UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 10
November 7, 1996
Award winner: Biology prof. promotes problem-based learning
When Deborah Allen, biology, discovered problem-based
learning (PBL), her teaching career took a whole new direction.
Developing and creating innovative ways of using PBL in science
education has earned her the University's excellence-in-teaching
award and grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and
the Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Post-
Secondary-Education (FIPSE).
"I learned to teach by the seat of my pants," Allen said.
"I've run the whole gamut from feeling completely overwhelmed,
when I first walked into a lecture hall with a class of close to
250 students, to loving to teach. I was pleased and flattered,
not to mention flabbergasted, to receive an excellence-in-
teaching award. Developing problem-based learning in science
education has become the focus of my research, and this project
has helped me grow professionally."
Allen's first teaching assignment was as an undergraduate at
Lafayette College where she was a lab instructor. When she came
to Delaware, where she earned her doctorate in biology in 1982,
she was a teaching assistant. She also taught as a postdoctoratal
researcher at Dartmouth Medical School. Married to Richard
Donham, biology, she returned to Delaware in 1984.
"Although I had no formal instruction in teaching along the
way, these were small classes, but they did not prepare me for
large lectures. There are many talented lecturers in the teaching
profession, but in my case, I felt it was a passive teaching
situation and that I was not really reaching my students and
involving them actively in the learning process," she recalled.
Allen said when she attended a PBL workshop presented by
Barbara Duch of the Center for Teaching Effectiveness (CTE) and
Sheelia Mierson, biology, a new approach to teaching was revealed
to her.
Using PBL methods, students work as groups on "real life"
problems, learn to analyze and carry out research, think
independently, arrive at conclusions and defend their positions.
"PBL is not rote learning. It develops reasoning skills and
encourages students to search for their own answers," Allen said.
"I was excited and immediately introduced PBL methods into
the classroom by dividing students into groups and having them
work independently outside of class on projects. I made many
mistakes in my first attempts at PBL, but student evaluations
indicated that the PBL parts were among the most meaningful of
the course."
Allen increasingly became involved in PBL in the classroom
and, in 1993, began working with the University Honors Program.
She joined a team of science faculty headed by Harold White,
chemistry and biochemistry, that received a National Science
Foundation grant to develop a PBL curriculum in science
education.
Allen developed a system using upperclassmen as peer tutors
to assist groups in freshman biology. Feedback from students and
peer tutors has been good, indicating that the students feel more
comfortable working with their peers as resources. Also, serving
as peer tutors helps upperclassmen with leadership skills and
refreshes and enhances their knowledge of a subject, she said.
"We've come full circle-the first freshmen I taught in the
Honors Program are now peer tutors," Allen said.
An example of a PBL lesson is one she developed called "The
Geritol Solution." The lesson addresses the problem of potential
global warming and the hypothesis by the director of Moss Landing
Marine Laboratories that seeding the ocean with iron would help
combat the warming trend.
In groups, led by peer tutors, students are asked to answer
thought-provoking questions about this topic and related
subjects, and finally asked to act as members of an NSF review
panel awarding a grant for this research. The learning objectives
of the lesson (i.e., the role of marine phytoplankton in the
marine food chain; the Greenhouse Effect-what it is and factors
that contribute to it) are spelled out for instructors, and
further source material also is listed.
As the NSF grant draws to a close, Allen has received a
FIPSE award to continue the project, which will involve writing a
manual and producing a videotape for national use.
"Delaware has gained a reputation for being on the cutting
edge of PBL and innovative teaching. One indication was the
success of the 5th annual Conference on Problem-Based Learning in
Undergraduate Science Education at the University in June. More
than 125 participants from seven countries attended the
conference," Allen said.
She also has participated in national conferences on
teaching and undergraduate science education. In October, she
joined Duch and White in presenting a daylong PBL workshop at the
Professional Organizational Development Network in Higher
Education conference in Salt Lake City.
Allen's bench research in biology reveals her versatility as
a scientist. When she first came to Delaware to study for her
doctorate, she worked with three sea lions (Homer, Andy and
Chuck) in Lewes on their use of echo location to find food,
training them to hit underwater targets on command.
When the three went on to a career in show business at the
New England Aquarium in Boston, Allen's research, by necessity,
took a new turn.
For her dissertation, she studied marmots in a controlled
climate lab to learn about cardiovascular changes that occur
during hibernation periods.
Her postdoctoral research at Dartmouth Medical School
centered on renal physiology and the effects of hormones in
controlling kidney functions.
Most recently, her research has involved the salt and water
balance in mammals, involving kidney disease and hypertension.
"While I plan to continue my scientific studies, my research
emphasis at this time is in developing curricula and implementing
PBL in science education.
"I think my efforts in this area are challenging and can
have an impact the teaching profession," Allen said.
-Sue Swyers Moncure