Category Archives: Study skills

Ramblings From a First-Semester Nonmajors Biology Professor

Posted on January 6, 2015 by

This is a guest post by Naima Montacer, who just finished her first semester as an Adjunct Biology Professor at Mountain View College in Dallas, Texas. To learn more about her wildlife and environmental adventures, visit her website at EnviroAdventures.com … Continue reading →

Posted in Engaging students, Science news, Study skills, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Laptops for Note-Taking? Doonesbury and Psychologists Weigh In

Posted on June 8, 2014 by

The Doonesbury strip for June 8 hit on something I was reading about just yesterday. In the strip, a college professor complains to a class full of distracted students about what he calls “your tragic faith in the efficacy of … Continue reading →

Posted in Engaging students, Instructional technology, Study skills, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Stop-motion Biology Definitions: A Survey

Posted on April 24, 2014 by

Have you heard of Vine? It’s a Twitter app that allows users to record 6-second, looping videos and upload them to Vine and other media, like YouTube and Facebook. We are considering building short stop-motion Vine videos to define the glossary … Continue reading →

Posted in Engaging students, Instructional technology, Study skills, Teaching, Vine | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

“Exam Wrappers” Give Students a Chance to Reflect

Posted on January 17, 2014 by

How can we help students improve their exam scores? We can nag them to “Study more!” or “Study earlier!” or “Study smarter!” But in my experience, nothing has worked as well as a post-exam assessment tool (available on my course website) with … Continue reading →

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How Can They Do Better? Our Students Know the Answer.

Posted on September 25, 2013 by

The exam 1 results are in, and many students are disappointed. Yesterday I handed back exams and asked students to answer this question on a quarter-sheet of paper: Are you satisfied with your exam score? (Yes or no?) If YES, … Continue reading →

Posted in Study skills, Teaching | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Exam 1 Tutoring Session

Posted on September 17, 2012 by

This post is written by Matt Taylor As the fourth week of classes comes to a close, students are preparing for their first biology test (which in this case is mostly about chemistry). Some seek help from tutors, like me. … Continue reading →

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