Topics & Speakers | Agenda | Registration | Hotel Information | Driving Directions

• KEYNOTE: Keeping Non Science Undergraduates Awake and Interested
  Iain Campbell, University of Pittsburgh, PA
• Using Chemistry History to Help Students Learn Chemical Concepts
  Robert Widing, University of Illinois at Chicago, IL
• Emerging Infectious Diseases; Avian Flu and More
  Stuart Hill, Northern Illinois University, IL
• Discovering What Students Know: High-Tech and Low-Tech Alternatives
  Dee Silverthorn, University of Texas, Austin, TX
• Serendipitous Gallimaufry for the Sciences
  Kim Aaronson, Truman College, IL
• Using MasteringGeneralChemistry™ for Effective Homework Assignments and Personalized Tutoring
  Ann Verner, University of Toronto at Scarsborough
• A Practical Introduction to Problem-Based Learning
  Robert Tallitsch, Augustana College, IL
• Strategies for Online Course Management
  Kim Aaronson, Truman College, IL
• Making Anatomy Come to Life! Active Learning Through Palpation and Clinical Applications
  Nancy Kett, College of DuPage, IL - session full
• CASPiE: Integrating Undergraduate Research into General and Organic Chemistry Courses
  Susan Shih, College of DuPage, IL
• Emerging Infectious Diseases; Avian Flu and More
  Stuart Hill, Northern Illinois University, IL
• Using Modeling to Assess Understanding and Uncover and Modify Misconceptions
  Jean Heitz, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI - session full
• Hands on PhysioEx™: Wet Lab, Dry Lab or Both?
  Rodney Holmes, Waubonsee Community College, IL

KEYNOTE: Keeping Non Science Undergraduates Awake and Interested
The prospect of teaching science to masses of intended majors or hordes of undergraduates seeking to fulfill their general education requirements might make even Hercules quake in his classical sandals. The principal goal of this talk is to convince you that not only can you discharge such assignments well, but you can have fun and find great and lasting satisfaction in the process.

Dr. Iain Campbell is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry in the Biological Sciences department at the University of Pittsburgh. His principal research interest is industrial microbiology, which he pursues academically and as a private consultant. He is active in undergraduate education, has won the University of Pittsburgh Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and serves on the board of the Semester at Sea Program. He is a regular speaker on the academic, business, and general education circuits.

Using Chemistry History to Help Students Learn Chemical Concepts
“Why do we study history? Not just to find out what happened … we want to know how our present situation came about, in order to understand it better.”

- Friedrich Hund, in The History of the Quantum Theory, 1974

Dr. Robert Widing has taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago for the past 25 years. His course load has included Chemistry and Life, General College, General and Analytical Chemistry, Preparatory Chemistry, and Environmental Chemistry. Dr. Widing is author of the Chem 100 Lab Manual published by Pearson Custom Publishing. He was nominated for the Silver Circle Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1997 by graduating seniors. In his free time Dr. Widing enjoys whitewater canoeing, cross-country skiing, hiking, reading science, history, and classic literature, and travel; he has visited 48 of the 50 US states. He is currently a chess coach for Lincoln Middle School.

Emerging Infectious Diseases; Avian Flu and More
In the upcoming century, emerging infectious diseases will pose a massive threat to world health unless concerted global action is undertaken to combat this problem. What is particularly troubling about these infectious diseases is that many are exotic in nature with a vast potential for global impact. In this session, a molecular microbiologist’s perspective will be presented that will integrate an understanding of basic infectious disease parameters with a look at the factors that allow for the emergence of these potentially devastating infectious agents. The discussion will range from the effect of human behavior on the spread of infectious agents to the potentially devastating nature of events that could give rise to an Avian Flu pandemic.

Dr. Stuart Hill is an Associate Professor of Biology at Northern Illinois University. He received his Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Montana. Prior to teaching at NIU, he spent eight years studying infectious disease at the National Institutes of Health with a further two years of study at the Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Oregon. Dr. Hill is an internationally recognized expert in the variation of surface antigens in Neisseria gonorrheae, which is the etiological agent for the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea. Dr. Hill is also the author of the booklet entitled Emerging Infectious Diseases which is part of the Benjamin Cummings Special Topics in Biology Series.

Discovering What Students Know: High-Tech and Low-Tech Alternatives
Finding out what students are learning before they take an examination (formative assessment) allows instructors to clarify points of confusion and address student misconceptions. In lecture settings, however, this can be a challenging task. Dialogue between the instructor and students often is restricted to the front rows or the most vocal students in the room. T.A. Angelo and K.P. Cross developed a variety of classroom assessment techniques (CATs) that involve all students, but many of these techniques are pencil-and-paper and time-consuming to read for large classes. A high-tech version for gathering formative feedback is the electronic response system that allows each student to respond using a “clicker.” In this workshop we will discuss the pros and cons of the high-tech and low-tech strategies and how each can be used most effectively in the classroom.

