Classes have started at UBC … and I’m already totally inspired by my interactions with students. Yesterday, I spent the day asking students “What story would you tell?” and today we had a lively discussion about “What does science mean?”
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about, “How Scientists Think?” I’m excited to be working on an innovative curricula project here at UBC centered around science as a way of knowing. …more about this later… To this end, I just read this article, “How Scientists Think in the Real World: Implications for Science Education” by [...]
This summer I traveled to the University of Ibadan in Nigeria to participate in the West African Biotechnology Workshops as an invited instructor. Here is an update that I wrote during my stay. Being a scientist in Nigeria means being very resourceful in finding solutions to barriers… the power goes out 2-4x per day or [...]
Here’s an interesting idea, let’s design what we teach around the question, “What do Scientists Do?” I was originally exposed to this simple, but amazingly “outside-the-box” idea, by Ellen Aho, a professor at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. I met Ellen at the ASMCUE 2008 conference where she presented, “The student-led conference style symposia as [...]
The SPIRE postdoctoral fellowship program is “an innovative approach to advance science careers by balancing research, teaching and service.” SPIRE’s Mission: To provide multi-dimensional professional development for science researchers and educators to succeed in academic careers, to bring engaging teaching methods into the classroom, and to increase diversity in science professions. It sounds like a [...]
“Jubilation: One of the reasons that we do Science” – Peter Agre, Nobel Laureate, quoted from his talk at UBC on Nov 2nd, 2006 Each year, the announcements of the Nobel prizes brings us a moment where everybody stops and thinks about Science. It’s an exciting moment – where the wonder of science captures many [...]
I watched the UBC Annual General Meeting via webcast at lunch today. Mainly, I wanted to hear Carl Weiman talk about this new Science Education Iniative. The last time I heard Dr. Weiman talk it was awesome. I have high for hopes for this initiative and what it will enable at UBC.