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Active Learning Resources for TAs
New teaching assistants (TAs) can use the resources on this website from HHMI Professor Diane O'Dowd at the University of California, Irvine, to become discussion leaders who employ active learning techniques. These resources can be used even if TAs have no mentor or teaching advisor to direct their training. The website contains a “General Teaching” section and lists of activities designed specifically for undergraduate courses in introductory biology, genetics, or cell biology. In the “General Teaching” section, graduate students are guided through preparing a contact list, balancing teaching and research, preparing for the first day of class, dealing with review sessions and student evaluations, and helping students evaluate their learning styles. In the course-specific section are multiple activities using actual lecture material that help TAs make their discussions interactive. The activities include drawing, concept mapping, teacher demonstrations, student model building, and multiple small-group worksheets.
HHMI Professor: Diane O’Dowd, Ph.D.
Award Years: 2006
Summary: Diane O’Dowd, Ph.D., is an HHMI Professor at the University of California, Irvine, who uses Drosophila and mouse models to study the activity of living neurons from the brain. Her HHMI-funded initiatives include:
- A three-part program to bridge the divide between research and teaching in the biomedical sciences at research universities through teaching, training, and mentoring.
- Teaching: Identifying strategies to help faculty create dynamic learning environments that foster student engagement and development of critical thinking skills in large biology classes;
- Training: Establishing a formal training program in interactive teaching for graduate students and undergraduates with an interest in academic research and teaching careers. Graduate students receive training in the theory and practice of active learning and participate in a program designed to train them to balance concurrent teaching and research responsibilities. Undergraduates serve as peer tutors, giving them an opportunity to test their skills and aptitude for teaching; and
- Mentoring: Establishing a research mentoring program that pairs first-year undergraduate trainees with postdoctoral fellow mentors. The fellows receive formal training in overseeing undergraduate research before and during their active mentoring period.