Core Competency #1: Developing Discipline-Related Teaching Strategies

​*This core competency must be satisfied by successfully completing a discipline-related or other approved course on teaching

Description of Core Competency

The first core competency—arguably the most important competency to master as a developing educator—can be expressed through a person’s passion and innovation in developing, testing, and implementing a variety of teaching strategies in a course within a chosen area of study. This competency is difficult to master because not one discipline-related teaching strategy is appropriate for all material or properly fits all students’ learning styles; rather, mastering multiple discipline-related teaching strategies is necessary. Discipline-related teaching strategies should be tailored to a specific course and set of students, and they should be routinely evaluated in order to determine their overall effectiveness in helping students learn. This competency can be mastered in theory, by learning about different teaching strategies and styles, and in practice, by applying and evaluating different teaching strategies and styles in a classroom setting.
 
Relevant topics central to this competency include: course design within a specific discipline, the development of topic- and course-level learning objectives, the importance of alignment, and lecture design and context.

​Course List

"Course II: Advancing Learning Through Evidence-Based STEM Teaching" (Massive Open Online Course or MOOC)

• Date(s): June-August, 2016
• Course Instructor(s): Derek Bruff, Ph.D., Trina McMahon, Ph.D., Bennett Goldberg, Ph.D., and Henry (Rique) Campa, III, Ph.D.
• Offered By​: Vanderbilt University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan State University, and Boston University

"Course I: An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching" (Massive Open Online Course or MOOC)

• Date(s): September-November, 2015
• Course Instructor(s): Derek Bruff, Ph.D., Trina McMahon, Ph.D., Bennett Goldberg, Ph.D., and Henry (Rique) Campa, III, Ph.D.
• Offered By: Vanderbilt University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan State University, and Boston University

"PLB 802: Pathways to Scientific Teaching"

• Date(s): September 8-November 3, 2015
• Course Instructor(s): Diane Ebert-May, Ph.D.
• Offered By​: Michigan State University

Artifact(s) and Artifact Rationale(s)

"Course II: Advancing Learning Through Evidence-Based STEM Teaching" (Massive Open Online Course or MOOC)

• This is the online course syllabus from "Advancing Learning Through Evidence-Based STEM Teaching."

"Course I: An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching" (Massive Open Online Course or MOOC)

• This is the online course syllabus from "An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching."
• This document is a Statement of Accomplishment, which was issued to me for completing the course.

"PLB 802: Pathways to Scientific Teaching"

• This is the course syllabus from "Pathways to Scientific Teaching."

Material(s) and Material Rationale(s)

"Course II: Advancing Learning Through Evidence-Based STEM Teaching" (Massive Open Online Course or MOOC)

• This document represents the course’s first peer-graded assignment, which tested my ability to evaluate past mentored teaching-as-research projects using a rubric.

"Course I: An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching" (Massive Open Online Course or MOOC)​

• This document represents this course’s first peer-graded assignment , which tested my ability to design and develop useful learning objectives for an introductory STEM course of my choosing.

"PLB 802: Pathways to Scientific Teaching"

• ​​This PowerPoint presentation describes a proposed lesson and teaching goals, based on a peer-reviewed paper (Wilmers et al. 2012), to be implemented in an introductory biology course.
• This PowerPoint presentation describes the instruction and teaching strategy for a lesson, based on a peer-reviewed paper (Wilmers et al. 2012), using the 5-E Framework.
• This peer-reviewed paper details a lesson plan designed to span two 80-minute class sessions in an introductory biology course. The lesson plan, based on a peer-reviewed paper (Wilmers et al. 2012), uses the 5-E Framework.

Interpretation/Reflection

Available here

References

​Wilmers, C.C., Estes, J.A., Edwards, M., Laidre, K.L., and B. Konar. 2012. Do trophic cascades affect the storage and flux of atmospheric carbon? An analysis of sea otters and kelp forests. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 10(8):409-415.
Available here