Karen Smith is the BIOL 112 Coordinator for the Biology program and a Lecturer in the Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology. She is also the Faculty Lead for the Student Diversity Initiative in Science and a Faculty Fellow for the first year orientation programs, Imagine, Jump Start and Collegia. Karen is the recipient of the …
Author Archives: Christine Goedhart
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 …
Instructor Spotlight – Lacey Samuels
Professor Samuels has a B.Sc. in Neurobiology from McGill University in Montreal, and a Ph.D. in Botany, from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC., Canada. She did post-doctoral studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA and at UBC Vancouver, where she has been a faculty member since 2000. Research in the Samuels …
The #1 Thing Your Students Want You To Do
By Christine Goedhart To gain a better understanding of the experiences and needs of our students, we recently interviewed a number of UBC students who had completed biology courses. In their responses to the interview questions, these students generously shared many things that instructors could do to improve the experiences of students in their courses. …
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TA Spotlight – Rhea Storlund
Rhea Storlund is a PhD student in the Marine Mammal Research Unit supervised by Dr. Andrew Trites and Dr. Dave Rosen. Her research interests lie in understanding how the circulatory systems of marine mammals contribute to their impressive diving abilities. To this end, she investigates cardiovascular adjustments in Steller sea lions and the structure and …
TA Spotlight – Katelyn Janzen
“I never thought that I’d enjoy TAing and never expected to want to teach as a career, but TAing as much as I have has shown me how much fun and how rewarding it can be.” Katelyn Janzen earned her undergraduate degree in Cellular and Molecular Genetics at the University of the Fraser Valley, …
5 Ways to Get Students Excited and Engaged on the First Day of Class
By Christine Goedhart First impressions are powerful, and the thoughts, feelings and expectations that students form about your course during the first day will follow them throughout the term. Here are five things that you can do on the first day of class to set the right tone and get your students excited, engaged, and …
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Instructor Spotlight – Brett Couch
Brett Couch is a Senior Instructor in the departments of Botany and Zoology. He has taught and developed the lab component of BIOL203. He also serves as the chair of the Botany Local Safety Team and is a member of the Faculty of Science Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee. In addition to teaching, …