Science + Education: Elevating Undergrad Science Courses

Dr. Jamie Becker, an Assistant Professor of Biology at Alvernia University, discusses undergraduate course design for the sciences. He starts off by describing how he began teaching before getting into the general curricular and course structure for undergraduate science majors. We then spend some time talking about the details of course design that Jamie likes implementing, including how he has developed engaging and exciting courses even in his early teaching career. We move to the students’ perspective, challenges in teaching, teaching science to non-majors, and finally Jamie’s own motivations in teaching. Ann and Dennis love how Jamie really drives home the normalization of failure in science, specifically in the context of lab work, as well as how Jamie generally spends so much effort caring for the growth of his students. Some useful links: REU Details - https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/research-experiences-undergraduates-reu Tiny Earth Network - https://tinyearth.wisc.edu/