by J. Peter Coppinger, Plant and Microbial Biology As a GSI for Biology 1B, my goal seemed simple in principle: get students to enjoy biology because biology is fascinating in and of itself. I wanted my students to appreciate biology simply because biology is worth marveling at — barnacles, slimemolds, and all. Unfortunately, many students often brush aside an interesting topic if it is not explicitly intended for an exam.
by Sarah Cunningham, Integrative Biology The basic evolutionary and ecological concepts and principles are not difficult to understand...However, in order to tie them together and apply them in the solution of novel problems, students must learn to think scientifically and within an evolutionary framework. It is another kind of common sense that the students must develop, and it often runs contrary to the assumptions they are used to making.
by Lisa Kaborycha, History The challenge, as I saw it, was to inspire the students through the readings of great historians of the past, while keeping them from being overwhelmed with the task before them. How to demonstrate that history is a lively endeavor, and the day-to-day study of history is being practiced all around them?
by Gaurav Punj, IEOR Students usually think of discussion sessions as just problem-solving sessions where the GSI will work on some numerical problems that are relevant for their midterms and finals. I realized that they were more interested in the final answers rather than Physics.
by Mary Becker Quinn, Spanish and Portuguese "Reading and Literary Analysis" (Spanish 25) is the first literature class required in the Spanish department. Because it is a course organized by genre, the students' command of literary form is essential. Equally essential, therefore, is the instructor's ability to demonstrate why such knowledge is vital to the study of literature.
by Edith Replogle Sheffer, History I distributed piles of arrows, blank paper, and colored markers, and announced we would construct our diagram of the Revolution on the table. Following a rough chronological order, we built the map one index card at a time. A student would read their card aloud; the group then discussed its significance and debated where to place it.
by Viswanath Sankaran, Mathematics Integral Calculus poses a new challenge. Here, most problems involve a crucial "guessing" step (called the substitution) that transform them into more amenable problems. An "insightful" guess leads to the solution, a "wrong" guess can get one stuck. So the question is: How can a teacher communicate this insight?
by Mai-Lin Cheng, English By juxtaposing classic literature with contemporary literature, film, and television, I hoped to help students connect with the literature in specific, personal ways that would help them become rigorous readers. Rigorous readers, in turn, develop into strong writers.
by Laura Basini, Music I wanted to bring a seemingly abstract concept to life by placing students in an unfamiliar position: that of the composer. They would have to engage more actively with each passage of music, working out what each did in musical terms, and how each led to and from its neighbors.
by Susan Schwab, Molecular and Cell Biology The professor asked me to give a section about the complement pathway (for killing bacteria)...to my horror, I found that the textbook had 20 pages of "C4bC2b cleaves C3, and then..." So I divided the section into three parts based on a play, each of was designed to reach different students and add another layer to the discussion.