Category Archives: The joy of teaching

What to do in class if you don’t lecture? Class 1

Posted on August 26, 2015 by

When the students walk into the room there are videos playing on the monitors, one at the end of each 6 person table in our cavernous basement classroom divided by pillars. They find a seat and see there is already … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching, The joy of teaching, Undergraduates | 2 Comments

Do you need to name the scientists in intro biology?

Posted on July 16, 2015 by

Meghan Duffy on the terrific blog Dynamic Ecology asks whether we can’t just teach the concepts and not worry about the researchers. After all, there are so many things we have figured out in biology that really don’t need to … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching, The joy of teaching, Undergraduates | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Teach to do not to know

Posted on April 23, 2015 by

Last week a student came to talk to me. In the course of discussion he said that he learned a lot from a class in the business school here at Wash U, even though he wasn’t particularly interested in the … Continue reading →

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Giddy with the success of our undergrads and their posters

Posted on October 11, 2014 by

Today our six research undergraduates, Kai, Alicia, Libby, Stephanie, Olivia, and Daniela, presented their research on posters at the Fall Undergraduate Poster Session, scheduled to fall on parent’s weekend. We began planning at the beginning of the semester how they … Continue reading →

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Undergraduate journal clubs are important

Posted on November 7, 2013 by

In the summer, the undergraduates in our lab group meet without us. During the academic year they have a lab meeting and journal club dedicated just to them. This is important because it is hard to think critically when you … Continue reading →

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Do you give extra credit in your classes? It should stretch your students.

Posted on October 7, 2013 by

My students want extra credit projects. But they also worry that if I offer them they become required. What to do? I think extra credit should be available because it takes advantage of a different kind of student energy. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching, The joy of teaching | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

The trouble with grading rubrics

Posted on October 7, 2013 by

Most of the advice I read about grading points to the importance of rubrics. Blackboard even lets me put a rubric up on the site. Why is this? What is a rubric? What is the trouble with rubrics? Well, according … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching, The joy of teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments