Group Presentation on Wilson's The Future of Life

CRTW 201

Dr. Fike

Note: Exchange e-mail addresses and phone numbers with your group members so that you can get and keep in touch with each other.

Note: This assignment has three requirements: 1) get your classmates to use the elements; 2) help your classmates understand how to view your chapter through the lens of your group members' major(s); and 3) provide some information that updates your chapter.

Preamble

CRTW means critical reading, thinking, and writing; but the course also involves speaking and listening. The oral presentation assignment gives you an opportunity to practice all of these skills and, I hope, to have some fun as well. I do not want this assignment to be a pain or a great burden, and I especially do not want any group members to shirk their responsibility to make a substantive contribution to prepare and deliver your presentation. Some of you have FBIs about group presentations. Some of you may even hope to coast on others' work. Please be aware of these impediments and try to transform problems into solutions for your group.

The Assignment

Make a period-long group presentation on a chapter from Wilson's book. I will put you in disciplinary groups--groups of majors that have something in common with the chapters' subjects. Your assignment, then, is to help your non-presenting classmates understand how your disciplinary points of view shed a unique and interesting light on your chapter. Doing so means building in what Nosich calls "fundamental and powerful concepts" from your major field(s) of study. Be sure to allow at least 10 minutes at the end of the class for an assessment exercise (see Assessment Form for Group Presentations: you are responsible for bringing copies). Your grade will be based partly on your presentation and partly on the 1-2 page response that each of you writes to the assessment exercise (see below). Note, however, that "presentation" does not imply that your group should lecture for half an hour. Get your classmates engaged in using the elements, not just in taking notes. I want to see them actively engaging with the material, rather than merely passively receiving it from your group. The elements and your disciplinary (major) point(s) of view are the main things to emphasize.

Assessment Paper

Each of you should write 1-2 pages about the following things:

• Your role in preparing and delivering your presentation. Describe what you did.
• Your response to the assessments by your classmates. Respond to the feedback you received about your presentation and especially to the standards check.

Please staple your individual responses together and turn them in as one paper not later than one week after your presentation. They are due in hardcopy; do not e-mail them to me. This little paper is part of your grade. If you do not do it, expect a grade reduction.

Note: If you do not turn in a paper by the second class period following your presentation, I will take 2 points off your individual presentation grade (e.g., 10 will become an 8).

Note: Everybody needs to view the feedback from your classmates; therefore, you will need to meet post-presentation to share that information.

Grading

Grading will be very generous, and I will try to give everyone the same grade:

• 9-10 points out of 10: You got significantly into the chapter's substance, and you got your non-presenting classmates to use the elements of critical thinking. Everyone in your group participated in the presentation. Something about your disciplinary points of view came through in your presentation. In other words, you helped your classmates understand the chapter through the lens of your major(s).
• 8 points out of 10: The same points as above hold true, but there were gaps, glitches, missed opportunities, etc. For example, you are an English major, and you neglected to discuss the literary references in your chapter.
• 7 points out of 10: You failed to capture your classmates' attention, get them to use the elements, look below the surface of the text, etc. A "7" signifies that your presentation was significantly problematic. For example, lecture was your main mode.
• 0-6 out of 10: You missed the presentation and/or did not participate in its preparation and/or delivery.

Note: If you are absent on the day of your group's presentation, there is no way for you to make up the missed work. I will try to give you some credit for your role in the group's preparation, but there is no mechanism for giving you a second chance.

My Role

Obviously, I am available to help your group prepare. A wise group will send at least one member to talk things over with me before the presentation. But remember: We have stated that in CRTW you learn best from each other. This presentation is a great example of that principle. Therefore, I will be completely silent at the back of the room during your presentation unless you call on me. I promise you that I will not say a word and that I will try not to interfere nonverbally. Do not involve me in any group activities that you may assign during your presentation.

A Discussion of Your Presentation by the Elements

The question at issue is this: How can you fruitfully engage your classmates in critical thinking about that chapter? In a nutshell, then, your purpose is to work with a group of your classmates to get the other members of the class to apply the elements and the standards of critical thinking to your chapter in Wilson's book. Your presentation should NOT be a bull session about your classmates' opinions on ecology.

I assume, first of all, that not everyone in your group will be equally meaningfully engaged in this activity. Each of you, however, brings a different strength to your group's project. Find out what that is and divide the tasks up accordingly. Perhaps point of view is worthy of mention in this connection. You could divide your labors as follows: two of you could be co-presenters, two of you could be Wilson experts (the engine behind the group's preparation), one of you could be a computer jock (someone who does the keyboard work, in class and out), and one of you could be the enforcer/coordinator/monitor/organizer/e-mailer. You should all have some kind of speaking role in class, but these roles can be unequal as long as each group member makes a substantive contribution to the success of your presentation.

I further assume that, in teaching, if you tell your classmates what to think, they will forget; that if you show them, they will remember; but that if you involve them, they will understand. These outcomes, of course, suggest the implications and consequences of different teaching strategies: involvement and learning are directly proportional to each other.

Therefore, reasonable conclusions are that you must be responsible for and to other members of your group and that you should strive for a good deal of interaction between your group and the class, as well as within and among small groups of class members.

Obviously, you will need to ensure that the chapter's information is highlighted, though it does not have to be covered in its entirety. The result of the day's activities, however, should be an analysis of the chapter by the elements. Add a few standards, and you will be on the right track.

You are all probably thinking, "Let's just do a PowerPoint slide show." That is the one thing that I will not allow you to do. You must come up with some other alternative that promotes engagement, not passive reception. Photos are okay. Video and audio are also okay. But no PowerPoints, period. No Prezi either. What might you do instead?

In the spirit of collaboration and engagement, you might fruitfully select from an array of alternatives to help your classmates recall the chapter's substance: an "open outline" (a partially completed outline--a "fill in the blank" type of deal), a list of key quotations (assign one or more to each quadrant), passage assignments (assign specific pages to small groups of your classmates and direct them to find  the main points and some key quotations), a quiz, games, a series of SEE-Is, other types of writing in class, and an element search (have groups focus on one or more of the elements on specific pages). There are other possibilities, but you get the idea.

My colleague Dr. Koster makes the following related statement in the assignment sheet for her students' group presentations: "In past classes we've taken quizzes, played Jeopardy!, Pictionary, Go Fish!, and individualized games, watched videos, listened to students rap, watched skits, engaged in question and answer sessions and debates, eaten pizza, determined the instructor’s carbon footprint, and made arts and crafts--it's totally up to your group how you want to engage us. You’re not quizzing us on every fact in your chapter; you’re helping us see the thinking in that chapter from your discipline’s point of view."

Note: http://jeopardylabs.com/ provides a template for creating a Jeopardy show.

As these statements suggest:

Your Presentation Should Be Enjoyable

S: Your class session should be fun for you and for your classmates.

E: In other words, learning should be delightful.

E: For example, play games, hand out candy, use stupid gimmicks, give prizes, bribe them with money, throw stuff. Don't hurt anybody; otherwise, do whatever it takes to get everyone involved.

I: It (delightful learning) is like happiness: it may elude you if you aim for it; but it is a natural by-product of full engagement.

Look, guys and gals, this presentation is your opportunity to inject some fun. I suggest that you take advantage of that opportunity. Spend some time considering how to make your presentation enjoyable. Enough said.

A further imperative to keep in mind is one of the key principles of this course:

Analysis Should Precede Evaluation

S: Front load analysis by the elements.

E: In other words, do evaluation last. The discussion should not consist of indulgence in opinions. It should be an attempt to get to the heart of Wilson's material by using the elements.

E: For example, if the subject is global warming, do not let the discussion devolve into a chorus of, "Well, I think this or that about the issue."  Stick with the elements. Make your classmates think about their thinking.

I: It (doing analysis before evaluation) is like constructing a building: you must build the foundation before it makes sense to erect the superstructure.

What You Should NOT Do

• Depart from the elements and standards.
• Evaluate before you analyze.
• Try to squeeze fallacies out of Wilson where they do not really exist.
• Have a pointless debate that turns into a free-for-all.
• Allow useless bloviating.
• Use PowerPoint or Prezi.
• Lecture on the elements.
• Read your notes.

Feedback

I will provide a typed comment on your group's work when I return your papers. I will return all papers on the same day, so those of you who present first will have to wait for several weeks.

Various Links Re. E. O. Wilson

Biography: http://www.eowilson.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=69 and http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/644678/Edward-O-Wilson and http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/wil2bio-1 and http://unr.edu/homepage/fenimore/wilson/

Interview: http://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript1021.html

Reviews: http://www.yalereviewofbooks.com/archive/spring02/review02.shtml.htm and http://www.kenanmalik.com/reviews/wilson_future.html

Letter to a Southern Baptist Minister: http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2008/07/books-19/

Red List: http://www.iucnredlist.org/