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Pathways to Scientific Teaching, Chapter 5b of 7: Learning through peer assessment

Ecological succession is driven by disturbance, both natural and human-induced, and change occurs at multiple
scales, both temporal and spatial. Understanding the mechanisms involved in succession requires the integration of many ideas, some of which may contradict students’ belief that succession is only a unidirectional and linear model. The notion of ecosystems as static, or as eventually reaching a final state of equilibrium, needs to be critically challenged by students; ecosystems are stochastic, and this dynamism is the only constant (White and Pickett 1985, Kozlowski 2002). Gurnell et al. [attached] present a novel succession model that provides a context for students to analyze, synthesize, and integrate basic ecological concepts across scales and between groups of organisms.
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Resource Group "Pathways to Scientific Teaching" is based on a series of two-page articles published in "Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment" from August 2004 to June 2006 that illustrated effective instructional methods to help students gain conceptual understanding in ecology (Diane Ebert-May and Janet Hodder, 2008).

This installment of the Pathways to Scientific Teaching series describes one or more instructional strategies that use scientific papers to teach selected concepts. While specific journal articles are used in demonstrating these strategies, we would like to emphasize that each activity in the Pathways series has been designed for use with any scientific article on a similar topic, and not just the example shown here.

Note that in addition to undergraduate faculty, many high school teachers can use these articles as well in their biology courses.
Resource Group Link http://ecoed.esa.org/index.php?P=AdvancedSearch&Q=Y&FK=%22Pathways+to+...
Primary or BEN resource type
Secondary resource type
Discipline Specific Core Concepts
Life science discipline (subject)
Keywords succession, disturbance, restoriation, formative peer-assessment
Audience
Intended End User Role
Language
Educational Language
Pedagogical Use Category
Pedagogical Use Description Instructor goals: 1) Use conceptual model building as a tool for facilitating and assessing students’ understanding of succession. 2) Facilitate students’ understanding of and ability to practice peer assessment.

This installment of the Pathways to Scientific Teaching series describes one or more instructional strategies that use scientific papers to teach selected concepts. While specific journal articles are used in demonstrating these strategies, we would like to emphasize that each activity in the Pathways series has been designed for use with any scientific article on a similar topic, and not just the example shown here.

Note that in addition to undergraduate faculty, many high school teachers can use these articles as well in their biology courses.
Aggregation Level
Structure
Full Name of Primary Author Diane Ebert-May
Primary Author Controlled Name
Primary Author Affiliation Michigan State University
Primary Author email ebertmay@msu.edu
Secondary Author Name(s) Linda M Nagel 1, Everett P Weber 2, Janet Hodder 3
Secondary Author Affiliation(s) 1 Michigan Technological University, 2 Michigan State University, 3 University of Oregon
Added By Id
  • Celia
Rights Copyright 2008, the Ecological Society of America
License
Publisher
Review type
Drought and Water Ecosystem Services Collection Off
Conservation Targets Under Global Change Collection Off
Big Data Collection Off
Editors Choice No
Resource Status
Date Of Record Submission 2011-12-05
I Agree to EcoEdDL's Copyright Policy & Terms of Use No
Date Of Record Release 2012-03-05 11:46:54
Last Modified By Id
  • mcmilla
Date Last Modified 2013-05-23 10:19:45
Release Flag Published

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