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

• KEYNOTE: Keeping Non-Science Undergraduates Awake and Interested
  Iain Campbell, University of Pittsburgh
• Motivational Games and Activities to Enhance Student Engagement in Large General Chemistry Courses
  Klaus Woelk, University of Missouri-Rolla
• Using Technology to Enliven Introductory Biology
  Eric J. Simon, New England College
• Hands On: Exploring the Human Genome Project Online
  Michael Palladino, Monmouth University
• Serendipitous Gallimaufry for A&P
  Kim Aaronson, Truman College
• Engaging Students In and Out of the Chemistry Classroom
  Keith S. Anliker, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
• Teaching Biology Using Real World Examples
  Virginia Borden, University of Minnesota-Duluth
• Bioethics Debates for Biotechnology Students
  Michael Palladino, Monmouth University
• PhysioEx™ 7.0 for Human Physiology: Integrating Lab Simulations into a Viable Lecture Tool
  Lauren S. Gollahon, Texas Tech University
• Using MasteringGeneralChemistry™ for Effective Homework Assignments and Personalized Tutoring
  Ann Verner, University of Toronto at Scarborough
• Writing Effective Exam Questions
  Mimi Bres, Prince George’s Community College
• Incorporating Active Learning in Large Lecture Classes
  Lauren S. Gollahon, Texas Tech University

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.

Motivational Games and Activities to Enhance Student Engagement in Large General Chemistry Courses
Student motivation plays a key role in successfully teaching large-enrollment introductory courses. In this play-and-learn workshop, multiple games and activities aimed at motivating both major and non-major university students to discover the principles of chemistry will be presented. The workshop is highly interactive and engages the audience into experiencing the motivating effect of physical activities as well as tile and matching games. Successful activities will be compared to examples of lesser educational value.

Dr. Klaus Woelk is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR), where he teaches introductory chemistry in courses of up to 200 major and non-major students. He coordinates UMR’s chemistry freshman education with an annual enrollment of up to 1000 students. He also teaches upper-level physical-chemistry courses, such as Thermodynamics and Quantum Chemistry. Dr. Woelk, who received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry and Experimental Physics at the University of Bonn, Germany, is part of a team that considerably redesigned introductory chemistry at UMR. In 2005/06, he was the acting director of UMR’s New Faculty Teaching Scholarship program.

Using Technology to Enliven Introductory Biology
Introductory biology lectures and laboratory exercises are well suited to the incorporation of technology. Multimedia allows for inclusion of current topics, the incorporation of animation, video and sound to clarify complicated issues, and reference to popular culture. In this presentation, creative ways to use technology to teach introductory biology will be discussed, including collaborative projects between professor and students, ideas on using Personal Response Systems (clickers) during lecture, and podcasts. The goal of this presentation is to present practical tips on how any teacher can use technology to improve the teaching and learning environment.

Eric J. Simon is an Associate Professor of Biology at New England College where he teaches introductory biology to both biology majors and non-science majors, as well as genetics, microbiology, molecular biology, and careers in science. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Harvard University and M.A. and B.A. degrees in biology from Wesleyan University. Dr. Simon is a co-author, along with Neil Campbell and Jane Reece, of the books Essential Biology, 3/e, Essential Biology with Physiology, 2/e, and Biology: Concepts and Connections, 5/e.

Hands On: Exploring the Human Genome Project Online
The Human Genome Project advanced at a pace that was far too rapid to chronicle in a textbook, so how can faculty and students develop an accurate understanding of what can be learned from studying the human genome? This hands-on computer lab workshop will demonstrate how the Internet can be used as a tool to actively engage students, both majors and non-majors, to learn about goals, outcomes, and implications of the Human Genome Project. Participants will explore student-friendly, up-to-date sites that present a wealth of information including: genetic technologies, chromosome maps, recently identified genes, genetic diseases, resources for educators, and thought-provoking discussions on ethical, legal and social aspects of the Human Genome Project. Session attendance limited to 24.

