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Ripple Effect

Fresh Teaching Attracts the Next Generation of Scientists
By Shoshana Walter ’07

Rebecca Jablonski-Diehl ’09 steps into the murky water of Lower Lake. In front of her is the serene reflection of trees stretched out across the water. It is a familiar sight. But the experience of treading cautiously down a slimy slope in thigh-high waders is definitely new. “The bottom was mucky. We were scared we were going to fall down and not make it out,” Jablonski-Diehl recalls, laughing.

She wasn’t venturing into the muddy lake just for kicks. Jablonski-Diehl and her classmates were collecting water samples for a lab project in biology professor Martha Hoopes’s ecology course. The students gathered samples for nearly two months, comparing and contrasting water conditions at sites around campus.

It is challenging work for 100-level students, but the payoff can be big. With this kind of hands-on experience, students often develop a passion for scientific exploration and discovery early in their college careers. Eventually they may become science majors, or something just as important: informed and scientifically literate citizens.

“I’d never actually done experiments myself,” says Jablonski-Diehl. “Going into the lake was probably the most fun thing I’d ever done in any class.” She was hooked, and became an environmental studies major.

Filling the Science ‘Pipeline’

Hoopes’s hands-on lab is just one example of the learning techniques attracting more students to science. With science, health, and environmental issues continuing to register high on the national agenda, numerous studies have called for more scientists to meet the new century’s challenges. Mount Holyoke professors have stepped up to the challenge, preparing the next generation of scientists and science-literate citizens.

Although the college has been a science powerhouse since its founding, traditional “chalk-and-talk” auditorium lectures reach only a certain segment of the student body. With the world’s scientific needs growing steadily, filling the science “pipeline” is more important than ever. And, since white men have traditionally been overrepresented in most scientific disciplines, attracting more women and people of color is crucial to providing the large number of science-savvy workers studies suggest the world demands.

To do this, Mount Holyoke’s science professors have been teaching one another how to teach better. Last fall, physics professors Janice Hudgings and Ward Lopes organized a seminar for faculty about science teaching. A dozen professors attended the five sessions, during which they listened to outside presenters’ teaching techniques and shared their own methods. Many participants have since used new techniques borrowed from their colleagues.

Physics professor Shubha Tewari (above) shared one successful method. Tewari distributes “personal response systems,” also known as clickers or remotes (below), to her students during class. They click to answer multiple-choice questions posed by Tewari during lectures. Responses are sent to a computer at the front of the room, where the answers are tabulated, and so Tewari knows instantly whether or not her students are “getting it.” If student responses vary, Tewari splits the class into discussion groups, where students argue for the answer they feel is correct. Tewari then discusses their answers, and goes through the steps to find the correct one.

Addison Kemp ’09, a biology major who took Tewari’s 216 course this past fall, calls the system “really helpful. Not everyone is going to speak up [when they’re confused]. With the clickers, [Tewari] gets a good idea of where everyone stands.”

Tewari also recently set up a course Web site on which students are required to answer questions before class based on the reading assignments. Physics professor Janice Hudgings introduced this method, called “just-in-time” teaching. Like the clickers, the preclass questions help professors gauge student understanding. Hudgings counts the preclass answers, which are graded based on effort, as 10 percent of students’ grades. “It’s a really big pain in the butt because it’s a lot of work,” said Gina Leslie ’08, a physics major. “But I find it does help.”

Hudgings’s goal is to get students to think more about the readings, which present important material she often can’t cover in class. She responds to the preclass questions through e-mail, and covers the more troublesome topics in class.

“Students come to class really prepared. They know what they want to ask me,” Hudgings says. “And I come to class much better prepared because I have a better sense of where my class is with the material. It really changes the dynamics of the classroom because we have this exchange.” Hudgings also finds that, since students have taken more time to process the material on their own, they are more comfortable in class.

The philosophy behind these teaching methods is that the more students actively engage with the material through different learning outlets, perspectives, and assignments, the more likely they are to be motivated by and ultimately stay with science.

Real-World Science 

Case studies also allow students to experience firsthand the excitement of science and its relevance to real-world issues. In professor Craig Woodard’s eukaryotic molecular genetics class, students work on two case studies throughout the semester, involving topics such as the effects and ethics of genetically modified foods and the genetics of breast cancer. In each case, Woodard presents students with a problem to research and solve.

