Mandy Banet joined the Life Sciences Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (LS-CWSEI) in November of last year after receiving her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of California Riverside. Her role at UBC is two fold – she works with instructors of physiology courses (currently BIOL 260 and BIOL 361) to incorporate teaching methods that are supported by peer-reviewed education research, and she also collaborates with other STLFs and instructors to produce publishable science education research conducted in courses here at UBC. Mandy’s course development focus has been on implementing directed pre-readings, in-class group activities, learning goal/exam alignment, and clicker-driven learning. Her research projects focus on student behaviour and attitudes in response to directed pre-readings, and on examining the effectiveness of different active learning methods (e.g. clickers vs. in-class worksheets). Mandy is happy to chat with instructors about any aspect of teaching.
Contact: banet@zoology.ubc.ca
Megan Barker Megan has a cell/molecular biology and biochemistry background, having completed graduate work at the University of Toronto in protein structure and function. As a new member of the Wieman group, I’m currently working with the Flexible Learning Initiative on Biology 112, and am also exploring research/teaching ideas within Biology 200 and 201. I’m highly interested in developing and using evidence-based methods, specifically for improving student critical thinking and visual literacy. Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about what are our top priorities in what we want students to learn – I’m interested in collaborating together, and listening to any and all ideas!
Contact: megan.barker@gmail.com
Bridgette Clarkston joined the Biology Program as an STLF in January. She has worked primarily with the Fundamentals of Evolution course, Biology 336. Her job involves a lot of coaching and course development; for example, she observes and provides feedback for the instructors and TAs during class, consults with instructors to help align their learning goals to assessment questions and helps develop learning objectives, clicker and discussion questions, tutorial activities and other active-learning components derived from evidence-based pedagogical literature. Outside of her role in BIOL 336, she is working on a couple of research studies – one to determine specific differences in the way faculty vs. undergraduates read and perceive primary literature articles, and another to determine if collaborative testing (a.k.a. group exams) can help students better retain what they’ve learned in class. In the next academic year, Bridgette plans to expand her coaching and development work to other biology courses in the program that focus (at least in part) on evolutionary processes. She is keen to chat with anyone who may be interested in collaborating.
Contact: bclarst@zoology.ubc.ca
Malin Hansen Malin Hansen has worked with instructors of Fundamental of Ecology (BIOL230) and Advanced Ecology (BIOL 306) to develop: 1) clear learning goals, 2) formative assessments (such as targeted pre-readings and conceptual inventories) that provide students and instructors with frequent feedback on progress throughout the term, and 3) teaching strategies that increase student engagement and that provide them with practice in scientific thinking and problem solving (such as the use of iClickers and learning activities with peer discussions). Her research has focused on using in-class activities to increase students’ understanding of population dynamics as well as their skills in graph interpretation and graph drawing. In addition, she is currently finishing a longitudinal study of students’ attitudes towards biology from the beginning to the end of the biology program. She has also developed and implemented several interactive case studies that provide practice in problem solving.
Contact: hansen@zoology.ubc.ca
Lisa McDonnell has been working with the BIOL 234 (Genetics) course instructors. She has designed and implemented targeted pre-readings, tutorial problem sets, in-class worksheets, revised the course learning goals and worked on aligning course material and assessments with the learning goals. Lisa is currently working on a project to measure student’s problem solving skills in the context of genetics. She is interested in working with additional instructors to provide feedback, align course materials with learning goals (and/or create learning goals), assist with the implementation of active learning teaching methods, and measuring the effectiveness of the methods.
Contact: lmcdonne@zoology.ubc.ca
Laura Weir joined the Biology Program in May, 2012. She is interested in the aligning the teaching of phylogenetics across Organismal Diversity courses (BIOL 203, BIOL 204, BIOL 205, BIOL 209 and BIOL 210). In the upcoming Fall semester, she will be conducting a study aimed at helping students learn to compare and contrast concepts through writing short essays in BIOL 204. She will also be involved in a Curriculum Mapping Project with the other LS-CWSEI STLFs and assisting with a new approach to undergraduate advising.
Contact: lweir@zoology.ubc.ca