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Recent Posts
- Using Google Forms for biology class: A free tool with many uses
- Mindset Matters for Teachers, Too
- Does Comedy Add Interest, or Does It Distract from Scientific Rigor?
- Inching Toward Inclusivity, One Instructor at a Time
- This might just be my new favorite book about teaching…
- Seven Strategies for Sustaining Student Engagement Online
- A New Way to Look at Red-Green Colorblindness
- “BiteScis”: Bite-sized research to promote scientific thinking
- What Does a STEM Professional Look Like? One Graduate Student’s Perspective
- Calling on students at random: What are the keys to success?
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Category Archives: Teaching
Mindset Matters for Teachers, Too
Mindset has been a recurring theme throughout my blog posts. (If you need a quick primer on the difference between fixed and growth mindset, you can find a good summary here.) In a nutshell, people with a fixed mindset believe … Continue reading
Inching Toward Inclusivity, One Instructor at a Time
Like many instructors, I have spent the past year or so thinking more about enhancing inclusivity and a sense of “belonging” in my college classroom. One thought-provoking paper from CBE — Life Sciences Education that recently came my way has … Continue reading
Posted in Equity and inclusion, genetics, Teaching
Tagged CBE -- Life Sciences Education, disability, female, gender identity, genotype, Karen G. Hales, language, male, nonbinary, pedigree, phenotype, race, sex, transgender
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This might just be my new favorite book about teaching…
Last month, I bought and read Terry McGlynn’s excellent new book, The Chicago Guide to College Science Teaching (published 2020). It is one of those books that hits the rare combination of being informed by educational research without dwelling on … Continue reading
A New Way to Look at Red-Green Colorblindness
When we cover genetics in our nonmajors biology classes, many of us use red-green colorblindness as a familiar example of X-linked inheritance. We may even ask our students to indicate whether they can see the numbers or symbols in Ishihara … Continue reading
“BiteScis”: Bite-sized research to promote scientific thinking
Are you looking for biology lessons that promote scientific thinking, are classroom-tested, and are fully customizable to your own needs? On second thought, who isn’t? While reading The American Biology Teacher recently, I learned about a good source: BiteScis, a … Continue reading
What Does a STEM Professional Look Like? One Graduate Student’s Perspective
I encourage you to visit today’s Science Careers website and read the moving commentary entitled Why I’ve struggled with the pressure to assimilate when teaching. The author is Montrai Spikes, a graduate student in Biology at the University of Oklahoma … Continue reading
Posted in Equity and inclusion, STEM, Teaching
Tagged graduate student, Montrai Spikes, University of Oklahoma
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Calling on students at random: What are the keys to success?
Lofty principles of equal opportunity guide our country and our schools, but the truth is that not everyone is treated fairly, and not everyone’s voice has an equal chance of being heard. As instructors, we must confront the painful idea … Continue reading
Instructors: Be kind to your future self
I’ve posted a few times on helping your students cultivate a growth mindset. But I think its also important to think about our own mindsets as instructors. How can we cultivate a growth mindset about teaching, learn from our mistakes, and … Continue reading
Posted in Mindset, Teaching
Tagged course planning, future self, growth mindset, note to self, PowerPoint, present self
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My Students Need Help Asking for Help; Do Yours?
We finished exam 2 in my nonmajors biology class last week, and after the exam was over, I had an epiphany: Very few students asked me for help. For context, I’ve been doing this job for more than 20 years. … Continue reading
Posted in Engaging students, Study skills, Teaching
Tagged Action Center, office hours, procrastination, professors, struggling students
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