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Transformative Education: Students in the Spotlight - A Holistic Pedagogical Approach

Received: 7 October 2019     Accepted: 23 October 2019     Published: 31 October 2019
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Abstract

Inspired by the shortcomings of traditional pedagogical approaches to post-secondary education, the Primary Investigator created from first principles a new educational initiative termed Transformative Education. Rejection of conventional teacher-student dynamics and classroom-centric learning stand at the core of this new modus operandi, which began at the American University of Beirut (AUB). In its place, the PI proposed Transformative Education to widen the breadth of learning to occur mainly outside of the classroom and to shift the locus of control into the hands of the students. The new teaching style is explored through several subsidiary initiatives, beginning first with the establishment of the Organic Chemistry Club (OCC). The OCC initially brought together students of the discipline to administer student-lead tutoring clinics but soon began to incorporate pupils of diverse majors to work on larger scale projects. The series of Organic Chemistry Competitions (OC) were the pioneering event, which utilized the Personal Response System to bring together undergraduates in an international competition. The model set forth by these series of competitions, one of local organization by the student body to host a large scale event with international participants, was proven to be generalizable to any discipline, as evidenced by the subsequent Medical Competitions. Following in line with the staple of students being at the epicenter of Transformative Education, the PI crafted the undergraduate Medical Research Volunteer Program (MRVP), a platform of experiential learning whose establishment has resulted in multiple publications and awards. Another series of events aimed at students are the Mentoring, Makhlouf Haddadin, and IgNobel Lectureships, which consistently see significant student turnout seeking career/life counseling, chemical innovation and scientific curiosities, respectively. Another initiative lies in the annual ChemCarnival. Said celebration of chemistry through visual demonstrations of extravagant experiments summarizes the entire Transformative Education drive by demonstrating both core tenants of extra-curricular involvement and student engagement. It is the opinion of the PI that the success of this new approach be taken together and not by viewing each event individually; the Gestalt of this new pedagogical approach is more than the arithmetic sum of its parts. Through experimentation with several initiatives, it is clear to see that the results demonstrate a sustained and tangible impact on the careers of students, advocating the further use and development of Transformative Education.

Published in Science Journal of Education (Volume 7, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.sjedu.20190705.12
Page(s) 107-113
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Transformative Education, Experiential Learning, Outreach Activities

References
[1] A. S. Shaari, N. M. Yusoff, I. M. Ghazali, R. H. Osman, and N. F. M. Dzahir (2014). The Relationship Between Lecturers’ Teaching Style and Students’ Academic Engagement. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 118, 10-20.
[2] K. Klara, N. Hou, A. Lawman, and L.-Q. Wang (2013). Developing and Implementing a Collaborative Teaching Innovation in Introductory Chemistry From The Perspective of an Undergraduate Student. Journal of Chemical Education 90, 401-404.
[3] G. Trammell, P. F. M. Koehler, D. W. Pratt, V. N. Garkov, R. R. Gotwals, M. R. Wang, and A. Bishop (2010). Meeting The Challenges of Teaching Chemistry for General Education Students: Summary of The Fall 2007 ConfChem Conference. Journal of Chemical Education 87, 1455-1457.
[4] J. P. Grinias (2017). Making a Game Out of It: Using Web-Based Competitive Quizzes for Quantitative Analysis Content Review. Journal of Chemical Education 94, 1363-1366.
[5] B. J. Brooks and M. D. Koretsky (2011). The Influence of Group Discussion on Students’ Responses and Confidence During Peer Instruction. Journal of Chemical Education 88, 1477-1484.
[6] M. J. Nee (2010). Book Review of Clickers in Action: Increasing Student Participation in General Chemistry by Margaret R. Asirvatham. Journal of Chemical Education 87, 784.
[7] Web page for the Organic Chemistry Competition. http://www.aub.edu.lb/fas/chemistry/oc (accessed October 2019).
[8] Prof. Bilal R. Kaafarani’s YouTube channel, featuring videos of all competitions and other Transformative Education events. https://www.youtube.com/user/BilalRKaafarani (accessed October 2019).
[9] Video of "Organic Chemistry Style". http://youtu.be/eWuj_x3tbvE (accessed October 2019).
[10] Video of "OC Number Four". https://youtu.be/TqUsdWYEKiY (accessed October 2019).
[11] OCC's YouTube channel, featuring some interviews conducted by a student from the PI's team. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq1EWS2wU_ZoiTNH3OBErQg (Accessed October 2019).
[12] L. I. Khalil, K. M. Chahine, and B. R. Kaafarani (2015). International Organic Chemistry Competition: A Thrilling, Unique Experience. Journal of Chemical Education 92, 401-404.
[13] Web page for the Medical Competition. http://www.aub.edu.lb/mc (accessed October 2019).
[14] Y. Hur and S. Kim (2009). What Qualities Do Medical School Applicants Need to Have? - Secondary Publication. Yonsei Medical Journal 50, 427-436.
[15] D. Sălăvăstru (2014). Experiential Learning and the Pedagogy of Interrogation in the Education of Adults. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 142, 548-552.
[16] S. Yardley, P. W. Teunissen, and T. Dornan (2012). Experiencial Learning: Transforming Theory Into Practice. Medical Teacher 34, 161-164.
[17] M. M. Dagher, J. A. Atieh, M. K. Soubra, S. J. Khoury, H. Tamim, B. R. Kaafarani (2016). Medical Research Volunteer Program (MRVP): Innovative Program Promoting Undergraduate Research In The Medical Field. BMC Medical Education 16, 160.
[18] L. S. Vygotsky, The Collected Works of LS Vygotsky: Problems of the theory and History of Psychology; Springer Science & Business Media, 1997; Vol. 3.
[19] A. Brewerton (2002). Mentoring. Liber Quaterly 12, 361-380.
[20] A. C. Iversen, N. A. J. Eady, and S. C. Wessely (2014). The Role of Mentoring In Academic Career Progression: A Cross-Sectional Survey of The Academy of Medical Sciences Mentoring Scheme. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 107, 308-317.
[21] Web page for the Mentoring Talks. http://www.aub.edu.lb/mentoringtalks (accessed October 2019).
[22] J. A. Nottingham, J. Nottingham, and M. Renton, Challenging Learning Through Dialogue: Strategies to Engage Your Students and Develop Their Language of Learning 2016.
[23] V. E. Frankl, Man's Search For Meaning; Simon and Schuster, 1985.
[24] Video of Sir Fraser’s mentoring talk. https://youtu.be/TThzr6FADWc (accessed October 2019).
[25] Web page for the Makhlouf Haddadin Awards and Lectureships. http://www.aub.edu.lb/haddadin (accessed October 2019).
[26] Web page for the Improbable Research. https://www.improbable.com (accessed October 2019).
[27] Web page for the Public Talks by Ig Nobel Prize winners at AUB. http://www.aub.edu.lb/ignobel (accessed October 2019).
[28] Web page for the ChemCarnival. http://www.aub.edu.lb/chemcarnival (accessed October 2019).
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Dina El Achi, Nabil M. Halabi, Bilal R. Kaafarani. (2019). Transformative Education: Students in the Spotlight - A Holistic Pedagogical Approach. Science Journal of Education, 7(5), 107-113. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjedu.20190705.12

