My objective as an educator is to teach students both fundamental scientific principles and broader skills which are applicable beyond the biological sciences. Above all, I aim to teach students how scientists think. This way of thinking is not just applicable to students who go on to research careers or careers in medicine; critical thinking skills will help students methodically and creatively solve problems in whatever careers they pursue. As a molecular biologist and yeast geneticist, I teach students how scientists have solved biological problems within the context of these fields. I can teach introductory and advanced molecular biology, cell biology, and genetics courses, as well as advanced classes on the genome and genomic methods.

 

My goal to impart broadly applicable skills to students began when I was a teaching assistant for Cell Biology at Duke University (course description). This role also helped me practice collaborative teaching, necessary for a large course, along with classroom management. This course had 60 students, two professors, and two teaching assistants. I co-led one discussion section with my fellow TA, and led one alone, which allowed me to teach the sections both collaboratively and independently (review slides created for my section). For many students in the course, this was their first intermediate biology class, and one of my main goals in the discussion section was to prepare students for the more complex questions they would encounter on our exams. Students worked on problem sets aimed at teaching them how to think critically about the concepts taught in lectures. To facilitate student engagement, they worked in small groups to solve the problem sets together, and then we would go over them as a class. One of the issues we worked to solve during discussion sections was full class participation; some students did not engage with their small groups, or small groups strayed from the problem sets to other topics. To address these issues, I assigned groups instead of letting students pick them, circulated around the classroom while students were working, and asked specific students to report out their groups’ answers to encourage participation. To help students learn how to solve problems, we discussed not only the answers, but the process through which students reached those answers. Overall, this teaching experience allowed me to learn how to engage students and facilitate development of their critical thinking skills.

 

My experiences as a teaching assistant led me to reflect on effective teaching approaches and extend my knowledge on these topics. Though I have yet to teach my own class, I took a course at Duke on syllabus & course design and designed an upper level Genomics course that I could teach (syllabus). I also have had the opportunity to shadow a professor at Elon University, a medium-sized teaching-focused institution, and learn from her teaching expertise. Informed by these experiences, I will use multiple forms of assessment for student learning in my future classes, including in-class and take-home exams, presentations, written lab reports or literature reviews, and problem sets. This approach allows students to develop multiple essential skills that will serve them across disciplines, as well as give them a variety of ways to demonstrate understanding of the course objectives. Though I will use lectures as my main approach to teach basic concepts, students will interact with the lecture material through the use of pauses to discuss questions using a Think/Pair/Share approach. Students will also explore case studies and experimental design in small groups, which will move them from merely remembering information to applying and analyzing it. Additionally, this will provide an opportunity for formative assessment of their problem-solving skills. In upper-level undergraduate courses I teach, students will learn more advanced skills, such as evaluating the scientific literature. In any laboratory courses I design, students will gain experience in designing and testing hypotheses by designing research projects in simple model systems such as budding yeast. Overall, in my courses, students will engage the material in different ways to extend their understanding and move from basic comprehension to higher levels of learning.

 

As a bench scientist, I’ve learned the value of assessing failed experiments, making adjustments, and trying again. I will apply the same strategy to my teaching by evaluating student learning during and after each course I teach. To give students the opportunity to tell me which concepts I need to spend more time clarifying, I will ask for quick anonymous student check-ins after lectures. I will also utilize a mid-semester student survey so I can adjust the trajectory of the class if needed. As a teaching assistant, I had the opportunity to participate in peer observation of teaching through Duke's Certificate in College Teaching program. The suggestions of my peers helped me improve some aspects of my teaching immediately (example of feedback). Especially in my first few semesters of teaching, I will ask more experienced faculty members to sit in on my classes and give me constructive feedback to continually improve my teaching. 

 

Finally, in my classes, students will learn not only practical skills, but the implications and impacts of scientific research within our society.  For example, I plan to discuss ethical concerns within human genetic research, such as the potential for genome editing, in any genetics course I teach. Students are not prepared for participation in society and their future careers by mere memorization of facts. I aim to teach students in a way that develops skills applicable to whatever career they pursue as well as to their broader participation in the community. Learning to present their ideas clearly, frame information within its larger context, and logically approach problems will benefit my students throughout the rest of their lives and help them to be more critical, informed members of society.