Classroom Models

00:00:11.18 People often ask, "what does it mean to teach well?"
00:00:15.20 What are we talking about when we say,
00:00:17.15 "to teach well"?
00:00:19.19 I think this comes back to the question of
00:00:23.02 instructor-centered versus student-centered teaching.
00:00:25.09 Student-centered teaching, for me,
00:00:27.10 is an attitude more than anything else,
00:00:29.22 about how to go about preparing to teach a class
00:00:32.08 and how to actually teach it.
00:00:34.24 And when I used to lecture traditionally,
00:00:42.05 I spent a lot of time preparing for class,
00:00:46.06 a lot of work went into it.
00:00:47.15 But what I was thinking about always was, what am I going to do first?
00:00:51.00 In the first five minutes.
00:00:52.19 And then, what am I going to do after that?
00:00:54.09 And then, what slide am I going to show, and so on?
00:00:57.05 In the student-centered approach,
00:00:59.08 you're turning it around and asking,
00:01:01.05 what are the students going to be doing during the first five minutes?
00:01:03.19 What are they gonna be doing during the next five minutes?
00:01:06.22 What's going to happen after I show... give them this problem?
00:01:10.03 So, that it's... the focus is on what the students are doing in the class
00:01:13.21 and not on the professor.
00:01:43.26 So, to start understanding sex differentiation,
00:01:45.23 we're gonna watch one more video,
00:01:47.07 and then you're going to work on an assignment
00:01:50.22 alone in groups.
00:01:53.28 I want you to start... there's some reading at the top.
00:01:56.21 And then I want you to work on number one,
00:01:58.27 which is on the front.
00:02:00.11 So, you'll ignore number two for now.
00:02:02.00 You're gonna wanna make sure number one's in good shape first.
00:02:04.15 And I want you to work on it alone to start with.
00:02:30.26 So, I'm gonna give you a little time to work in groups.
00:02:33.22 I want you to discuss your figures
00:02:36.08 and come to some sort of agreement
00:02:39.13 about what they should look like.
00:03:02.07 Group number 19.
00:03:04.27 What did your... what answer did you have?
00:03:06.28 A female genotype with, like, breasts,
00:03:09.02 but has a male [unknown].
00:03:10.28 Okay, so this group is thinking that this individual
00:03:14.14 would develop with some of the female secondary sex characteristics.
00:03:18.03 Umm... so, let's vote on that.
00:03:19.26 Let's vote with folders.
00:03:21.08 How many groups think that this is going to develop as a male?
00:03:31.19 So, this individual would certainly develop
00:03:35.29 a male reproductive system,
00:03:37.25 although there are other genes involved in this
00:03:40.19 besides the SRY.
00:04:19.12 Genes that code for the production of receptors on target cells...
00:04:22.25 remember back to your analogies, now,
00:04:24.15 when you were learning about how hormones work.
00:04:27.05 The receptors on the target cells
00:04:29.14 for Mullerian inhibitory substance are dysfunctional.
00:04:33.25 So, if you have the SRY gene,
00:04:36.05 it's going to develop testes as normal.
00:04:39.22 There's nothing in this description
00:04:42.11 that says testes won't develop.
00:04:45.10 So, we expect testosterone to be developed
00:04:48.20 as it would in a normal male.
00:04:52.02 However... and it... the Mullerian substance...
00:04:56.15 inhibitory substance is being produced as well.
00:04:59.06 But remember from when talked about...
00:05:01.13 first started talking about hormones
00:05:03.14 that an endocrine cell produces a hormone,
00:05:04.27 it travels through the bloodstream,
00:05:07.21 and then it bonds to a receptor on a target cell,
00:05:10.25 and that is what starts the cascade
00:05:12.27 that leads to the response in the cell.
00:05:17.20 Questions about that?
00:05:22.11 Yes.
00:05:23.27 So, would he be able to [unknown].
00:05:28.05 I don't know the answer to that. My guess would be probably not.
00:05:30.21 The question was, would he be able to reproduce?
00:06:46.17 I'm gonna interrupt for just one second.
00:06:48.09 Pretty much everybody has just written promoter.
00:06:50.12 Promoter is not enough, right?
00:06:52.09 It's... from what species is your promoter?
00:06:55.20 And what genes does that promoter usually go with?
