BIOG 6500

Pedagogy, Active Learning, and Education Research Training in the Biology

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024.

This course is designed for the graduate student instructors who are interested in teaching in the biological sciences. This course provides transferable pedagogical skills, focusing on discipline-based education research, active learning, undergraduate TA mentoring, metacognition and best teaching practices in biology courses. The course is taught by the Investigative Biology Teaching Laboratories director and educational postdoctoral fellows. Graduate students receive the reading materials (books and journal articles) in advance, and are expected to lead discussions about their chosen topics. Each session will include guided reflections to help instructors connect their own teaching experiences to that week's topic in education research. By the end of the semester students will become familiar with education research, receive training in modern pedagogical methods and will be able to practice their newly gained skills in the courses they teach. They will walk away with a peer-reviewed statement of teaching philosophy that can be used in their teaching portfolios. This course is intended to provide formal training in pedagogy and education research to the graduate student instructors in biology courses, and help them develop a professional teaching portfolio in addition to their teaching experience.

When Offered Fall.

• Students will be able to demonstrate modern pedagogical methods in their own laboratory sections.
• Students will be able to assess active learning strategies used in biology education.
• Students will be able to develop pedagogical strategies based on discipline-based education research.
• Students will be able to implement active learning and other effective teaching methods in science for biology laboratories.
• Students will be able to present a comprehensive statement of teaching philosophy based on education research, modern pedagogical methods and their own teaching experience.

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