Teaching and Learning

• Teaching Centered on Student Learning
• Retish Helps Build Educational Future in Eurasia
• Science is Not a Spectator Sport

Teaching Centered on Student Learning

Taiwanese students and educators enjoy Yager's methods of teaching and learning

Professor Emeritus Robert Yager revealed new ways of thinking about science education to visiting Taiwanese students and educators.

The group of 16 students, most in upper elementary school, and five educators visited campus last summer. The trip was organized by Pi-Chu Kuo (PhD ‘05), currently an assistant professor at the National Pingtung University of Education.

The group visited the Maquoketa Caves, Dubuque levees and museum, Coralville Reservoir, and the areas ravaged by the 2008 floods. Daily instruction was centered at the University Field Campus and coordinated by Director Edward Saehler (MA ’78).

Yager said he hoped that while the students experienced a different culture and new field experiences, they also practiced a new way of learning without textbooks or memorization.

“We wanted them to follow up on their natural curiosities, make mistakes, experience the idea of asking questions about the natural world, and trying to find the answers,” Yager said. “Not one of those things can simply be learned in a textbook.”

Taiwanese students and educators practice field experience learning.

Yager said he hopes the visit also stimulated new ways of thinking about teaching for the Taiwanese educators.

“Our hope is that they learn some new approaches to teaching, become more student centered, and continue in collaborative projects in both the United States and Taiwan,” he said.

Yager is co-principal investigator on the IMPPACT Project, a multi-university, collaborative research study funded by the National Science Foundation aimed at examining the linkages between science teacher preparation, classroom instruction, and pupil learning. The other universities involved are Syracuse University and North Carolina State University.

Retish Helps Build Educational Future in Eurasia Special Education Professor Paul Retish was recently in Armenia as part of a four-person team to select top scholars to travel to the United States on Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship awards. The annual fellowships were established by the U.S. State Department to encourage economic and democratic growth in Eurasia by providing educational opportunities in the United States. Since its inception in 1992, the program has served more than 4,000 scholars. Professor Retish fosters cultural and educational exchange in Eurasia. Retish was asked to be part of the team because of his extensive international experience as former director of the College’s International Education Program. Other committee members included a U.S. State Department representative, an American now living in Armenia and a former Muskie Fellowship winner. The team interviewed 50 hopefuls who wish to come to the United States to earn their master’s or doctoral degrees in everything from journalism to social work. Retish said there were also several who were interested in special education and serving disabled populations through non-governmental organizations. “For the country they represent, they are the embodiment of the future,” Retish said. “They will be the future leaders in whatever discipline they choose because they return not only well trained, but they’ll have the credentials of having studied in America—and in many places that’s very important.” University of Iowa graduate and Iowa native Susan Bridenstine (BA ‘00) serves as U.S. Information Officer with the U.S. State Department in Yerevan, Armenia. She said Retish was an impressive part of the selection team. “Dr. Retish was energetic, perceptive, and encouraged committee consensus,” she said. Bridenstine said sending the Armenian and other international scholars to study in the United States supports the U.S. foreign policy belief that mutual understanding is of vital importance in an increasingly interdependent world. “The exchange of people and ideas is essential to the promotion of democracy, economic prosperity, international cooperation, peace, and security around the world,” she said.

Science is Not a Spectator Sport

Professor Pizzini retires

Professor Ed Pizzini (PhD ‘73) will leave behind a legacy of a student-centered, hands-on approach to teaching when he retires after a nearly 40-year career in the College.

Pizzini came to the UI to earn his doctorate in science education under Professor Robert Yager.

“I recall my first meeting with him,” Pizzini said of Yager. “I kidded him that someday I would be sitting in his chair and coordinating the science education program.”

He later achieved that goal. Pizzini also developed and directed the Iowa Secondary Student Training Program, which provided opportunities for high-ability high school students to enroll at the UI during the summer or winter terms and participate in specialized coursework and field experiences. He also directed the Iowa Junior Academy of Science and the Iowa Science Symposium. In addition to student outreach, Pizzini developed the Search, Solve, Create, and Share model of problem solving (SSCS), which led to national recognition.

Pizzini enjoyed working with students and teachers. He said he’ll always treasure witnessing his students’ “Eureka!” moments of understanding new concepts and times when students have stopped to thank him for his impact in their lives.

Elementary Education student Kaela Kramer took three courses from Pizzini all in one semester last year.

“As a professor and a person, he is absolutely wonderful,” she said. “He truly cares about his students and wants people to be just as excited about teaching science as he is.”

One of the ways Pizzini accomplishes that task is with his “hands-on, minds-on” method.

“Science is not a spectator sport,” he said.

Kramer said she enjoyed participating in experiments and even field trips in Pizzini’s classes.

“In our Earth Science class, we took a field trip and went spelunking. We called owls. We camped out. We looked at and found fossils. He is just an amazing person whose energy is contagious,” she said. 

Jim Shymansky worked with Pizzini in the College of Education from 1973 to 1997 and is now on the faculty at the University of Missouri at St. Louis. He said Pizzini has had a major impact on science education and will leave behind a rich legacy in the students he inspired. He even compared him to his early mentor.

“He’s well known and respected by teachers in Iowa,” Shymansky said.