Dr. Dee Silverthorn teaches Physiology at the University of Texas-Austin. She received a B.S. with Honors in Biology from Tulane University and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina. Dr. Silverthorn plays an active role in the physiology teaching community nationally and internationally, and currently serves as editor of the journal Advances in Physiology Education and the author of Human Physiology: An Integrated Approach published by Benjamin Cummings. Dr. Silverthorn has won numerous teaching awards, including the American Physiological Society's Arthur C. Guyton Educator of the Year in 2001.

Serendipitous Gallimaufry for the Sciences
This engaging presentation will give participants a number of ideas that have been accidental discoveries that successfully engaged students in learning science. These activities were discovered mostly in Anatomy & Physiology classes, but could be tweaked and used in a variety of ways in other science classes as well. Your creativity will be stimulated by this sometimes humorous and somewhat out-of-the-box presentation.

Dr. Kim Aaronson has been in the health care field since 1960, when he began working in a hospital laboratory in Alliance, OH. Since that time he has worked as a medical technologist. He attended physician’s assistant and forensic pathology training at Medical University of South Carolina at Charleston. He received a B.S. in Science Education, Biology from East Carolina University in 1981, and a D.C. from Cleveland Chiropractic College in Kansas City, MO in 1996. He has taught middle school through college in the science and health fields. Dr. Aaronson has recently taught Anatomy & Physiology, Nutrition and Human Biology as an adjunct instructor at various colleges in Chicago. He is currently teaching an online medical terminology course he developed for Harold Washington College and teaches General Biology for Columbia College in Chicago. He also has an active nutrition and wellness private practice.

Using MasteringGeneralChemistry™ for Effective Homework Assignments and Personalized Tutoring
This hands-on workshop will introduce participants to MasteringGeneralChemistry™, the most advanced chemistry tutorial and homework system available. It is the first to tutor students by responding with feedback specific to their errors and simpler questions when they get stuck. The system automatically processes the step-by-step work of every student to provide instructor diagnostics that pinpoint areas of difficulty for individuals or for the whole class. The session will begin with an overview of the presenter’s experience teaching with the program, followed by hands-on practice for creating homework assignments of ideal difficulty and duration, checking the work of an individual student, and comparing results against the “national average.” Session attendance limited to 24.

Ann Verner is a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Toronto at Scarborough. She is the coordinator for the first year chemistry courses and one of the instructors. In addition she is also responsible for the development of the experiments and lab manuals for the first year chemistry undergraduate laboratories. Professor Verner is always striving to improve the educational experiences of first year chemistry students. Ann has received two awards for outstanding teaching, the APUS University of Toronto Undergraduate Teaching Award in 1996 and the University of Toronto at Scarborough Faculty Teaching Award in 2004.

A Practical Introduction to Problem-Based Learning
This talk will help participants examine what they hope their students will get out of their classes, and how they currently work to accomplish that. Participants will be introduced to the concept of Problem Based Learning (PBL) and how it can be used in small, large, major, and non-major course. Good utilization of PBL is a long and time intensive undertaking. However, the advantages of active learning more than outweigh the disadvantages, and Dr. Tallitsch will discuss the results he has seen in his Human Anatomy, Neuroanatomy and Kinesiology courses. Participants will receive a series of handouts that define PBL, including sample problems and provide additional resources.

Dr. Robert B. Tallitsch received his Ph.D. in Physiology with an Anatomy minor from the University of Wisconsin–Madison at the ripe old age of 24. Since then Bob has been on the biology faculty at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. His teaching responsibilities include Human Anatomy, Neuroanatomy, Histology, Kinesiology and Cadaver Dissection. Bob is also a member of the Asian Studies faculty at Augustana, and teaches a course in Traditional Chinese Medicine in this program. Bob’s previous research grants, journal articles and abstracts center around the effect of hypoxia on contractile mechanics, sodium and calcium transport in papillary muscles isolated from genetically hypertensive rats. His publications include Human Anatomy with Clinical Issues in Anatomy with Frederic Martini and Michael Timmons (Benjamin Cummings).

Strategies for Online Course Management
This session will highlight some of the most helpful features of CourseCompass™ powered by BlackBoard, including syllabus, chapter materials such as online quizzes and interactive lab, online discussion forums and the very useful gradebook and assignment functions will also be demonstrated. Although this presentation will focus on MyA&P™ for CourseCompass™, most of what will be presented is also applicable to other CourseCompass™ enhanced courses.

Dr. Kim Aaronson has been in the health care field since 1960, when he began working in a hospital laboratory in Alliance, OH. Since that time he has worked as a medical technologist. He attended physician’s assistant and forensic pathology training at Medical University of South Carolina at Charleston. He received a B.S. in Science Education, Biology from East Carolina University in 1981, and a D.C. from Cleveland Chiropractic College in Kansas City, MO in 1996. He has taught middle school through college in the science and health fields. Dr. Aaronson has recently taught Anatomy & Physiology, Nutrition and Human Biology as an adjunct instructor at various colleges in Chicago. He is currently teaching an online medical terminology course he developed for Harold Washington College and teaches General Biology for Columbia College in Chicago. He also has an active nutrition and wellness private practice.

