Remote, or in person, I am dedicated to all students’ physical, mental, and emotional well-being regardless of color, religion, sexual or gender orientation
Teaching Philosophy
Corvids such as crows or ravens are highly sociable animals that learn from each other throughout their lives. Likewise, I learn from my students about what effective teaching is and I am committed to cultivating a community of learners that encourages an enthusiasm for learning in all the classes I teach. Ornithology is an upper-level course that draws upon my area of research, while Introductory Biology covers a very broad range on concepts from metabolism to human evolution. Because the students are very different in the two classes, advanced biology majors compared to incoming freshmen, I have different objectives and approaches depending on the course. I expect my incoming freshmen students to have varying background knowledge, so I focus my efforts to teach them skill-based learning like how to synthesize information to draw their own conclusions. For Ornithology, students must have passed several prerequisite biology courses, so I’m more oriented towards evaluation and extended thinking. The common goal I have for both upper-division and introductory courses is that students can cultivate a sense of creativity and enjoyment of science that they may carry with them throughout their careers.
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I followed a non-traditional path towards my science career. I began my undergrad as a history major until my interest in science was sparked at the University of Alaska Museum Bird Lab where I learned how to prepare bird specimens for museum collections. I grew into my field of research with this hands-on experience, so my teaching philosophy is focused on bringing students towards higher level cognitive skills as outlined in Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom & Krathwohl 1956). The foundation of any classes is to build up a student’s knowledge, which I then apply by drawing out cell features in my introductory Biology lab, or feature structures in Ornithology with my students. By demonstrating an exemplar of a sketch, my students know that one does not have to be an artist in order to illustrate a complex concept. We synthesize information by presenting posters and PowerPoint presentations to the class where the students cite evidence to defend a species delineation in Ornithology or construct a clear argument for how they were able to genetically transform E. coli in their lab reports.
Success as a science educator is my students leaving class realizing that science is not an abstract field. The activities we do in introductory biology lab have direct, real world applications that I feel are often left out of content heavy courses. At the beginning of each class period, I dedicate a few minutes to present several examples of what we will discuss that day and the importance of each topic. For example, for the unit on diffusion I discuss how the increase of atmospheric CO2 is correlated with ocean acidification, which corrodes the shells of fragile marine organisms, such as developing shellfish. Students often quote these examples in their quiz answers the following week, demonstrating that they are retaining the information despite the overwhelming course load many of them have. Since most of my students in this class are incoming freshman who are not used to the demands that college places on them. I consistently receive student feedback that my class is a fun, engaging space that create enthusiasm for learning, and I believe that such feedback is testament to the types of examples I integrate in my classes to illustrate concepts.
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Rebecca draws on her personal experience and enthusiasm to engage students”
I know if I have reached my goals as an instructor by assessing my students based on varying depths of knowledge as described by Webb (2002). Students in introductory courses are given complexes protocols they must follow in order to complete their experiment, and if it fails the students must then critique their technique and infer why they did not get the expected results for full credit. In the upper-division Ornithology course, students conduct a small group project that identifies a problem in bird conservation they wish to address through proposing an experiment, what sort of data they would collect, and how they would use this evidence to defend their position or inform a solution. Groups then present their project idea to the class who are then asked to evaluate proposals based on the clarity of the research in an informal, formative way by recording their critiques in lab notebooks which are graded on participation.
In the upper-level, elective Ornithology lab course that I teach, students enter with varying levels of background knowledge of birds. My course goal is that students will have a greater appreciation for birds, their biology, and their ecology beyond their college days. The most effective way for people to appreciate birds is, to first, be able to identify them. Birds can be identified using various cues, including field markings, range, habitat, and songs. Many students struggle identifying bird vocalizations, which can be challenging to teach, so I rely on analogies. House Finches sound as if someone is yelling at you in Swedish. Chickadees have a call that mimics their name or asking for a cheeseburger. My personal favorite is the song of the White Crowned Sparrow, which sounds like, “I gotta go pee pee now.” Therefore, not only am I able to help students identify birds by phrases that the songs sound like, I can interweave humor into class materials in un-expected ways that keeps students engaged.
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While the pressures of our modern education system often demand that students conform, my philosophy is that we underserve our students by stifling their creativity and basing exams on recall. As I develop as an educator, I want to continue teaching multiple types of courses so I can interact with different types of students. With 30% of college freshmen dropping out in their first year (College Atlas), I find working with these students in introductory courses to be extremely important so I may learn how to better ensure retention and success of students from all backgrounds. Areas I am actively working on improving are effective assessment and inclusion of students with different learning skills. I do this through participation in professional development courses through my home department focused on science pedagogy and workshops that focus on student engagement and low-risk, high reward assessment tools. My goal is for students to be given the opportunity to feel engaged with their science education by appreciating the real-world applications of their lab activities and learning to appreciate the world around them with greater meaning as they progress through their program of study.
References
Bloom, BS & Krathwohl DR. (1956) Taxonomy of educational objective: the classification of educational goals, by a committee of college and university examiners. Handbook 1: Cognitive domain. New York, Longmans.
College Atlas (2014) U.S. College Dropout Rate and Dropout Statistics, accessed on 8 Dec 2019 from https://www.collegeatlas.org/college-dropout.html
Webb, N.L. (2002). Depth-of-knowledge levels for four content areas. Retrieved August 24, 2011, from http://facstaff.wcer.wisc.edu/normw/All%20content%20areas%20%20DOK%20levels%2032802.doc
References
Bloom, BS & Krathwohl DR. (1956) Taxonomy of educational objective: the classification of educational goals, by a committee of college and university examiners. Handbook 1: Cognitive domain. New York, Longmans.
College Atlas (2014) U.S. College Dropout Rate and Dropout Statistics, accessed on 8 Dec 2019 from https://www.collegeatlas.org/college-dropout.html
Webb, N.L. (2002). Depth-of-knowledge levels for four content areas. Retrieved August 24, 2011, from http://facstaff.wcer.wisc.edu/normw/All%20content%20areas%20%20DOK%20levels%2032802.doc