Teaching Philosophies

Developed in conjunction with Dr. Lisa Corwin, associate professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder:

We believe that the purpose of undergraduate education is to provide students the opportunity for personal and intellectual growth. As such, our purpose is to help you understand how you learn best and provide you the tools to achieve your vision of success for yourself.

We believe it is important for all students to be able to think critically about the world around them and to develop the ability to listen well and incorporate multiple perspectives into their thinking and practice. We also think it is critical for students to be able to communicate with a wide variety of audiences – your peers, your professors, your own students, and your communities. Finally, we believe that, while learning is often hard and frustrating, it should also enhance our well-being and drive us toward our aims and interests, not deter us from them. We have structured this course around these principles.

Our goal is to provide you the tools to succeed beyond this course, while also supporting you in succeeding IN the course. The structure of this course is also meant to foster an inclusive environment where uniqueness of beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of living are welcomed and leveraged to enhance the work that you do in this class and the work you will do in whatever professions you choose to follow.

Our teaching philosophy is based on the following educational research:

• Ballen, C. J., Wieman, C., Salehi, S., Searle, J. B., & Zamudio, K. R. (2017). Enhancing diversity in undergraduate science: Self-efficacy drives performance gains with active learning. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 16(4), ar56.

• Dewsbury, B., & Brame, C. J. (2019). Inclusive teaching. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 18(2), fe2.

• Elliott, D., Gamino, M., & Jenkins, J. J. (2016). Creating community in the college classroom: best practices for increased student success. Int J Educ Soc Sci, 3(6), 29-41.

• Tanner, K. D. (2012). Promoting student metacognition. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 11(2), 113-120.

• Tanner, K. D. (2013). Structure matters: twenty-one teaching strategies to promote student engagement and cultivate classroom equity. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 12(3), 322-331.

• Tanner, K., Chatman, L. S., & Allen, D. (2003). Approaches to cell biology teaching: cooperative learning in the science classroom—beyond students working in groups. Cell biology education, 2(1), 1-5.

• Trujillo, G., & Tanner, K. D. (2014). Considering the role of affect in learning: Monitoring students' self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and science identity. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 13(1), 6-15.

The best advice is the simplest advice – follow the course curriculum on the online learning platform and complete the activities for each class period, while keeping the learning objectives as your guide. If the learning objectives state that you should be able to describe something, practice writing out your description of that topic, or say it to a friend and see if they understand! In general, the strategies for success collegiate courses are as follows:

(1)   Recognize your ability as an independent learner and capitalize on it.  YOU MADE IT! That is right, you are now in college. You have your own goals and values that brought you here. So, when you read class materials, think about what you will be reading for and taking away. When you do group work, think about what your learning goals are for that moment.

(2)   Debate is healthy and leads to learning! The greatest insights often come from moments when we doubt what we are hearing or seeing and examine it more closely, question our assumptions, and ask difficult questions. We hope that you do this in this course, among your peers, and with us! Discussion deepens both our ability to articulate our thoughts and our understanding of a topic. Remember when doing this to engage in the respectful practice of actively listening to others and considering their points. 

(3)   Develop a support network: Knowledge is co-constructed and so is success (believe it or not). Working with others to flesh out your understanding and ideas, gain insights on a project, and build new ideas together is encouraged. Also, support is not just intellectual, it is emotional, social, and physical. College requires all of these and you can ask your instructors about how they each built diverse support networks during their time as students. 

(4)   Keep up with the material. If you are meant to spend about 6 hours a week on this course material outside of class, schedule that into your calendar to go through all the reading and video resources provided for that week. If you have extra time, revise the material. On that note...

(5)   Pace Yourself. If at all possible, avoid cramming for exams. Research shows that it does not help with learning, even if it briefly helps you do well. Many courses in college will ask you to remember an entire semester's worth of material (four months of classes!) for the final exam. This can potentially exacerbate anxiety around test-taking! Take time to review material on a regular (weekly) basis - it will serve you well!

(6)   How do I revise? The best study strategies involve testing yourself on your knowledge of the material. Partner with a peer to question each other over the material you learnt that week. Or, set aside time for yourself to question how well you understood the material. Do you know what the terms used in the lecture or reading material mean? What are the connections amongst the topics in this section?

(6)   Visualize the material. You can also draw out your understanding by mapping relationships between topics or drawing models to connect ideas together. We will practice these skills together, but feel free to ask me for more resources if you feel this helps you connect better with the course material!

(8)   SLEEP! Developing healthy habits around your lifestyle is incredibly important for your learning. You’ll hear from others about the importance of prioritizing nutrition and exercise, but it is equally important to prioritize your sleep! The research is pretty clear that healthy sleep habits improve health and learning outcomes - from consolidating memories, to emotional regulation, to lowering blood pressure and stress levels. We’ll talk about these (and more!) benefits of sleep during the course - looking at the literature behind this and conducting our own class-wide study.