Michael Palladino is an Associate Professor of Biology at Monmouth University in New Jersey. He received his Ph.D. in anatomy and cell biology from the University of Virginia. At Monmouth Dr. Palladino teaches undergraduate courses in biotechnology, genetics, and cell and molecular biology, and directs an active laboratory of undergraduate students conducting research on gene expression in male reproductive organs. He is the recipient of several teaching and research awards including the 2005 Distinguished Teacher Award from Monmouth University, the 2005 Caring Heart Award from the New Jersey Association for Biomedical Research, and the New Investigator Award of the American Society of Andrology. Dr. Palladino is Series Editor for the Benjamin Cummings Special Topics in Biology booklet series and author of the first booklet, Understanding the Human Genome Project. He is co-author of the textbook Introductory to Biotechnology and has recently joined the co-authorship team of Klug, Cummings, and Spencer for Concepts of Genetics, 9/e.

Serendipitous Gallimaufry for A&P
This presentation will give you a number of ideas that have been accidental discoveries of ways that engaged students in anatomy & physiology classes. Many of the general ideas could be adapted to other biology classes as well. Your creativity will be stimulated.

Kim Aaronson has been in the health care field since 1960 and received a B.S. in science education, biology from East Carolina University in 1981, and a DC from Cleveland Chiropractic College in 1996. He has taught middle school through college in the science and health field since 1985. Recently, he has been teaching anatomy & physiology, nutrition, human biology, general biology, and medical terminology as an adjunct instructor at Chicago City Colleges. Kim is actively involved in online course development and facilitation and is currently teaching Introduction to Nutrition online.

Engaging Students In and Out of the Chemistry Classroom
It’s a busy world out there and faculty and students need ways to engage with course content that are time and cost efficient. This session will discuss high tech and low-tech strategies to truly engage students while they are in class and once they go home. The presentation will include easy and effective chemical demonstrations, demonstration of some emerging technologies for extending your impact beyond the classroom walls, “radical” suggestions for things not to do, and time to discuss and share your own best practices.

Keith S. Anliker received his B.A. in chemistry and biology from the University of Northern Iowa and his M. S. degree in chemical education working with J. Dudley Herron in the Department of Chemistry at Purdue University. He has been with the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) since 1990, where he is presently Lecturer in Chemistry and Director of Laboratory & Curriculum Support. He is a recent recipient of the IUPUI School of Science Lecturer Award and was a 2005 IUPUI Gateway Scholar. In 2006, he received the statewide IPSE Award for Innovation and Leadership: Teaching with Technology on Campus, from the Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education.

Teaching Biology Using Real World Examples
We all know how difficult it is to help students understand inheritance. Most students can recite the steps of meiosis, or memorize how to make a Punnett square but lack any real understanding of the significance of these processes. Using everyday examples, including a mating between Mr. Potato Head dolls, some fairly complex genetic topics can be modeled in a concrete manner that helps students understand the real significance of these processes.

Virginia Borden taught at the University of Minnesota, Duluth for 12 years. She taught non-majors biology, plant biology, ecology, evolution, and various other courses. Along with her co-author Colleen Belk, she has written the text Biology: Science for Life and its accompanying lab manual.

Bioethics Debates for Biotechnology Students
Biotechnology is an exciting and rapidly emerging area of biology education because of recent developments in gene identification, genetic therapies, genetically-modified foods, stem cells and cloning technologies, and many other topics. Few disciplines of biology elicit the complex range of bioethical challenges for both scientists and the general public that biotechnology presents. This workshop will describe a teaching approach for using bioethics debate sessions to allow students to learn about and debate bioethical aspects of current topics in biotechnology. Participants will be involved in an impromptu debate.

