Hi Staci, Many thanks for your thoughtful reply, and for the specific chemistry and "muddy point" paper ideas. They are indeed useful, and I will be certain to pass along to you and the group any ideas I come across or develop. Paul Paul C. King, Instructor Massasoit Community College S 537 [log in to unmask] (H) 781-784-2195 On Sep 3, 2008, at 5:00 PM, Staci Johnson wrote: > Hi Paul, > > I am fairly new to TBL and am still learning, but I am happy to > share what I > have learned and used. I have been using TBL in my biology courses > for the > past 2 semesters. I also teach Biology for Non-Majors in our > Evening Adult > program at Southern Wesleyan University. This class is 5 4-hour > sessions > which covers all of Essential Biology (20 chapters). > > I am currently in the 'chemistry' section of a traditional Biology > for Non-Majors > course and have a couple of activities that I have used with my class. > -Our first activity was to make a poster showing covalent, ionic, > and hydrogen > bonds. I wanted them to describe these bonds in a way that an > elementary > school student would understand. We then posted all of the posters, > observed them, and talked about what we did and did not like. > -Our last class period, I had my TAs build fatty acids, glycerol, > glucose, amino > acids, and water with molecular models. Each team worked as a > member of > the FDA to tell me if a fat-free cake mix could yield the monomers > in front of > them. This activity required them to identify each molecular model > and > determine which monomers were part of a lipid. We then had class > discussion > after teams revealed their 'decision'. > > Another tip I received from a wise instructor was to use 'muddiest- > point' > papers. The students take a minute at the end of class to write > the 1 thing > they are most confused about. It is great information for me to > know what I > can help them with - either by posting information online or by > addressing it > during our next class period. > > I hope this information is helpful to you. If you have a great > idea of what to > use in your class, I woud love to know about it. Good luck! > > Staci N. Johnson > Adjunct Professor of Biology > Southern Wesleyan University > Phone - 644-5218 > [log in to unmask] > Office - Brower 123