A Team-Based Learning Approach to Teaching Meteorology: Putting Students’ Education in Their Hands

It has become a well-established fact that students learn more deeply and retain information longer when they are actively involved with the material being presented, and when they can participate in learning experiences (e.g. Bonwell & Eison 1991; Peterson, 2009; Guthrie & Jones, 2012). As a result of the findings from multiple pedagogical studies, many teachers are pursuing a flipped classroom approach to teaching in order to better engage their students. Many options exist regarding the actual execution of the flipped classroom; and the implementation mechanics utilized for these attempts are critical to the success of the flipped classroom experience. I will present the Team Based Learning (TBL) method, which I have found to work incredibly well for my college-level classes in introductory, synoptic, mesoscale, and radar meteorology. At the heart of TBL, as the name suggests, is in-class group work. Prior to class, individuals are responsible (on their own time) for gaining an introductory understanding of concepts to be taught that week. In class, groups take quizzes together, participate in activities, and complete ‘homework’ assignments.

In this audience engaging presentation, I will first discuss some introductory information about TBL and how to effectively use it in the classroom. Then, I will briefly describe the time management that I use in my classroom. Finally, I will engage the audience in an example of the group quiz structure by dividing them up and having them actually take a quiz; and they will participate in an example thought-provoking application problem and homework problem (if time permits). The topic for these activities will most be based upon QG theory and its application to the formation of midlatitude cyclones.

*NOTE: I read the note on the timing of this session, but I am not completely sure that I follow! The group quiz will take approximately 5 minutes, the application problem approximately 3 minutes and the homework problem approximately 5 minutes, so I think I can make a 13 minute demonstration work. (I am not sure if it’s a one-and-done thing, or a round-robin type format.) This brief demonstration is a consolidation of basically an entire short course, so there is a lot of material that will be excluded at the expense of the time constraint. I will need to show imagery using some sort of display. Depending upon the size of the audience (whole vs. broken down into smaller outbreak groups), I can use my laptop, but it would be more ideal to have a projector (to hook up to my laptop), and an accompanying screen if there will be more than one or two small groups participating at a given time. I would also need access to an electrical outlet. I would have the participants sit at a table or a series of movable desks.