Shawna Reed from Quinnipiac School of Health Sciences presented the recorded ASMCUE Microbrew session entitled “Paired and Compared Lessons for the Microbiology Flipped and Hybrid Classroom.” Reed compared cooperative and individual active learning approaches and compared different lesson types. Reed defined active learning and constructivism as: “students generate meaning by actively engaging in experiences, constructing their own knowledge.” Reed compared hands-on group learning and individual active learning. They used the ASM General Microbiology Learning Outcomes and the Microbiology Concept Inventory (MCI) based on the learning outcomes. The two lessons that Reed used for this comparison were metabolism and microbiome lessons. They also used the research box approach for primary literature teaching. Research Box is different from the CREATE method and can be implemented in small groups or individually. Reed carried out the study in a flipped classroom of mixed majors. The course was General Microbiology. All activities were the same except for the worksheet students completed. One group did individual literature analysis and a second group work and then the groups flipped later on in the semester. Reed implemented a multiple attempt assessment and the MCI. In the first lesson on bacterial metabolism, students analyzed the growth of E. coli under different conditions. While a relatively low number of students completed the MCI and the data were difficult to analyze, students performed better on the assessment based on the type of activity they performed. The second lesson was on microbiome. Student performance was better with the hands-on group work. Reed concluded that the hands-on activities resulted in “slightly better retention of knowledge.” This was a fantastic example of a comparison of two lesson types with several different assessments including the MCI and early and late posts!
