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Can We Fix it?? YES WE CAN!

 It is crazy how fast the semester is flying by! In the beginning of the year I thought that our problem-based approach lab was years away and, like most things have, it really crept up on me. 

We had two different groups that went either October 7th or October 14th, and I was in the second wave. I will say that after watching the first group of 4 go, I was a little nervous to do my lab. I thought that everyone that went the first day had amazing labs and set the bar very high for the rest of us going the following week. Maddie brought Gus in, which always makes class more fun! Elise had an amazing welding lab, Alyssa had a plant science lab that was equally challenging and interesting, and Megan had a fun way to get us moving around the room and thinking about ways to help "the barnyard." 

For my lab, I decided to focus on my veterinary clinical rotations unit by having an end of the unit scenario lab. I thought that having a problem-based approach to wrap up the unit and have my students make connections from everything that they had learned. 

My objectives were:

Having learned about medications, diseases & infections, and common treatments, students will be able to:

1. Identify where/what the problem area in on the scenario animal.

2. Draw conclusions as to why the scenario has that problem area.

3. Explain solutions to fixing the problem area on the scenario animal. 

I then had two groups of 2, and one group of 3 and each group had a different scenario of an animal that had an infection. I had a pig, a cow, and a goat. Students were to figure out the three objectives based off of what they had "learned" throughout the unit! My goal was to make this an end of the unit activity to get my students thinking about what they had learned while making connections as well. I had an extra scenario saved incase I ran out of time, but I ended up not needing it.

I had time for students to work through two different scenarios each and share their findings with the rest of the class before I ended my lab. While I thought that my lab went well, there were still things that I would have changed to help students work through the problem and make more connections from the unit. I think that there were better questions that I could have asked to make students think more about the problem or I could have asked more questions while walking around the room. I loved watching the rest of my cohort's labs and I think that from the other girls I have learned better ways to create a problem-based lab approach!

On a side note... I also found out that I really need to work on creating Zoom break-out rooms, but hopefully I will have that down by the end of the semester!



Comments

  1. Nicole GuiseOctober 18, 2020 at 4:05 PM

    Michaela - I really enjoyed being a student in your Veterinary Science class. I especially liked how you broke the large problem (what is wrong with the animal) into smaller problems (what is the area affected, make a conclusion, etc.). As a learner, I was able to break the problem down and then put the pieces back together to create a diagnosis. I am looking forward to seeing your electrical demonstration!

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  2. John EwingOctober 19, 2020 at 4:56 PM

    Great lesson! You followed the process well and the students did a nice job. I am looking forward to seeing you teach again soon and you mastering the "dreaded" Zoom room. -Dr. Ewing

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  3. Megan RoyerNovember 30, 2020 at 7:07 AM

    Micheala, this was a great lab and I loved how you gave students the problem in small chunks so that it did not seem to overwhelming to students! I also liked how you had variety in your species giving each group a different animal to diagnose. Do not worry about the Zoom side of things, with a little practice you will pick it up in no time! I think that the activity is perfect for students whether they are in person or online!

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