Retention following Two-Stage Collaborative Exams Depends on Timing and Student Performance

Two-stage collaborative exams have been shown to improve student test grade performance, but do they improve retention of course material? This month’s interesting read features a study conducted in an introductory biology course at UBC in which researchers measured student retention of course content at different time points following a two-stage collaborative exam. They found …

Small changes, big gains: A curriculum-wide study of teaching practices and student learning in undergraduate biology

What teaching practices most effectively promote student learning in UBC undergraduate biology courses? This month’s interesting read describes a large-scale study conducted at UBC in which researchers observed classroom practices and assessed student learning in 31 biology courses (involving more than 3,700 students!). They found that group work was “the most significant positive predictor of learning gains”, particularly when it included …

How to Support Struggling Students

By Christine Goedhart There are a variety of reasons why students don’t reach out for help when they are struggling. Sometimes students are in denial and don’t realize they are struggling, or they mistakenly think that they can figure it out on their own. Some students feel too ashamed or embarrassed to ask for help, …

Instructor Spotlight – Stella Lee

Stella Lee is a Sessional Lecturer in the Department of Zoology. She has a B.Sc. (Animal Biology) and M.Sc. (Zoology) from the University of British Columbia and a Ph.D. in Experimental and Molecular Medicine from Dartmouth. Following her one-year postdoctoral fellowship at Tufts University, she returned to UBC in 2017 for her current teaching position. …

TA Spotlight – Evan Hersh

Evan was born in the San Francisco Bay Area, and majored in Biology and Environmental studies at University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC). He first fell in love with plants during his last two years at UCSC, where he was inspired by some truly amazing professors in his Plant Ecology and Agroecology courses. Chasing his …

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