Strategies what do students do?

22 The gap between expectations and experiences Emil Emily Filip Holmegaard, H. T., Madsen, L. M., & Ulriksen, L. (2014). A journey of negotiation and belonging Cultural Studies of Science Education, 9(3)

23 Editing: Filip I have a dream of opening my own business. I am looking forward to working in management. How to manage craftsmen when building something. I'm interested in the human aspect, too. People don't think engineers work with humans, but I think they just do it in another way than doctors or therapists ( ) It is that part [management] which interests me and the first part of the study programme is more just something I need to go through (October). My tutor (a professor) says don't focus too much on management. It is too arrogant to enter the labour market as a new engineer and say I want to be a leader. [ ] My conclusion is to study energy and then combine with some management later. It is an important challenge for the world to face in the future (November) I ve probably been interested [in energy engineering] in many, many years. When I was a kid I found motors to be really cool and once I found nuclear power to be really awesome. And that s energy business too, so it s really many years ago. (Second year).

24 Constructing an alternative curriculum Christian is studying software engineering. He experiences most of the course content as irrelevant to his intention of working with IT security. The opportunity of taking elective courses will come later Instead, he is in a group called SecFault, an IT security club a the university We are making small projects and trying hacking this webpage that somebody in the club have set up. And at the course I m attending during Easter I m going to learn a lot about different kinds of hacking and man-in-the-middle attacks and stuff like that (3 rd interview)

25 The strategies of the programmes? Who is the implied student of the programme? What is the sense in the sequencing and ways of teaching in the programme? What possibilities are there for students to affect the content and form of the programme? Do the curriculum and the teaching formats cater for the kinds of students we would like to have and to develop? Changes in - The sequencing - The control of the teaching and learning activities - The relation between the elements focus on relevance and how elements relate to each other

26 Thank you