Innovative Teaching: A selection
Improving learning in a traditional biology lab:
(BIOL 1108L pre Fall 2005)
Handouts: I created weekly handouts for students. My handouts were designed to remedy two central flaws of the manual I was to teach.
Problem 1: The labs were too lengthy, did not reflect current foci of the lecture class, and emphasized memorization of a large body of information without reflection, application or forming connections between concepts.
Solution: My handouts organized information into new and recurring concepts and new terms. They often provided hand-drawn diagrams where the original manual asked for drawings. This left time for reflection, which I encouraged by posing questions that required integrating information or application to real-life situations. I also asked student groups to design questions and used them in a class game.
Problem 2: Students entering my lab often lacked basic skills needed to succeed in my class. Students may have been exposed to these skills but did not know how to apply them in a science class.
Solution: My handouts provided examples and information to help students with skills such as reading comprehension and retention, answering non-multiple choice questions, and understanding the components of good scientific writing. Examples were always taken from class material or scientific sources.
A new inquiry-style organismal biology laboratory manual (BIOL 1108L)
(a highlight of some of my original ideas and contributions)
Journals: Do you remember “the biology Lab Practical Exam?” Lining the benches were rows of organisms (dissected, dead, preserved or modeled) and sticking out were numbered tags – you were to name the organism and the indicated structures. Rote memorization of terms and names is an outdated, flawed and unexciting way to teach biology. To help students become fluent in the language of biology while building the habits of good research biologists I initiated the idea of a “laboratory notebook” to complement new “hand on” and “minds on” activities. Using prompts and questions placed in each of the mini-challenges in a lab, students would be encouraged to actively learn by writing. Further, I recommended that exams be “open lab notebook”, thereby encouraging students to clearly record and review important findings and insights.
Research Proposals: Biology educators are moving towards inquiry-based learning that allows students to become creatively involved in designing the experiments they will run. I see two problems associated with this new model of learning. First, students will not carefully consider all aspects of the design and assess whether it tests the purported claims before running the experiment. Secondly instructors will not get the chance to examine student designs and provide useful feedback until the lab report is written (too late to modify and improve the experimental design). I recommended that students write a research proposal that requires them to collect their ideas, scrutinize their methods and justify their hypotheses. Proposals give instructors the opportunity to provide constructive, detailed feedback before an experiment is performed. Furthermore, as BIOL 1108 is a major’s class, the inclusion of proposal writing helps align our teaching with the skills students need to pursue science careers.
Walking the Walk
Teaching how to teach: Many graduate students receive no teaching instructions or support and those that do often take classes that merely talk about how to teach. I strongly believe that we have a responsibility to provide teacher training for any student who will be given teaching responsibilities and that in so doing we must exemplify the qualities of good teaching that we expect of our student teachers. When I took over design of the Plant Biology Departments graduate teaching seminar (GRSC 7770) I wanted to emphasize active learning and provide multiple opportunities for experimentation and improvement. I had students do multiple mini laboratory introductory presentations rather than one more lengthy presentation. I designed assignments that gave students practice with commenting student written work and designing rubrics and tests. I also required students to attend lectures by award winning teaching faculty, to keep a journal of their experiences and discuss insights with our class. I applied these same principals when I lead laboratory prep session for graduate teaching instructors in the Division of Biology. When teaching the graduate instructors I modeled qualities of active learning myself and encouraged discussion about and experimentation with how to teach the next week’s material.