Sample class materials and assignments used with students, annotated to explain my pedagogical decisions.
Sample syllabus
Animal Behavior and the Endocrine System
This course was conducted during Spring 2022 at Columbia University, 10 students, met M/W for 75 minutes.
This seminar style course for biology and E3B majors introduces students to the field of behavioral endocrinology. The structure of this course focuses on building student capacity in critical analysis and scientific writing through the subject of hormones and behavior to enable students to complete a scientific literature review on a topic in the field. By reading, analyzing, and reflecting on scientific literature every week, students practice critical reading skills specific to scientific writing, while honing writing and analytical abilities. Students combine the skills and knowledge learned over the semester to craft a relevant and personally engaging scientific question, as well as propose potential hypotheses, that serves as the subject of their literature review. Additional skills required to complete this paper are bolstered by weekly exercises in select topics (e.g., interpreting figures, claims assessment techniques, conducting a literature search, etc.). In addition, a weekly class discussion and opportunities for peer review promote student communication and collaboration.
Click here to view a PDF of the full syllabus.
This course was conducted during Spring 2022 at Columbia University, 10 students, met M/W for 75 minutes.
This seminar style course for biology and E3B majors introduces students to the field of behavioral endocrinology. The structure of this course focuses on building student capacity in critical analysis and scientific writing through the subject of hormones and behavior to enable students to complete a scientific literature review on a topic in the field. By reading, analyzing, and reflecting on scientific literature every week, students practice critical reading skills specific to scientific writing, while honing writing and analytical abilities. Students combine the skills and knowledge learned over the semester to craft a relevant and personally engaging scientific question, as well as propose potential hypotheses, that serves as the subject of their literature review. Additional skills required to complete this paper are bolstered by weekly exercises in select topics (e.g., interpreting figures, claims assessment techniques, conducting a literature search, etc.). In addition, a weekly class discussion and opportunities for peer review promote student communication and collaboration.
Click here to view a PDF of the full syllabus.
Analyzing and contextualizing scientific figures
This exercise is an in-class activity for a small undergraduate-level seminar course in Principles of Animal Behavior. The goal of the exercise is for students to practice critically analyzing and critiquing scientific figures and results.
Students first demonstrate capacity for thoughtful reading of a scientific article, pinpointing the main ideas, predictions, and experimental design from the reading. They then apply this understanding to assess how the author’s hypotheses and predictions compare to the results. This provides an opportunity for students to actively interpret data figures, consider the functional outcomes of alternative and null hypotheses, and practice thinking critically about how the author’s findings support, or fail to support, the author’s conclusions.
Click here to view a PDF of the lesson material.
Students first demonstrate capacity for thoughtful reading of a scientific article, pinpointing the main ideas, predictions, and experimental design from the reading. They then apply this understanding to assess how the author’s hypotheses and predictions compare to the results. This provides an opportunity for students to actively interpret data figures, consider the functional outcomes of alternative and null hypotheses, and practice thinking critically about how the author’s findings support, or fail to support, the author’s conclusions.
Click here to view a PDF of the lesson material.
Understanding hormonal feedback mechanisms
This group exercise is an in-class activity for a small undergraduate-level seminar course in Animal Behavior and the Endocrine System. The goal of the exercise is for students to work together to synthesize and apply what they learned that week about hormone classifications and regulation patterns to a specific hormonal pathway.
Working in groups, students trace the pathway that leads to the release and regulation of two hormone groups: the thyroid hormones (T4 and T3), or the pancreatic hormones (insulin and glucagon). This provides an opportunity for students to review and integrate what they learned about different types of hormones, and how their structural characteristics impact how they are regulated, to a real example. By working together, students are able to collaborate and build on each other’s knowledge and ideas.
Below are the posters students created during this activity.
Working in groups, students trace the pathway that leads to the release and regulation of two hormone groups: the thyroid hormones (T4 and T3), or the pancreatic hormones (insulin and glucagon). This provides an opportunity for students to review and integrate what they learned about different types of hormones, and how their structural characteristics impact how they are regulated, to a real example. By working together, students are able to collaborate and build on each other’s knowledge and ideas.
Below are the posters students created during this activity.