Exhilaration and Defeat
Jan. 30th, 2008 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterI know of at least one party who is interested to hear how my most recent teaching episode went.
First, I kind of feel like the day was one of those days where my head was popped off, spun around in three circles, and then reattached. Lots of people time. I am not a people person. Except that maybe I am. 'nuff said on that subject for now.
Anyway. I should provide some background. I'm one of numerous lab TAs for an introductory course in Biology, which creates the simultaneous dilemmas of attempting to keep things fair between sections and trying to keep things fresh, exciting, and educational. If we're handed stuff to teach and we teach it straight out of the book, well, the students miss out on understanding that this whole education business is a messy affair, and different educators have different agendas. They also miss out on a lot of the things that make me really enthusiastic. On the other hand, they somehow develop a "standardized" knowledge. Is that what a university education is all about? Personally, I certainly hope not.
So for the evening's lab, I decided to offer up the time as a Red Pill/Blue Pill kind of event: complete the standard activities, including a homework worksheet, and call it good. Or, evaluate and critique the standard activities, and come up with your own alternative. The second one creates sharper divisions between successes and failure--there are many potential ways to do either. The first one provides a safety net should students choose to accept it.
I found the evening much more personally engaging, as students struggled to decide which option to choose, and then worked through their chosen option. Roughly half of the class gamely worked through the standard activities, while the other half asked questions across the entire board and some started to come up with some interesting ideas (with some prodding here or there).
Secretly, what I really hope to do is to infect their brains with Biology so that even after they leave the lab they're left wondering what they're getting out of it, and wondering about this whole business of understanding evolution. I don't think it's any better or worse than that status quo, but it was fun for me at least. In the very least, this group of students asks good questions.
And I should also note that after conversations with mine fellow TAs, I think the approach developed by you, Ms. D, is one of the best I've heard of yet. Maybe we can convince the powers that be to redesign things along your lines.
First, I kind of feel like the day was one of those days where my head was popped off, spun around in three circles, and then reattached. Lots of people time. I am not a people person. Except that maybe I am. 'nuff said on that subject for now.
Anyway. I should provide some background. I'm one of numerous lab TAs for an introductory course in Biology, which creates the simultaneous dilemmas of attempting to keep things fair between sections and trying to keep things fresh, exciting, and educational. If we're handed stuff to teach and we teach it straight out of the book, well, the students miss out on understanding that this whole education business is a messy affair, and different educators have different agendas. They also miss out on a lot of the things that make me really enthusiastic. On the other hand, they somehow develop a "standardized" knowledge. Is that what a university education is all about? Personally, I certainly hope not.
So for the evening's lab, I decided to offer up the time as a Red Pill/Blue Pill kind of event: complete the standard activities, including a homework worksheet, and call it good. Or, evaluate and critique the standard activities, and come up with your own alternative. The second one creates sharper divisions between successes and failure--there are many potential ways to do either. The first one provides a safety net should students choose to accept it.
I found the evening much more personally engaging, as students struggled to decide which option to choose, and then worked through their chosen option. Roughly half of the class gamely worked through the standard activities, while the other half asked questions across the entire board and some started to come up with some interesting ideas (with some prodding here or there).
Secretly, what I really hope to do is to infect their brains with Biology so that even after they leave the lab they're left wondering what they're getting out of it, and wondering about this whole business of understanding evolution. I don't think it's any better or worse than that status quo, but it was fun for me at least. In the very least, this group of students asks good questions.
And I should also note that after conversations with mine fellow TAs, I think the approach developed by you, Ms. D, is one of the best I've heard of yet. Maybe we can convince the powers that be to redesign things along your lines.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 03:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 04:38 am (UTC)Look forward to rehashing it in person!!
-DM
no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 04:52 am (UTC)