‘science teaching’
CFT offers new guide for writing science exams
Mar. 26, 2021—Are you a scientist who uses timed exams in your course? Would you like to know some research-based recommendations for making your exams more valid, effective, and equitable? If the answer to both those questions is yes, check out our new guide for writing science exams. Put together by a learning community of scientists striving...
Spring Science Teaching Lunch Series
Feb. 15, 2021—The Science Teaching Lunch series resumes in Spring 2021, typically meeting on the third Friday of the month from 12-1. In these lunches, we invite faculty to discuss common teaching challenges and to seek ideas and solutions from colleagues and the literature on science teaching and learning—in the past, over lunch, but now, over Zoom. This semester,...
Biological Sciences Seminar: Improving student learning through understanding reasoning and problem-solving practices
Nov. 26, 2019—Join the Biological Sciences Department on Monday, December 2, 3:30-5:15, to consider different teaching practices as part of their ongoing seminar series. Undergraduate Learning Assistants will present posters on questions such as, “Which clicker questions promote the most discussion?” during tea time from 3:30-4:10, followed by Professor Jenny Knight’s seminar. Professor Knight writes, “Classroom practices...
Science Teaching Lunch on more inclusive active learning classrooms: How groups of students are differentially impacted by active learning
Nov. 18, 2019—Join Professor Sara Brownell at a Science Teaching Lunch as she discusses her lab’s work investigating some “off-target” effects of active learning. Professor Brownell writes, “To what extent do students experience college science classrooms differently because of their social identities? How has transitioning traditional lecture courses to active learning spaces impacted students? What can instructors...
Big classes, name tents, and anxiety in the classroom
Aug. 28, 2019—by Cynthia J. Brame, CFT Associate Director Classes at my institution started last week, which means that my co-teacher and I greeted just over 150 students in our biochemistry class. When I start the semester, I’m always struck by how many students there are, and how a big class like this would not have brought...
Signal-to-noise in the classroom
Aug. 5, 2019—by Cynthia J. Brame, CFT Associate Director I’ve been thinking a lot about signal-to-noise ratio this summer. My post-doctoral research relied heavily on mass spectrometry of complex mixtures, and we thought a lot about signal-to-noise and whether we were missing the thing we were after in a sea of other things our instrument could detect....
Junior Faculty Spotlight: Josh Caldwell
Apr. 23, 2019—Each month, the CFT Newsletter highlights the work of our Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows. This month, Josh Caldwell, Mechanical Engineering, talks about his teaching philosophy and interests. . . I joined the Mechanical Engineering Faculty at Vanderbilt University in May 2017, moving here from the US Naval Research Lab where I had been for the...
Science Teaching Essentials, a New Book by the CFT’s Cynthia Brame
Mar. 11, 2019—By Derek Bruff, CFT Director I am very excited to announce a new book from Cynthia Brame, associate director here at the Vanderbilt Center for Teaching. Science Teaching Essentials: Short Guides to Good Practice (Academic Press, 2019) provides research-based strategies and resources for addressing common teaching challenges in the sciences, health professions, and engineering. Written...
Upcoming Science Teaching Lunch on November 16th
Nov. 13, 2018—The Science Teaching Lunch series invites faculty from A&S science departments to discuss common teaching challenges and to seek ideas and solutions from colleagues and the literature on science teaching and learning. This fall, the series will focus on questions relevant to graduate student education. The November teaching lunch will focus on using mentoring agreements...
Upcoming Science Teaching Lunch on October 26th for all A&S Science Departments
Oct. 19, 2018—The Science Teaching Lunch series invites faculty from A&S science departments to discuss common teaching challenges and to seek ideas and solutions from colleagues and the literature on science teaching and learning. This fall, the series will focus on questions relevant to graduate student education. The October teaching lunch will focus on enriching mezzanine classes for graduate students....