Sign me up for RSS!- How can you go wrong with a gap year?
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- Is there a book you want to write?
- What I learned from reading my book aloud
- Retraction with honor
- Ten steps to optimizing learning at large conferences
- Do not love your writing
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- An easy productivity tip: don’t stop at a stopping place
Tag Archives: Education
How can you go wrong with a gap year?
There are no years off from life, but maybe a break in a relentless path to a career is a good idea. It depends on what you want to get out of it. You might have been away from home … Continue reading
Science is problem solving: two crucial first steps
I have an extremely intelligent friend with a Ph.D. in something really fancy who raised his kids with a great deal of freedom. I’m sure he did this for a number of reasons, but one that he articulated early on … Continue reading
A rant on letters of recommendation that include passwords and check boxes
This is the time of year we write letters of recommendation. If you have a lot of students, you may be writing a lot of letters. Each student will need several letters. We generally use the same letter for different … Continue reading
Tips for job applicants: why we don’t agree on the top candidates
Here are the steps we take in choosing whom to interview, in case you are just tuning in. First, each person on the search committee read about a third of the applicants. Two people read each applicant. Then each reader … Continue reading
Posted in Jobs
Tagged application, Application for employment, assistant professor, Attention, collegiality, Education, evolution, hiring, Reading, Search, Search Committee
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How to change an organization, a department, a curriculum
Whatever field you are in, there will be organizations with structure and rules. In academics, departments have committees, undergraduates have a required curriculum, graduate students have their courses, exams, and theses. Sometimes these structures are very well known and standard … Continue reading
Posted in Department politics, Life in a biology department, Politics, Undergraduates
Tagged alliances, Arizona State University, behavioral ecology, change, conflict, cooperation, Curriculum, Education, evolutionary biology, Harvard University, organization, stucture, tradition, Undergraduate education, Wikipedia
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The trouble with grading rubrics
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 Blackboard, Education, Educators, grading, K through 12, Rubric, Student, teaching, Thought, undergraduates, Wikipedia
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Undergrads, sign up to present your research now!
The sooner you get used to presenting your work, the better. It is so important to be able to talk about your work outside your research group. Why did you do this? Why is it important? Just because your adviser … Continue reading
Is it fair some students get extra time on tests?
If you are teaching in a class with tests, quizzes, or exams this semester in the USA, then you have told your class, probably on the syllabus, that you will follow the law and give students with documented issues over … Continue reading
Meaningful undergraduate research
Undergrads brighten up the lab with their happy enthusiasm and growing discovery of the joy of research. Our job is to guide them in meaningful projects where they discover something new by engaging in the full process of research. I … Continue reading
Build curiosity first, then answer questions
First day of class and I meet these wonderful new students, all 54 of them, more actually if you count the hopefuls. If I can’t make behavior seem interesting and wonderful, I have no business teaching. I have a … Continue reading
Posted in behavioral ecology, Teaching
Tagged behavior, class, Dan Ariely, discussion, Education, Great Egret, Selfish Gene, teaching, university, Video, YouTube
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Sociobiology 