CNMS Active Student Teaching and Learning Environment - CASTLE

During the past year UMBC’s College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (CNMS) developed plans to create the CNMS Active Science Teaching and Learning Environment or CASTLE to develop and enhance innovative, inquiry-based instruction in its key foundational courses. The CASTLE responds to the need for appropriate space on campus to host new active learning initiatives in science and mathematics and is part of a continuing emphasis on student success and retention. 

The CASTLE will be located in renovated space on the first floor of the University Center (UC 115). This space is centrally located, adjacent to the Dean’s Office, and provides easy access from the four CNMS Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mathematics and Statistics, and Physics. The CASTLE was designed by the college and university to build on the success of the Chemistry Discovery Center, where revamped introductory chemistry courses at UMBC have significantly improved the academic performance of undergraduates through the use of process-oriented, guided-inquiry learning (POGIL). The overall planning goal for the CASTLE has been to establish an environment of flexible, small group learning space appropriate for multiple disciplines within the ~2,400 square-foot space that accommodates over 90 students working in hierarchical groups of 9 and 3.  Seating arrangements, furniture specifications and the AV installation is based on a variety of research results in the science education literature and UMBC’s experience with the Chemistry Discovery Center. Round tables with laptops, multiple electrical outlets, and Internet connections will support the triad-learning teams.

The CASTLE classroom will feature one laptop per three-student learning team, advanced room security measures, two locked storage/office areas, 10 wall-mounted whiteboards, eight wall-mounted LCD monitors networked to laptops, and an instructor’s station with the latest interactive instructional software.   The renovation of the existing space for the CASTLE is scheduled for completion in Fall 2009 although budget considerations may require the phasing in of some furniture and equipment purchases for this space.  The College will control and schedule the space to ensure that it supports innovative active-learning instruction only.  The CNMS faculty, including the instructors responsible for the introductory calculus-based physics courses (PHYS 121 and 122) and the first- and second-level calculus courses (MATH 151 and 152), are working with the college to pilot novel pedagogical approaches within CASTLE. The College will use the CASTLE as an incubator for new strategies and practices in active learning instruction as a way to promote and disseminate these practices throughout its science and mathematics course offerings.

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