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Tony Rhorer, now in his first year of medical school at Duke University, underwent such an experience in college. The summer after his sophomore year at the University of Arizona, he began doing research on the toxicity of trichloroethylene (TCE) and chromium on thin slices of rat liver. After World War II, firms in South Tucson dumped large amounts of these chemicals into shallow holding ponds, where the chemicals seeped into local wells. Rhorer's research was designed to explore the connection between the contaminated well water and clusters of birth defects and cancers that had appeared among the residents of South Tucson. The research was technically challenging, and Rhorer spent months learning how to prepare the tissues, get them to grow in culture, and interpret complex toxicological outcomes. Yet the research always seemed somewhat abstract to him until he got a call from Carol Bender, the undergraduate research coordinator at the University of Arizona, asking him if he would be interested in visiting some local high schools to describe his work. Rhorer traveled to Sunnyside High School in South Tucson, where he talked for a half hour about his research. "The response was amazing," he says. Many of the students told him right after the talk that they had family members with health problems related to TCE. "Some of them thanked me for doing this research. That's something you can't get in a regular class." Rhorer undertook his research through the Undergraduate Biology Research Program at the University of Arizona. Initially designed to get more undergraduates into laboratories, the program has had a much broader impact, promoting widespread changes in teaching styles, curricula, and outreach programs. Begun in 1988 with 19 students, the program has grown rapidly. Today, about 120 students do research in the summer, and about 100 during the school year. "In our wildest dreams, we didn't expect the program to get this large," says program founder and biochemistry professor Michael Wells. Students are not the only ones who have benefited from the Undergraduate Biology Research Program. According to Sam Ward, who chairs the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, faculty members soon began to notice that students in the program were much more knowledgeable in the questions they asked and in the help they gave to others. "It raised the entire level of the discussion," Ward says. Faculty members in turn became more excited about their classes. "It's led to an enormously increased interest in teaching," Ward says. Ward and Wells added to the ferment. They invited outside speakers to talk about teaching and devoted occasional meetings of their journal clubs to articles on pedagogy. They encouraged instructors to put large sections of their courses online at a 60-terminal Biology Learning Center and on a campus network. Exit interviews with graduating seniors allowed instructors to probe the strengths and weaknesses of the educational program. Outreach to surrounding elementary and secondary schools and to two-year colleges brought in students who were eager and ready to do research. Most important, the two department chairs made teaching an explicit factor in the faculty reward structure. Faculty promotions and raises are now based 40 percent on research (which may include research on teaching), 40 percent on teaching, and 20 percent on service to the university and profession. The teaching of tenured faculty members is evaluated by their peers every two years, nontenured every year. Though all members of their departments are expected to engage in research, Ward and Wells have encouraged some faculty members with special interests in teaching to focus their scholarship on biology education. "We have changed the values of the faculty," says Ward. "We have convinced the faculty to care about teaching." |
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tudents learn with their hearts as well as their minds. When the undergraduate
experience works, it gives both direction and meaning to life.
Structuring
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