What Do I Teach?
I teach ecology and environmental science at both the undergraduate and graduate level. At the undergraduate level, I have been a teaching assistant for the following courses in the Biology Department at Duke University: (1) General Ecology and (2) Trees & Shrubs of North Carolina. At the graduate level, I have been a teaching assistant for courses in Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment & Earth Sciences. These graduate courses all focus on wetland ecosystems and are primarily targeted at students in the Nicholas School’s Master of Environmental Management program. The graduate courses include the following: (1) Wetland Ecology & Management; (2) Coastal & Estuarine Wetland Ecology & Management; (3) Wetland Field Skills; and (4) Wetland Restoration. Due to the wide range of courses, my role as a teaching assistant has been very class dependent. In the undergraduate courses, my primary responsibility was the organization and teaching of field and laboratory sections. This task involved organizing field and laboratory experiments, providing short introductory lectures to help the students get focused and interested in the activities, and grading/providing feedback to independent student research papers and lab reports. In the graduate-level courses, I have been responsible for various components of the courses including the following: (1) planning 75 minute lecture/class activities; (2) creating and grading exams, quizzes, problem sets, and written assignments; (3) organizing class discussions, field trips, field experiments, and visiting speakers; (4) organizing the course management websites (Blackboard); and (5) serving as the primary contact for students with questions/problems. Please note that all but one of the course names above are also links that will display the appropriate course syllabus.
What Are The Objectives Of These Courses?
The objectives of these courses vary greatly; the students range from undergraduate non-science majors where the course may be their first and only college-level science class to Master’s and Doctoral students that are interested in gaining very specific research or environmental management skills. Whereas the undergraduate courses often serve as introductions to ecological and environmental science principles and a reinforcement of the scientific method, the graduate-level courses are geared towards expanding on previously-learned principles, developing professional skills, and applying science to real-world environmental management situations. The objectives of specific courses can be found in the course syllabii links above. In addition to gaining discipline-based knowledge and tools, important general objectives that extend across all of these courses include improving the students’ abilities to: (1) identify, investigate, and discuss important ecological and environmental questions; (2) communicate via writing and speaking; (3) work in groups; (4) find, collect, and analyze information; and (5) use technology (e.g., data management software, information databases, field & laboratory equipment, presentation tools) to effectively achieve these objectives.
How Do Students Learn & What Is My Role As A Teacher?
“Tell me, and I will forget
Show me, and I may remember
Involve me, and I will understand”
Confucius
Ecology and environmental science courses are great opportunities for experiential learning-based activities. I enjoy teaching courses where outdoor learning is a critical and traditional element of the curriculum. As a student, I typically needed to review information that was covered solely in a lecture or text format three times as much as the information that was covered in field or class activities. As a teacher, I have noted the same results in many students; experiential learning plays a tremendously important role in generating student interest and promoting long-term understanding and problem solving skills. Furthermore, students learn in different ways and experiential learning-based activities have been shown to cater to diverse learning styles. Ideally, a field or class activity would target all four stages of Kolb's experiential learning cycle (experience, reflection, conceptualization, and experimentation; 1984). Here are some examples of field trips and experiments I have helped organize and implement as a teaching assistant (note the links to relevant documents in parentheses): (1) Wetland Ecology & Management field trip: Wetlands of Coastal North Carolina (itinerary, handout with background information); (2) Wetland Field Skills weekly field experiments and assignments (Duke Forest Vegetation Sampling Assignment, Groundwater Analysis Assignment); (3) Trees & Shrubs of NC biweekly plant identification trips (list of species covered); and (4) General Ecology weekly field and laboratory assignments (Laboratory Syllabus). These activities initially target the experience and even experimentation portion of the cycle. The reflection and conceptualization stages of the cycle are reached via discussions and follow-up assignments. Much of my role as a teacher is to plan for and provide the appropriate conditions for the intitial experience, provide prompts for the reflection stage, and help the students conceptualize the experience using basic principles and previous research.
Despite the value of field-based activites and experiments, lecture is an integral part of many science courses. Much research has shown that traditional teacher-centered lectures are less effective than lectures that promote active student participation (Ebert-May et al. 1997, Herreid 1998, Bransford 2000, Handelsman et al. 2004). I try to avoid lengthy and teacher-focused lectures. When I do lecture, I make an effort to limit the amount of consecutive lecture time to 15-20 minute digestible segments and engage students via discussion questions and collaborative learning activities (small group activities like this one: Salt Marsh & Mangrove Pre-Lecture Activity, where the group activity is tightly connected to this powerpoint lecture: Introduction to Salt Marsh and Mangrove Lecture-ppt-pdf).
How Do I Use Technology To Facilitate Learning?
When appropriately matched to teaching objectives, technology can be a very powerful tool for facilitating learning. To learn more about how and why I use technology in my teaching, read my Teaching with Technology Statement.
References
Bransford, J. D. 2000. How people learn. National Academy Press Washington, DC.
Ebert-May, D., C. Brewer, and S. Allred. 1997. Innovation in Large Lectures: Teaching for Active Learning. BioScience 47:601-607.
Handelsman, J., D. Ebert-May, R. Beichner, P. Bruns, A. Chang, R. DeHaan, J. Gentile, S. Lauffer, J. Stewart, and S. M. Tilghman. 2004. Scientific Teaching. Science 304:521-522.
Herreid, C. F. 1998. Why Isn't Cooperative Learning Used to Teach Science? BioScience 48:553-559.
Kolb, D. A. 1984. Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Prentice-Hall Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
