Entries by trandrew

Recent Research in Science Teaching and Learning

-CBE Life Sciences The Current Insights feature is designed to introduce life science educators and researchers to current articles of interest in other social science and education journals. In this installment, I highlight three diverse research studies: one addresses the relationships between active learning and teaching evaluations; one presents an observation tool for documenting metacognition in the classroom; and the…

University of New Hampshire is Now Accepting Applications for the Postdoctoral Diversity and Innovation Scholars Program

A description of the program and the (5 postdoc cohort of diverse scholars each year) appears on their website at www.unh.edu/diverse-postdoc. A minimum salary of $50,000 (depending on discipline) and a professional development program and professional development fund are also provided. On the website you will find a PDF electronic card that describes the range…

The Effects of Doctoral Teaching Development on Early-Career STEM Scholars’ College Teaching Self-efficacy

– CBE Life Sciences To help prepare future faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to teach undergraduates, more research universities are offering teaching development (TD) programs to doctoral students who aspire to academic careers. Using social cognitive career theory, we examine the effects of TD programs on early-career STEM scholars’ sense of self-efficacy as…

The Impact of a Pedagogy Course on the Teaching Beliefs of Inexperienced Graduate Teaching Assistants

– CBE Life Sciences There has been little attention given to teaching beliefs of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), even though they represent the primary teaching workforce for undergraduate students in discussion and laboratory sections at many research universities. Secondary school education studies have shown that teaching beliefs are malleable and can be shaped by professional…

Despite Similar Perceptions and Attitudes, Postbaccalaureate Students Outperform in Introductory Biology and Chemistry Courses

–CBE Life Sciences Embedding active learning is a common mechanism for meeting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education reform goals. Researchers have identified student benefits from such strategies, yet these benefits may not be universal for all students. We sought to identify how students at a nontraditional university perceive introductory biology and chemistry courses,…

Knowing is Half the Battle: Assessments of Both Student Perception and Performance are Necessary to Successfully Evaluate Curricular Transformation

–PLOSONE Telling is a time-tested and efficient way to communicate information. Just try to keep the strengths and weaknesses of lecturing in mind. The most effective teaching involves looking to communicate information in inefficient ways — that is, in ways that make students work to understand the information, and not just listen passively. A big…

Is it Ever OK to Lecture

–ChronicleVitae Telling is a time-tested and efficient way to communicate information. Just try to keep the strengths and weaknesses of lecturing in mind. The most effective teaching involves looking to communicate information in inefficient ways — that is, in ways that make students work to understand the information, and not just listen passively. A big…