Tag Archives: teaching
In on-line teaching one thing is essential
Of all the preparations with Canvas and Zoom, in all the discussions with my Teaching Assistants, in reading the blizzard of emails my anxious university sends out, there is one thing I keep remembering from my son’s long experience with … Continue reading
Get your undergrads thinking about analysis from the start
The last post talked about making sure undergrads get the big picture of their questions. This is essential, but it is not the end. All too often analysis is left for the end and there is no exploring. Ideally, students … Continue reading
What can you give others at a scientific meeting?
My undergraduate advisor, Richard Alexander of the University of Michigan once told me that there was nothing I could do better for my career than to give a great talk at a national meeting. Unfortunately, the converse was also true, … Continue reading
Teaching effectively and efficiently: abstract writing
Are you happy with how you teach writing? Do you have a trick? The only tricks I have are to give good examples and to have students write a lot. Beth Fisher at a Wash U writing workshop convinced me … Continue reading
How many hours a week can you work on research?
What are my colleagues around the world doing on this Sunday, a brilliantly sunny February day too warm for a jacket in St. Louis? Are they out hiking, bird watching, or cooking a delicious meal? Are they playing with their … Continue reading
What if the undergrads ran their own class with no faculty present?
Earlier this fall we had an excellent presentation about how to make physics classes more interactive. The legendary speaker, Carl Wieman, see this, talked about how students should think first, then get feedback, discuss, then perhaps the lecturer could move … Continue reading
Hurry! We have an opening at Wash U for an ecologist in any specialty!
Please share this exciting position for a tenure track ecologist of any flavor! We have a great group and are in a world clss city! Join us! Below is the advertisement. Washington University in St. Louis Department of Biology … Continue reading
No, I will not give you an extension on the assignment!
The paper is due tomorrow and I haven’t started working on it. I just discovered that I can’t find enough references. I know the professor said to line up the references up front, but I started writing with only a … Continue reading
Teaching without lecturing: Exploded discussion in Class 3
In discussion session on Friday the students told the TA, Omar, they wanted me to explain some of the questions that they did not understand. So I agreed and offered them one of two lectures. Either they could hear … Continue reading
Teach statistics the same way you teach baking a chocolate cake
We have wonderful undergraduates and we are failing them. We are failing in something important and I plan to fix it. That we are failing became very clear to me this past spring at their poster presentations. Generally the posters … Continue reading
Sociobiology 