In science, failure can be the key to making new discoveries, because it unveils to us what we didn't know or what we didn't consider - which we might not have noticed if experiments ran as we expected them to!

In science education, you may feel you can't fail, because of the impact that this has on how others see you or because you feel it will prevent you from getting the jobs and graduate programs that you want to get into.

My research (and other's work on this topic - see the page on recommended readings for anyone interested in the topic) on students' experiences of failures has shown that students can indeed learn from failure in very valuable ways, but that this learning is contingent on feeling supported by your instructors and your communities (whether that's family, friends, or other people you love and respect). We will have class discussions on this topic, where I will invite you to consider how you have been able to learn from your failures and what structures supported you in being able to do so.

In addition, in all of my courses, I offer multiple opportunities for reflection and learning from experiences of failure. I have structured activities JUST for this purpose - reflections around exams, quizzes, projects, even on how you choose to attend class - all places where scores may have a significant impact on your grades. These reflections guide you through reviewing your approach to learning and engaging with your learning, as well as assessing your strengths and weaknesses on the content, so that you are better equipped to deal with future challenges. Engaging authentically with these reflections will count positively towards your grade, and at the end of it, you would have achieved the learning objectives for the content anyway!

(adapted from Monica Linden, Senior Lecturer of Neuroscience, Brown University) 

In an ideal world, science would be objective. However, much of science is subjective and is historically built on a small subset of privileged voices. In this class, we will make an effort to read articles from a diverse group of researchers, but limits still exist on this diversity. We acknowledge that it is possible that there may be both overt and covert biases in the material due to the lens with which it was written, even though the material is primarily of a scientific nature. Integrating a diverse set of experiences is important for a more comprehensive understanding of science. 

Please contact us (in person or electronically) or submit anonymous feedback if you have any suggestions to improve the quality of the course materials.

Furthermore, we would like to create a learning environment that supports a diversity of thoughts, perspectives and experiences, and honors your identities (including race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, ability, etc.) To help accomplish this:

If you have a name and/or set of pronouns that differ from those that appear in university records, please let us know.

If you feel like your performance in the class is being impacted by your experiences in or outside of class, please don’t hesitate to come and talk with us. We want to be a resource for you. Remember that you can also submit anonymous feedback (which will lead to us making a general announcement to the class, if necessary to address your concerns). If you prefer to speak with someone outside of the course, the Associate Dean of the College for Diversity Programs is an excellent resource.

We (like many people) are still in the process of learning about diverse perspectives and identities. If something was said in class (by anyone) that made you feel uncomfortable, please talk to us or notify us about it. (Again, anonymous feedback is always an option.)

As a participant in course discussions, you should also strive to honor the diversity of your classmates.

Creating a safe learning environment: The class is not a “free” space where anything can be said in any way, but a space where what is said is shared respectfully and thoughtfully. Please be mindful of the language you use to communicate with your peers. We expect the classroom to be a professional learning space – each of us is here to learn and grow. While we may grapple with difficult ideas that may conflict with our own personal beliefs, we will communicate with each other as if we were in a professional environment.

These are times (listed on the front of the syllabus) that are for you to approach me with any topic, question, or concern. As an instructor, I hope to help you succeed in this course and beyond. These hours are the times that I can consistently be available to you for discussions about the course, about science, about life, and if you want to hear more about my own struggles with learning (beyond what I bring up in class). I call these Student-centered Hours because it is meant for YOU. This is also why I offer three locations for meeting – virtually, in my office, and at a public place on campus. 

My contact information is provided to you in multiple places in the syllabus BECAUSE I want you to reach out to me with questions or concerns. I will likely respond within 1 business day (which means NOT on the weekends). If you have an urgent request or concern, please label your e-mail as URGENT so that I know I need to respond to it as soon as possible. For more specific information:

You should contact me if:

• You would like to set-up an appointment outside of the regularly scheduled student-centered hours because:

• You would like help understanding course content;

• You are concerned about your performance in the course, and would like to discuss the best strategies for going forward;

• You would like to get help with homework assignments, in-class assignments, and project instructions;

• You are having interpersonal issues with another member of the class community; 

If you are unsure of how to contact an instructor, here are some tips for professional communication:

• Include your class and section number (for example, EBIO 1100 section 10 OR 20) in the subject heading of the email, and/or in the body of the email;

• State your name, including your last name;

• Briefly (1-3 sentences) describe your question, issue, etc.;

• Suggest a next step - a response by email, an in-person meeting, etc.

Here is an example of an appropriate email to send to an instructor:

SUBJECT: BIOL 2200, section 001 - Question about evolutionary mechanisms

Dear Dr. Krishnan,

I am having difficulty understanding why evolution occurs at the population level, and not in individuals. Would you be available during your office hours this week to help me with this concept?

Sincerely,

Student X