My classrooms are interactive and active. Learning science involves dialog, and my role as instructor is to facilitate and support those conversations. Just as my students are growing and changing, I am constantly adjusting my teaching approach to meet their needs. Presenting material along with relevant current issues keeps students engaged and provides context they can personally identify with, making challenging concepts more accessible. Incorporating self-reflection and personal choice gives them confidence and autonomy. My curriculum is paced to match the students, leaving flexibility to investigate topics that interest them. I believe that learning science is not just about memorizing terms, facts, or concepts, although that is an important component, but also about learning to think critically about a new topic, analyze information, and problem solve.
As an educator, I draw upon my diverse teaching experiences across the U.S., which includes instructing at a community college, small private liberal arts university, and large research institutions. This background guides my efforts to provide an inclusive and encouraging classroom environment for all students.
As an educator, I draw upon my diverse teaching experiences across the U.S., which includes instructing at a community college, small private liberal arts university, and large research institutions. This background guides my efforts to provide an inclusive and encouraging classroom environment for all students.
How do students learn? What do they need to know? Are they retaining this knowledge?
These are the driving questions that motivate and guide me as an educator. In addition to being interested in scientific research, I also engage in scholarly research here at UTA. My subjects? Our students! In order to provide the best education and encourage student success, we need to first know if our methods are appropriate for serving the needs of our unique and diverse student body.
My research interests fall into several broad categories:
These are the driving questions that motivate and guide me as an educator. In addition to being interested in scientific research, I also engage in scholarly research here at UTA. My subjects? Our students! In order to provide the best education and encourage student success, we need to first know if our methods are appropriate for serving the needs of our unique and diverse student body.
My research interests fall into several broad categories:
Prior Experience
Students come to us from diverse backgrounds and arrive with varying levels of preparedness. Some arrive right from high school, others from community college, and many are going back to school after raising families or working. How do they do in our classes? What instructional methods are working for our students, and which ones should be revised? Which concepts do they struggle with the most?
To answer these questions I have implemented two main pedagogical approaches: concept inventories and classroom assessment activities. The incorporation of concept inventories can help educators identify misconceptions, address them during their courses, and then evaluate proficiency. Instructors can use the results of CIs to evaluate their own pedagogy in order to better reach their students. I have incorporated CIs into my non-majors Biology course for several semesters, which has helped me to identify challenging concepts for which I have developed classroom activities. Student learning outcome and exam performance on these topics has improved as a result.
To answer these questions I have implemented two main pedagogical approaches: concept inventories and classroom assessment activities. The incorporation of concept inventories can help educators identify misconceptions, address them during their courses, and then evaluate proficiency. Instructors can use the results of CIs to evaluate their own pedagogy in order to better reach their students. I have incorporated CIs into my non-majors Biology course for several semesters, which has helped me to identify challenging concepts for which I have developed classroom activities. Student learning outcome and exam performance on these topics has improved as a result.
How We Should Teach
Today's students are both technologically savvy and distracted. How can we take advantage of one and mitigate the effects of the other? Incorporating technology into our teaching methods may be one way to engage students. But does it work? Do students in a traditional lecture class have lower performance than those in a media and technology enriched classroom? Are other skills, such as reading comprehension, diminished by the inclusion of video or other forms of media? Understanding how students today absorb and synthesize content is vital if we are to design effective courses and curriculum.
I have recently started investigating the use of Universal Design for Learning principles into my courses design. UDL holds that people learn in different ways and education can be structured such that it supports a diverse body of learners. Taking this as inspiration, I have developed an interactive and multifaceted approach to our General Biology for majors course. Traditional textbooks are expensive, often encyclopedic, and overwhelming for many students. With the goal of improving performance and retention I transitioned our general biology curriculum to be housed entirely on Canvas using the Open Stax Biology text, and OER resource, as its foundation. The course now contains a range of educational modes, including videos, quizzes, an e-text, homework and in-class activities. In addition, since Open Stax is OER, we have modified the content to suite the needs of students and instructors. Finally, as OER, this curriculum can now be delivered to students free of charge. This is the first semester using the new curriculum and I will be evaluating its efficacy over the next couple of years. This work was funded by the UTA College of Science Student Success Initiative grant, through which I also supported an undergraduate student.
I have recently started investigating the use of Universal Design for Learning principles into my courses design. UDL holds that people learn in different ways and education can be structured such that it supports a diverse body of learners. Taking this as inspiration, I have developed an interactive and multifaceted approach to our General Biology for majors course. Traditional textbooks are expensive, often encyclopedic, and overwhelming for many students. With the goal of improving performance and retention I transitioned our general biology curriculum to be housed entirely on Canvas using the Open Stax Biology text, and OER resource, as its foundation. The course now contains a range of educational modes, including videos, quizzes, an e-text, homework and in-class activities. In addition, since Open Stax is OER, we have modified the content to suite the needs of students and instructors. Finally, as OER, this curriculum can now be delivered to students free of charge. This is the first semester using the new curriculum and I will be evaluating its efficacy over the next couple of years. This work was funded by the UTA College of Science Student Success Initiative grant, through which I also supported an undergraduate student.
What We Should Teach
There has been a fascinating movement in recent years to identify the main biological concepts and topics that are vital for scientific literacy. Efforts to provide comprehensive exposure to biological concepts often results in students being overwhelmed and leaving a course with little to no long term retention. Which concepts do they actually need to know and in how much detail? Does a less is more approach in an introductory level course actually enhance learning at the upper level? Also as part of the curriculum updates in our majors course, instructors have spent considerable time assessing what is the foundational knowledge that a biology student needs in order to succeed in upper level courses. We have been able to streamline some content in order to focus on vital concepts. This has also freed up time for more in-class activities.