Making Anatomy Come to Life! Active Learning Through Palpation and Clinical Applications
Students learn concepts of anatomy & physiology through an integrated approach that utilizes anatomical models, palpation of structures on their own bodies, prosected human cadavers, and clinical applications. Workshop participants will be introduced to this approach in the cadaver lab through a variety of examples, such as learning about forearm musculature, the rotator cuff, and the knee joint. Limited to 12 participants.

Nancy Kett is an Associate Professor of Anatomy & Physiology and Biology at College of DuPage. She holds a master’s degree in biological sciences, and she is also a physical therapist. In addition to teaching, she has worked in clinical and research settings. She has twelve publications and has done medical illustrations for nine PhysWhiz II interactive CD-ROMs for nursing students, as well as illustrations for two biology lab manuals, all authored by College of DuPage faculty.

CASPiE: Integrating Undergraduate Research into General and Organic Chemistry Courses
Undergraduate research in the first two years of college is coming to the forefront in chemistry programs, even at community colleges. This presentation will discuss using the CASPiE model for undergraduate research experiences at the College of DuPage. This is part of a multi-institutional collaboration to demonstrate the attractiveness of scientific investigation to lower division students and to encourage then to pursue careers in the sciences.

Susan M. Shih is a Professor of Chemistry at College of DuPage and received her M.S. from Ohio State University. Professor Shih has taught chemistry at the college level for 29 years, the last 24 of them at the College of DuPage. Professor Shih is a member of the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society. In the past 15 years she had been a participant in four different grants involving curriculum development in chemistry.

Emerging Infectious Diseases; Avian Flu and More
In the upcoming century, emerging infectious diseases will pose a massive threat to world health unless concerted global action is undertaken to combat this problem. What is particularly troubling about these infectious diseases is that many are exotic in nature with a vast potential for global impact. In this session, a molecular microbiologist’s perspective will be presented that will integrate an understanding of basic infectious disease parameters with a look at the factors that allow for the emergence of these potentially devastating infectious agents. The discussion will range from the effect of human behavior on the spread of infectious agents to the potentially devastating nature of events that could give rise to an Avian Flu pandemic.

Dr. Stuart Hill is an Associate Professor of Biology at Northern Illinois University. He received his Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Montana. Prior to teaching at NIU, he spent eight years studying infectious disease at the National Institutes of Health with a further two years of study at the Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Oregon. Dr. Hill is an internationally recognized expert in the variation of surface antigens in Neisseria gonorrheae, which is the etiological agent for the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea. Dr. Hill is also the author of the booklet entitled Emerging Infectious Diseases which is part of the Benjamin Cummings Special Topics in Biology Series.

Using Modeling to Assess Understanding and Uncover and Modify Misconceptions
When I began my career, I thought that if I were a better teacher, if my presentations were better, my students would learn more. However as my presentations improved, I did not see similar improvement in student learning. What was the problem? I finally realized that instead of concentrating on how I could learn more and do better, I needed to concentrate on how to help my students learn. Now to help insure that my students really understand biological processes, instead of giving them diagrams to memorize, I have them draw, diagram or model the processes themselves. These activities also help uncover and modify misconceptions students may have. In this session, we will engage in and evaluate a specific modeling exercise. We will also discuss: a) what types of processes are better suited for modeling; b) what we need to consider before setting up a modeling activity; and c) how modeling can be used to uncover and modify misconceptions.

Jean Heitz is a Faculty Associate in Zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has worked with a two-semester Botany/Zoology introductory sequence for majors since 1978. Her key roles have been in development of active learning activities for discussion section and open-ended investigations for laboratory sections. Heitz also teaches a graduate course in ”Teaching College Biology” and has presented workshops at a number of national meetings including the Coalition for Education in the Life Sciences iv Conference in 1995 (Strategies for Teaching and Learning in Undergraduate Life Sciences) and the Society for the Study of Evolution Conferences in 1999 (Teaching Evolution to Undergraduates) and in 2000 (Using Bioquest’s BIRDD Program to Teach Evolution). She is also the author of Practicing Biology, Second Edition (Benjamin Cummings, 2005)

Hands on PhysioEx™: Wet Lab, Dry Lab or Both?
What instructor has not been faced with the challenge of staging physiology wet labs that involve too much time, costly equipment, or difficulties associated with animal experiments? This session will offer participants the opportunity to perform a simple respiratory lab from a commonly used lab manual and to integrate that wet lab with the computer based PhysioEx™ lab simulation of hospital pulmonary function testing. Suggestions and examples will be offered for assessing student performance on the lab assignments. Time will be allotted for discussion of a number of other successful PhysioEx™ labs which may be employed.

Dr. Rodney Holmes is a biology faculty member at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove, Illinois. Holding his graduate degrees from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine, he was previously a faculty member in the graduate and undergraduate divisions of the University of Chicago. With a full time teaching load of Anatomy & Physiology courses, Dr. Holmes has found that students of all levels are most effectively engaged by integrating lecture and wet-lab experiences with a spectrum of anatomical video tapes, web-based learning exercises, and PhysioEx™ computer-based physiology lab simulations

Special Thanks To:

Dr. William Peach, Associate Dean, Natural & Applied Sciences and College of DuPage.