Session 6: Seam Summer Science Institute
How to write a Warm Up Assignment

How to write a Warm Up

• Subject mastery is always the primary concern of JiTT, and Warm Ups assignments are the 'vehicle' to develop subject mastery (along with interactive class discussions, "Good Fors", Puzzles, etc).  
• Warm Ups are submitted prior to each lesson and are used to provide us with a means of constant evaluation of student understanding, and use this evaluation  to give feedback to students (formative assessment).  
• A well-constructed Warm Up assignment asks students to address open-end questions at a conceptual level and in writing.  It is NOT a pre-lecture quiz.  Some examples for starters:
  • "What is the difference between...?"
  • "Why do you think...?"
  • "What determines ....?"
  • "What happens if...?"
  • "Do you think that...?"
  • "Estimate how many..."
  • "In your own words, explain..." (especially good for translating chemical reactions, mathematical equations into real words!)
  • "Explain your choice." - always a good ending for a Warm Up question!
• Answers to Warm Ups will not necessarily be found in the textbook - we are not asking for factual recall.  We are asking for students to start thinking about the concept before class begins. (This is a big advantage over a pre-lecture quiz, which encourages students to do the readings, but does not necessarily start them thinking critically about the assigned material.)
• The answers do not have to be complete, or even correct. In fact, partially correct responses are particularly useful as "classroom discussion fodder".  Points are given for answering on time. 

Example 1:  Writing a Warm Up based on categories adapted from  a classic article in college science teaching by A. B. Arons: "Some thoughts on Reasoning Capacities Implicitly Expected of College Students"  (handout).  

In JiTT Assignments We Probe For: (an example from Biology N100 is given below each category)

• What is the difference between a theory and a belief? You may want to look these terms up before answering. Be as specific as you can, and give an example of each.

• What characteristic determines whether organisms belong to the same species? Why are, for instance,  Rottweilers, bulldogs, and poodles - phenotypically very different - considered to be members of the same species - dogs? Why are all humans, despite our numerous phenotypic differences, considered to be one species?

Demonstration of students’ thinking processes when dealing with difficult new ideas:

• How do you think cells become specialized for their function? For instance, we all started our life as one single fertilized egg cell, or zygote, but within weeks of conception, we had liver cells, heart cells, brain cells, and muscle cells that were grouped into functioning organs. How does one cell give rise to many cells with many different functions??

Ability of students to see connections between the subject and their own experiences:

• Which gender is doing more meiosis RIGHT NOW - the males or the females? Or do you think men and women undergo meiosis at pretty much equal rates? What type of cell is the end product of meiosis in men? What type of cell is the end product of meiosis in women?

• A protein called "p53" normally functions to find damaged DNA in the nucleus. p53 prevents cells from going through mitosis until the DNA damage can be repaired. However, research has shown that smoking cigarettes frequently causes mutations in the p53 gene in lung cells. How do think this might play a factor in the development of lung cancer?

Estimating - Getting a feel for magnitudes: 

• It takes about 12 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of "grain fed" beef;  this pound of beef may feed you and 3 of your friends (ie: like 4 "QuarterPounders" from McDonald's).  How many friends do you estimate you could feed if you cooked up 12 pounds of grain (like 12 one-pound boxes of spaghetti)?   Can you explain why some people feel that eating meat is an "ecological luxury"?

Translating Words into Written Symbols and Written Symbols into Words:

• One of my favorite quotes about biology refers to photosynthesis:  "Life is woven out of air by light".  Look at the chemical equation for photosynthesis is this week's readings.  In your own words, explain what you think the author of this quote meant based on the chemical reaction for photosynthesis. 

Relating biology/chemistry/ physics to "common sense" 

• Is there a flaw in thinking that if we were ever to clone a person, like Einstein, a brilliant physicist, we would end up with another brilliant physicist?

To use as springboard to discuss the ethical implications of biology/chemistry/physics

• Where do Human Embryonic Stem Cells (hES cells) come from? What are some of the ethical implications of using hES cells for medical research?

Example 2: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy:  Cognition and Knowledge Taxonomy Table.
Adapted from Anderson et al., (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman, 2001.