Using the 4 Lenses of Critical Reflection to Uncover Your Teaching Assumptions

By Christine Goedhart “As with all aspects of science and education, new evidence will and should prompt us to revisit our assumptions, question our practices, and make new instructional choices that continuously improve teaching and learning.” (Cooper et al., 2021) We’re now a full year into remote teaching during a global pandemic. During this time …

Teaching Spotlight – Creating Engaging and Real-world Case Studies for BIOL 155 Tutorials

This term in BIOL 155, instructors Agnes Lacombe and Irene Ballagh collaborated with TAs Lindsay Pallo and Lorenzo Lindo to develop engaging case studies for the weekly tutorial sessions. In addition to creating the case studies, Lindsay and Lorenzo also created pre-tutorial videos to help students develop some content knowledge of the case studies before …

Reconsidering the Share of a Think–Pair–Share

The utility of the “share” component in the popular Think-Pair-Share active learning strategy is explored in this month’s Interesting Read. In their consideration, the authors first identify and challenge common assumptions underlying its use, using evidence and recent research. They then offer modifications and alternatives to the share that help to promote equity and inclusion, …

Peer Tutor Spotlight – Keylyn Filewich

My name is Keylyn Filewich and I am from Winnipeg, MB. I am currently finishing the last semester of my Biology degree here at UBC. I am a Peer tutor for BIOL 112 this term and enjoying every second of it! I am also a student athlete at UBC. I play on the women’s basketball …

TA Spotlight – Mary Fossey

Hello! My name is Mary Fossey and I am currently a TA for BIOL 204. I completed both my BSc (major in Biology and minor in Spanish) and my MSc in Kinesiology at UBC. This September, I started my PhD in Experimental Medicine under the supervision of Dr. Christopher West. Our lab is located at ICORD/VGH and investigates the effects of spinal cord injury on the heart and the lungs. My PhD is …

The Transformative Power of Science Identity

By Christine Goedhart I wasn’t very interested in science in high school, so as an undergraduate I put off taking a science course for as long as I could. Two years into my degree, I was finally told that I couldn’t move on until I completed a science course, so I enrolled in an introductory …

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