I am part of two projects collaborating with research faculty and science educators aiming to renew the biology undergraduate program.
1. Undergraduate Biology-Program Evaluation and Renewal
The project aims to define biology program-level learning outcomes (PLOs) and competencies and to map skill and content coverage across the undergraduate biology curriculum to improve instruction and better prepare our graduates for a diversity of career paths. We plan and conduct surveys and interviews with instructors of key courses to assess PLOs and core competencies taught in the biology undergraduate program as well as analyze and communicate the collected data on students’ science self-efficacy and proficiencies.
2. Advancing Education Renewal
I am working with science educators and research faculty on the transformation and redesign of Biology’s large, first year laboratory course (BIOL140). The project aims to implement evidence-based pedagogy in this course through the development of a highly structured, student-centered curriculum that is shared across multiple sections each taught by individual research and teaching faculty. For the BIOL140 redesign, we use the C.R.E.A.T.E. (Consider, Read,Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze and interpret data, and Think of the next Experiment) method to teach students the intensive analysis of primary research literature to demystify and humanize scientific research for undergraduate students. Diverse skills and pedagogical tools are taught, developed, and applied (e.g., concept mapping, sketching, visualization, transformation of data, experimental design, oral and written communication) to gain a deep understanding methods and biological principles. Using pre- and post-term student surveys, we are able to present evidence of student improvements of material understanding and comprehension. This work is the foundation of an exciting study that our group is working on how C.R.E.A.T.E influences outcome achievement of visible and non-visible minority student groups, as well as how the instructor group (postdoc, researcher, teaching faculty) is affecting student performance and understanding.
1. Undergraduate Biology-Program Evaluation and Renewal
The project aims to define biology program-level learning outcomes (PLOs) and competencies and to map skill and content coverage across the undergraduate biology curriculum to improve instruction and better prepare our graduates for a diversity of career paths. We plan and conduct surveys and interviews with instructors of key courses to assess PLOs and core competencies taught in the biology undergraduate program as well as analyze and communicate the collected data on students’ science self-efficacy and proficiencies.
2. Advancing Education Renewal
I am working with science educators and research faculty on the transformation and redesign of Biology’s large, first year laboratory course (BIOL140). The project aims to implement evidence-based pedagogy in this course through the development of a highly structured, student-centered curriculum that is shared across multiple sections each taught by individual research and teaching faculty. For the BIOL140 redesign, we use the C.R.E.A.T.E. (Consider, Read,Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze and interpret data, and Think of the next Experiment) method to teach students the intensive analysis of primary research literature to demystify and humanize scientific research for undergraduate students. Diverse skills and pedagogical tools are taught, developed, and applied (e.g., concept mapping, sketching, visualization, transformation of data, experimental design, oral and written communication) to gain a deep understanding methods and biological principles. Using pre- and post-term student surveys, we are able to present evidence of student improvements of material understanding and comprehension. This work is the foundation of an exciting study that our group is working on how C.R.E.A.T.E influences outcome achievement of visible and non-visible minority student groups, as well as how the instructor group (postdoc, researcher, teaching faculty) is affecting student performance and understanding.