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 [...]
I recently read this Idea Paper about “Student Goal Orientation, Motivation, and Learning” by Marilla D. Svinicki. It’s interesting to think about what motivates the students we teach. I think this paper summarizes nicely how to reach out to the majority of students: Prioritize Learning Expect Success Make Your Class a Safe Place Encourage Community [...]
I just finished writing a TLEF grant to support the UBC MIX project. I’m pretty excited about the potential of this project. UBC MIX is a project that creates new learning experiences for UBC students by developing cross-discipline and cross-faculty partnerships between courses already taught at UBC. UBC MIX brings together faculty members interested in [...]
As the new semester starts back into full swing, I’m still digesting the student evaluations that I carried out last term. Here’s the full report. Stay tuned for a more detailed analysis…
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 [...]
I recently attended this talk by Robert Gateman. Many of us know Robert Gateman as the flamboyant, somewhat bizarre, yet somehow appealing ECON 101 prof we had, or wish we had, in first-year. But how much do we really know about the most talked about UBC instructor on ratemyprofessors.com? Click here for the full Ubyssey [...]
Today I stopped in at the 2008 UBC Learning Conference “Bring Goals to Fruition” Learning Goals Workshop, presented by members of the UBC Earth and Ocean Sciences Science Education Initiative. Building effective learning goals is a corner stone for increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the teaching / learning experiences for both you and your [...]
The ASM Education Department offers professional development institutes that aim to improve science teaching. I first heard about these “Bioinformatics Institutes” for educators at the ASMCUE 2008 meeting. The official tag line for this conference for undergraduate educators was “Celebrating 15 years of Teaching Excellence,” however, the subtext that emerged for me was the sorry [...]