I consider teaching to be the most important part of my job and have chosen to pursue my career as a biologist at a primarily undergraduate institution for this reason.
As a teacher, I try to facilitate understanding of biological principles and foster an interest in learning that does not diminish upon the completion of a given class
or the receipt of a diploma.
In planning my classes, my goal is to challenge the students, while making the material accessible and personally relevant to them. In pursuit of this goal, I teach almost
exclusively from the primary literature and use the textbook as a supplementary reference. This strategy has several worthwhile outcomes. First, it familiarizes the students
with the way in which science is communicated among practitioners of the discipline and allows them to see science as a process. Second, it underscores two skills that I want students
to improve upon- data analysis and interpretation. If nothing else, I want students who have been in my class to leave with an understanding of the ways in which biological data are
analyzed and a fluency in reading graphical presentations of biological data. Third, it aids in accessibility of the material. Rather than being encountered second-hand, we are
considering original research papers by the original authors. This is important, because I want my students to relate to the material not as detached ideas confined within a textbook,
but as the results of inquiry by countless observers of nature. To that end, I supplement discussion of ecological concepts with discussion of the scientists who made those discoveries.
I give interesting anecdotes about them, and I often refer to the work of my colleagues. When appropriate, I also talk about my research in the context of the day’s topic. I want the
students to see that real people make scientific discoveries- people with quirks, people who often work for long periods in relative anonymity, people who are not unlike themselves.
In addition to the class as a whole, I also consider specific learning goals for each component of a class that I teach. For example, Ecology is a course in which the students are asked to
subject field data to rigorous statistical analysis and make an informed interpretation of the outcomes of their analyses. Statistics is a field that many students approach with trepidation.
In teaching this component of the class, I developed the analogy of a “statistical driver’s license.” When an individual applies for a traditional driver’s license, they are not asked to
demonstrate understanding of the mechanical concepts that underlie the operation of an automobile, nor are they asked to understand the inner workings of the engine. Instead, they must demonstrate
the ability to operate an automobile and safely maneuver it from point A to point B while obeying all posted traffic laws. I take this same approach to statistics. In a class such as Ecology,
I am not interested in the students learning the mathematical basis for statistical operations or understanding the calculations themselves. Rather, I want the students to be able to take a set of
ecological data and perform the appropriate analysis (point A to point B) while understanding the rules that govern the application of a particular test and its interpretation (posted traffic laws).
I have had rewarding feedback from students regarding this approach.
My teaching philosophy is implemented with an emphasis on lecture. This is not to say that my classes are one-sided, but rather an acknowledgement of lecture as my primary mode of instruction. Peer
reviews of my teaching praise the active role of students in the classroom, and the students are necessary and active participants in my lectures. I give lectures in an extemporaneous and adaptive
fashion that lends itself to student involvement in a variety of ways. If it appears that a given concept is proving difficult to understand, I will improvise a hypothetical scenario and ask the students
to work through the scenario with me. I may then cover an example from the literature, with much of the interpretative assessment of that example coming from me. If the students give the impression
that a concept is more readily understood, I will change my strategy and guide them through the literature example in a question-and-answer style, allowing them to devise hypotheses and interpret
graphs from the paper of interest.
My teaching has been well received by both students and peers. My student evaluations are very strong from a quantitative perspective, and the narrative feedback is overwhelmingly positive.
My peer reviews have likewise been positive. In spite of this success, my goal as a teacher is to consistently improve in all aspects of instruction. I want the discussion of each topic to
be better than the last time I covered it, and I never want to be in a position where I am completely satisfied with a given lecture. As such, I use several strategies to help improve my teaching.
Before each class, I review the literature in search of new examples of ecological phenomena. I do not always find a study that is better than the one I previously used, but
the exercise itself often reinforces what makes a given study such an exemplar, a perspective that I can then share with the students. In addition, each time I teach a given concept, I try to find a
new aspect of the material that piques my interest. I often spend considerable time researching that aspect with a renewed appreciation for its importance in the “big picture” to which it contributes.
After each class, I make mental and written notes about approaches that succeeded and approaches that were not successful, along with ideas for the presentation of that material the next semester. In
addition to improving the quality of instruction, these exercises help me maintain a fresh perspective on the subject. Every semester, there are new students in my classes. No matter how many times
I have taught a given topic, it is often their first experience with those concepts. I owe it to them to make that experience a good one. |