Teaching Comes First In Biology Department
Teaching is taking first place for members of the biology department who are participating in an NSF-sponsored program called Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRSTII). Professors Sue Dunford, Brian Kinkle, and Charlotte Paquin traveled with Eric Maurer, director of the environmental studies program, to the University of Akron to attend workshops on the project. Its purpose is to design inquiry based laboratories to be taught at field stations like Akron.
In May, Peter Niewiarowski, co-principle investigator of the grant and one of the organizers of the Akron station, presented a seminar for the department on his research and led a workshop to demonstrate how inquiry based exercises can be developed for use in introductory biology labs.
Guy Cameron, head of the department, observed, To my great delight, 83% of our faculty attended this workshop! This indeed is dramatic evidence of the interest and dedication of our faculty members in the area of improvement of the delivery of our courses.
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