00:07:18.19 Student 1: Because I think we all kind of took it for granted, like, the project.
00:07:21.26 Student 2: Right. And I think those are the hardest things.
00:08:06.01 Okay, so briefly here we've got the...
00:08:11.10 the example of DNA entering the cell,
00:08:14.00 somewhat passively,
00:08:15.16 though there's a little bit of a channel there to help facilitate this.
00:08:17.28 And it's not a very efficient process.
00:08:19.22 So, you understand that the way we get around the inefficiency
00:08:22.28 is by making our plasmid have what?
00:08:27.29 What's... what do we make our plasmid have?
00:08:31.19 Ideas, anyone?
00:08:36.10 To make it overcome the total inefficiency
00:08:39.01 of our transformation procedure?
00:08:44.11 There you go.
00:08:46.22 Pull out the microphone.
00:08:48.07 That's the specific we do.
00:08:49.26 A selectable marker. What's that? A selectable marker.
00:08:52.14 Okay, we make sure our plasmid has a selectable marker,
00:08:54.16 and that selectable marker could be ampicillin resistance,
00:08:57.01 or tetracycline resistance,
00:08:58.24 or kanamycin resistance.
00:09:00.14 It's a gene that encodes a protein
00:09:02.16 that allows that bacterium
00:09:05.00 to not be killed by that antibiotic.
00:09:08.01 That would be a classic kind of selectable marker.
00:09:10.16 And if you did douse the bacteria with that antibiotic,
00:09:13.27 you can be sure that this is a good thing to have.
00:09:48.04 We've been emphasizing in this series the importance
00:09:51.08 and the value of active learning,
00:09:52.15 but that's not to say that lecturing is completely worthless.
00:09:56.03 A good lecture can be inspiring.
00:09:58.19 It can communicate information that's not in the textbook
00:10:01.28 or the resources that a student has available.
00:10:04.08 The problem is that it's not sufficient,
00:10:06.14 that the things we want students to be able to do
00:10:10.23 at the end of a course are analyze...
00:10:14.01 besides learning content,
00:10:15.25 we want them to be able to analyze data,
00:10:17.17 we want them to be able to draw conclusions
00:10:19.14 and critically evaluate data,
00:10:21.12 we want them to be able to solve problems.
00:10:23.19 And those are things that require practice.
00:10:25.23 So, that's what... one of the...
00:10:27.12 that's what lecture does not do.
00:10:28.25 It doesn't give the students the opportunity to practice the skills
00:10:32.00 that most instructors would like students to develop.
00:10:36.06 Sometimes, people equate teaching with transmitting information.
00:10:39.27 And teaching is much more than that.
00:10:42.13 I think to us -- those of us in this project --
00:10:46.02 good teaching means eliciting
00:10:49.27 productive behavior from students
00:10:52.10 and helping them grapple with problems
00:10:55.06 and learn how to solve problems and so on,
00:10:57.22 not simply transmitting information.
00:11:48.21 It's imp... it's... I mean, it's something I think about a lot, I guess,
00:11:52.20 because I do have a lot of goals to always push, I guess,
00:11:58.10 how I teach the class towards active learning
00:12:00.12 and me talking less.
00:12:01.26 But, you know, in reality, if I counted the time,
00:12:04.23 I'd probably be like a 3 and a half or a 4.
00:12:07.19 Like, I have a lot of room to improve still.
00:12:11.17 And I guess it's important to keep in mind
00:12:13.15 that you don't have to be a 5 either, right?
00:12:15.29 So, umm... you know, it's...
00:12:20.17 and maybe some days you're closer to one end than another.
00:12:24.10 I think that something that's importan
00:12:26.05 t is you have to really think about the goals for your class
00:12:28.00 and how can you meet that objective or outcome,
00:12:29.28 whatever phrase you want to put on it,
00:12:32.12 and is active learning really the best way?
00:12:34.13 It may be; it may not be.
00:12:38.03 But if it is, it's worth a try, right?
00:12:41.02 That's a difficult... actually, it's a difficult number
00:12:44.05 for me to give myself,
00:12:45.16 'cause I think I'm student-centered in that...
00:12:48.25 like, I will not teach until I know that they understand something.
00:12:53.07 I want them to think, right?,
00:12:55.07 and I know that active learning is the way to get there.