Michael Palladino is an Associate Professor of Biology at Monmouth University in New Jersey. He received his Ph.D. in anatomy and cell biology from the University of Virginia. At Monmouth Dr. Palladino teaches undergraduate courses in biotechnology, genetics, and cell and molecular biology, and directs an active laboratory of undergraduate students conducting research on gene expression in male reproductive organs. He is the recipient of several teaching and research awards including the 2005 Distinguished Teacher Award from Monmouth University, the 2005 Caring Heart Award from the New Jersey Association for Biomedical Research, and the New Investigator Award of the American Society of Andrology. Dr. Palladino is Series Editor for the Benjamin Cummings Special Topics in Biology booklet series and author of the first booklet, Understanding the Human Genome Project. He is co-author of the textbook Introductory to Biotechnology and has recently joined the co-authorship team of Klug, Cummings, and Spencer for Concepts of Genetics, 9/e.

PhysioEx™ 7.0 for Human Physiology: Integrating Lab Simulations into a Viable Lecture Tool
Many instructors are turning to e-Labs as an alternative to costly and time consuming wet labs. However, many times it is difficult to interface these e-lab exercises with the lectures due to the scope of the material to be covered. In addition, students feel this lab is disconnected to their career and real-life applications. In this workshop, participants will get hands-on experience with PhysioExÔ V7.0 as a wet lab substitute. In addition, we will discuss some practical options for incorporating PhysioEx^TM into your lecture topics and associating these sometimes seemingly irrelevant exercises with your current lecture material. Finally, we will discuss ways in which students can associate these e-labs to real-life experiences.

Lauren S. Gollahon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX. She received a Ph.D. in Veterinary Anatomy from Texas A&M University. She currently teaches Anatomy, Physiology, and Cancer Biology and coordinates the physiology labs. In 2000, she received the Ex-Student Association New Faculty Award, in 2004, she was named a National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences, and in 2006 she received the President’s Excellence in Teaching Award for TTU and was named a National Academies Education Mentor in the Life Sciences. She has been a member of the TTU Teaching Academy since 2000 and has participated in numerous teaching workshops involving active learning, technology, and improved pedagogy in large lecture classes.

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.

Writing Effective Exam Questions
Testing is one of the basic components of teaching, yet often leads to frustration for both students and professors. Are you looking for strategies to improve your exams? Reduce negative feedback from students? Join us to discuss the art of constructing test questions. The workshop provides practical suggestions for tailoring your exams to accurately evaluate your course objectives while also addressing differing student needs. Participants should bring a brief lesson outline for a topic they'd like to assess.

Mimi Bres, a Professor at Prince George's Community College, has over 20 years experience in the development of curriculum materials designed to stimulate interest in science and to improve critical thinking skills. Of particular note is her recent work developing an interactive web and video-based curriculum, including a virtual field component, to teach environmental concepts without the need for students to travel. Dr. Bres received a 2001 National Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. She has also been nominated for “Outstanding Freshman Professor of the Year,” the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the Faculty Senate Excellence Award.

Incorporating Active Learning in Large Lecture Classes
Currently active learning is a buzzword in pedagogy. For small section classes of less than 50, implementing active learning exercises in the classroom can be done very effectively. But how can active learning in large lecture classes that have upwards of 400 students be accomplished? Is it even reasonable to expect that active learning will be successful with so many students? Finally, with all the material that needs to be covered in A&P, will the students benefit, or will they miss important information? In this workshop, you will be introduced to several active learning tools that can be used in your large lecture sections. In addition, you will have the opportunity to practice these schemas and share your own ideas, successes and failures. Finally, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating active learning exercises in comparison to presenting less lecture material.

Lauren S. Gollahon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX. She received a Ph.D. in Veterinary Anatomy from Texas A&M University. She currently teaches Anatomy, Physiology, and Cancer Biology and coordinates the physiology labs. In 2000, she received the Ex-Student Association New Faculty Award, in 2004, she was named a National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences, and in 2006 she received the President’s Excellence in Teaching Award for TTU and was named a National Academies Education Mentor in the Life Sciences. She has been a member of the TTU Teaching Academy since 2000 and has participated in numerous teaching workshops involving active learning, technology, and improved pedagogy in large lecture classes.

Special Thanks To:

Special Thanks To: Marcia O’Connell and the Department of Biology, The College of New Jersey.