BROWSE ALL RESOURCES
VIEW ALL
BY TYPE
Animation (3) Book/Manual (4) CD (1) Classroom Activity (12) College Course (6) Curriculum (11) Game (1) Kit (1) Lab (9) Lesson Plan (5) Publication (23) Software (3) Tutorial (5) Video (24) Website (47) Wiki (2)BY TOPIC
Biochemistry (14) Biodiversity (3) Bioengineering (3) Bioethics (3) Bioinformatics (8) Biology (104) Biotechnology (9) Cell Biology (3) Chemistry (17) Earth Science (1) Ecology (9) Engineering (1) Evolution (10) General Science (15) Genetics (29) Genomics (13) Immunology (2) Infectious Diseases (1) Life Science (65) Mathematics (9) Medicine (6) Microarrays (5) Microbiology (3) Molecular biology (34) Neuroscience (7) Physics (5) Plants (2) Professional Development (35) Research methods (12) Science Communication (2) Systems Biology (1)BY GRADE LEVEL
K-16 (1) 4-8 (1) K-5 (6) Medical School (6) K-3 (2) K-8 (2) K-12 (9) 6-8 (18) 9-12 (52) College (101) Graduate (21)
A Seminar Leader’s Manual
This manual, available from Columbia University’s Frontiers of Science Online (FoSO) website, which was developed by HHMI Professor Darcy Kelley, is a collection of advice, tips, and information intended for teaching assistants who are discussion leaders in science courses. Although a few tips refer to specific issues faced in Columbia’s Frontiers of Science course, most of the advice is widely applicable. Compiled by Associate Professor Deborah Mowshowitz, director of Undergraduate Programs in Columbia University’s Department of Biological Sciences, the booklet contains advice contributed both by faculty members and graduate students who ran discussion sessions. The manual focuses on specific topics, such as increasing participation, preparing for and sparking a discussion, avoiding misconceptions, using a blackboard or a whiteboard, and explaining concepts. To increase participation, for example, the manual recommends giving students more time to respond to a question or allowing students to write or discuss the issue at hand with classmates before they are called upon to answer the question. A video-recorded workshop, in which Dr. Mowshowitz offers guidance on running an effective discussion in an undergraduate science class, and the workshop transcript are also on the FoSO site. FoSO is a free resource for college science teachers who seek to access and share materials and approaches to undergraduate science instruction. The teaching materials on the site were generated for use in Columbia University’s innovative core course, Frontiers of Science.
HHMI Professor: Darcy B. Kelley, Ph.D.
Award Years: 2002, 2006
Summary: Darcy B. Kelley, Ph.D., is an HHMI professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University who studies the neurobiology of social communication. Her HHMI-funded initiatives include:
- The development of Frontiers in Science, a multidisciplinary course required for all first-year students at Columbia College. The lectures cover some of the great ideas of science, such as dark matter, the origins of the universe and of life, evolution, the workings of the brain, and the biome;
- The implementation of a new Web resource, Frontiers of Science Online, to disseminate course materials and to foster a supportive peer community among educators by enabling them to share new teaching approaches and materials directly with one another;
- The creation of a course that uses case studies to teach premedical students about designing, analyzing, and interpreting clinical research; and
- A research program in Dr. Kelley’s laboratory in which students use clawed frogs (Xenopus) to study gene expression in the vocal system.