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    ACS Style

    Dina El Achi; Nabil M. Halabi; Bilal R. Kaafarani. Transformative Education: Students in the Spotlight - A Holistic Pedagogical Approach. Sci. J. Educ. 2019, 7(5), 107-113. doi: 10.11648/j.sjedu.20190705.12

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    AMA Style

    Dina El Achi, Nabil M. Halabi, Bilal R. Kaafarani. Transformative Education: Students in the Spotlight - A Holistic Pedagogical Approach. Sci J Educ. 2019;7(5):107-113. doi: 10.11648/j.sjedu.20190705.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.sjedu.20190705.12,
      author = {Dina El Achi and Nabil M. Halabi and Bilal R. Kaafarani},
      title = {Transformative Education: Students in the Spotlight - A Holistic Pedagogical Approach},
      journal = {Science Journal of Education},
      volume = {7},
      number = {5},
      pages = {107-113},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjedu.20190705.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjedu.20190705.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjedu.20190705.12},
      abstract = {Inspired by the shortcomings of traditional pedagogical approaches to post-secondary education, the Primary Investigator created from first principles a new educational initiative termed Transformative Education. Rejection of conventional teacher-student dynamics and classroom-centric learning stand at the core of this new modus operandi, which began at the American University of Beirut (AUB). In its place, the PI proposed Transformative Education to widen the breadth of learning to occur mainly outside of the classroom and to shift the locus of control into the hands of the students. The new teaching style is explored through several subsidiary initiatives, beginning first with the establishment of the Organic Chemistry Club (OCC). The OCC initially brought together students of the discipline to administer student-lead tutoring clinics but soon began to incorporate pupils of diverse majors to work on larger scale projects. The series of Organic Chemistry Competitions (OC) were the pioneering event, which utilized the Personal Response System to bring together undergraduates in an international competition. The model set forth by these series of competitions, one of local organization by the student body to host a large scale event with international participants, was proven to be generalizable to any discipline, as evidenced by the subsequent Medical Competitions. Following in line with the staple of students being at the epicenter of Transformative Education, the PI crafted the undergraduate Medical Research Volunteer Program (MRVP), a platform of experiential learning whose establishment has resulted in multiple publications and awards. Another series of events aimed at students are the Mentoring, Makhlouf Haddadin, and IgNobel Lectureships, which consistently see significant student turnout seeking career/life counseling, chemical innovation and scientific curiosities, respectively. Another initiative lies in the annual ChemCarnival. Said celebration of chemistry through visual demonstrations of extravagant experiments summarizes the entire Transformative Education drive by demonstrating both core tenants of extra-curricular involvement and student engagement. It is the opinion of the PI that the success of this new approach be taken together and not by viewing each event individually; the Gestalt of this new pedagogical approach is more than the arithmetic sum of its parts. Through experimentation with several initiatives, it is clear to see that the results demonstrate a sustained and tangible impact on the careers of students, advocating the further use and development of Transformative Education.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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Author Information
  • Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Department of Biology, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Department of Chemistry, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

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