00:12:57.28 And I'm implementing stuff, but I'm not where I need to be.
00:13:01.12 So, maybe a 2 and a half.
00:13:03.18 But I've done a lot of active learning by my standards,
00:13:06.07 so I'm fine, I'm happy.
00:13:08.07 Like, I can do more, but I've done way more than I've ever done.
00:13:12.04 So, I think for my big intro courses,
00:13:16.09 you know, sadly, I'm probably still at like a 2 in terms of...
00:13:22.08 I'm... you know, it's...
00:13:24.08 still, there's quite a bit of lecture.
00:13:25.29 And it shouldn't be that way.
00:13:28.16 And so, my goal would be to move that,
00:13:31.09 maybe not to a 5 but to maybe a 4.
00:13:33.15 Because I do think there is a role for...
00:13:40.00 I don't know... I don't know if this just makes sense,
00:13:42.20 but a role for sort of being
00:13:46.20 a role model for the material, sort of... in how you talk about the material,
00:13:52.07 in a way, you model how one should think about the material.
00:13:56.10 I think in my upper division courses,
00:13:58.06 where I've had more experience letting go...
00:14:02.18 I mean, I would never get myself a 5.
00:14:05.11 There's always room for improvement.
00:14:09.05 But... yeah, I'd get myself a 4, maybe.
00:14:12.07 In the large enrollment course...
00:14:17.06 yeah, honestly, I'm about as traditional as you can be right now,
00:14:20.22 so I'm hoping to break out of that.
00:14:23.10 But I... I mean, other than the fact that I use clickers,
00:14:25.16 I'm just like everybody else
00:14:27.17 that, you know, taught me.
00:14:29.04 So, I've gotta get outta that,
00:14:30.29 so I'd give myself about a 2.
00:14:32.16 I need to swing that pendulum.
00:14:34.13 I don't let students drive the curriculum entirely.
00:14:36.24 I have wisdom, I have knowledge of what I think they need to know
00:14:40.05 and be able to do,
00:14:42.03 and I use that to set the scope of the curriculum
00:14:44.09 and the depth of the content, generally.
00:14:47.02 So, I wouldn't say that I'm entirely student-centered.
00:14:50.11 However, I think that I engage them a lot in their learning,
00:14:54.05 and I try to use examples,
00:14:56.05 and let what they do you in class
00:14:58.28 guide what I do instructionally.
00:15:00.16 So, I would say that I'm probably between a 3 and a 4.
00:15:06.02 I... I think I'm... this sounds really conceited,
00:15:11.11 but I think I'm... I'm pretty darn close to that 5.
00:15:17.22 I'm thinking of what I do with freshmen seminar courses and...
00:15:23.28 I don't teach upper division or graduate courses right now,
00:15:26.20 but when I did,
00:15:30.14 for me it was so much about,
00:15:33.19 what do the students need to learn and want to learn?
00:15:37.10 And my approach was always,
00:15:39.27 here are some topics that I think you need to learn
00:15:41.22 -- these are critical to understand this course --
00:15:46.08 but usually at least half the course was student choice.

This Talk

Speaker: Erin Dolan

Audience:

Educators of H. School / Intro Undergrad
Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Educators

Recorded: July 2014

Talk Overview

Compare different pedagogical approaches and undergraduate biology classrooms. Reflect on how your teaching fits within the spectrum of educational models.

Educators featured in this video: Tessa Andrews, University of Georgia; Chantilly Apollon, City College of San Francisco; Erin Dolan, University of Texas, Austin; Amy Gladfelter, Dartmouth College; Sabrice Guerrier, Millsaps College; David Matthes, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; George Plopper, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Sue Wick, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Bill Wood, University of Colorado, Boulder.

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Speaker Bio

Erin Dolan

Erin Dolan

Erin Dolan is Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Senior Scholar in Biology Education in the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Georgia. She is also the editor-in-chief of the CBE-Life Science Education journal. Dolan’s lab investigates science research in an education context, including scalable ways of involving students in research… Continue Reading

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