For example, students grapple with a real-life dilemma: a woman with a family history of breast cancer must decide whether to have a genetic test to find out if she has a gene that might predispose her to the cancer. Students research which relatives have had cancer, look at the different versions of the gene that other family members have had, research breast-cancer treatments, and answer such practical questions as who pays for treatment.

“This stuff affects people and society very profoundly. In traditional science courses, we weren’t paying enough attention to that,” says Woodard, who uses case studies at all class levels. “I think it’s important that students understand that science is important in the big picture.”

Professor Jill Bubier also helps her students discover the real-world applications of science. In her Environmental Science 200 course, Bubier takes students to Quabbin Reservoir to study the effects of deer overpopulation on forest structure and water quality. [See photo at top of article.]  Bubier works in conjunction with Quabbin Reservoir managers, revisiting certain plots of land to build years of data. Some plots are located in the park, where hunting is banned and the deer population is high, while others are located on hunting grounds where the deer population is lower. Bubier asks students:

Will new trees survive to become adult trees, or will deer eat them first? Does a smaller deer population mean more growth of new trees?

Since water quality for people as far away as Boston relies on the condition of the reservoir and surrounding forests, students’ findings have practical implications. Students also experience the complexities of solving scientific problems.

For majors and nonmajors alike, research with real-life applications helps students view assignments as much more than required material—assignments become missions.

Integrated Science

“Scientific problems don’t come nicely packaged in the disciplines,” notes biology professor Gary Gillis. “Those questions have multiple answers, so you need to approach them from more than one discipline.” For Gillis, that means assigning students case studies that incorporate several scientific areas. He believes that interdisciplinary work in classrooms is the “wave of the future,” and helps students begin to feel more like real scientists.

Last fall, Gillis taught an integrated biology and chemistry course with chemist Sean Decatur [see photo below] and biologist Amy Springer ’87, who taught labs [left, students extract colors from solutions of vegetables]. Springer says that integration strengthens students’ abilities as scientists because they learn to view scientific problems from the perspective of multiple disciplines.

“If everyone looks at a problem the same way and does the same experiments, [the results are] always going to have the same shortcomings,” says Springer. “Giving students a variety of ways to approach a problem makes a solution more accessible.”

Gina Leslie ’08, a physics major, finds the integration of the sciences intellectually stimulating. “With the courses here, you have to really sit down and think about things from different angles. You get a lot of information, but you have to really think about how to apply that information.”

Science-Savvy Citizens

With topics such as global warming and the environment, stem-cell research, and HIV/AIDS attracting international attention, professors believe it is important to educate as many students in science as possible, regardless of the careers they decide to pursue.

“Even if they don’t major in the sciences, I really want students to have some basic scientific literacy,” said Tewari. “I want students to read the newspaper and examine statistics critically.” With scientific knowledge, students can become more active and informed citizens. And if professors can reel in students who are usually more humanities or social science-focused, even better. “Science is a creative field,” says Springer. “It helps science to bring in people with other perspectives.”

Professors have been successful in reaching out to students who never intended to become science majors. Addison Kemp came to Mount Holyoke pre-law. Instead, she became a biology major and a physics minor, and is now a teaching assistant in Professor Amy Frary’s Biology 145 course. At the beginning of fall semester, Kemp accompanied Frary and her students on a tour of Upper Lake. Frary’s lessons on the flora and fauna garnered a lot of “wows” from the students, says Kemp. “Even for students who are not scienceoriented it is still a pleasant experience.” Frary’s oldfashioned enthusiasm certainly helps.

“A lot of [the first-year students] are doing what I was doing, getting their lab out of the way as quickly as possible,” Kemp says. But creative teaching can motivate others, like Kemp, to develop a greater interest in science, and perhaps take more classes.

Keeping Teaching Fresh

Professors continually think about how to keep their teaching innovative, and it shows. “The professors here are so passionate,” says Anna Grosslein ’08, a dance major and biology minor. “They really care about what they teach. They really care about improving their teaching methods.”

After last year’s science-teaching seminar, Hudgings and Lopes wrote a report to the administration, proposing the continuation and expansion of the seminar and similar resources. Meanwhile, many science professors learn the newest and most effective teaching methods by sitting in on one another’s classes. They like what they see.

“Sharon Stranford’s got the neatest lab teaching I’ve ever seen,” says her colleague (and partner) Janice Hudgings, of the biology professor’s immunology course. The labs are derived from Stranford’s own research on what makes people immune or susceptible to the HIV virus. As a result, student lab work, which involves rigorous independent research and writing a journalquality report, is a real contribution to Stranford’s research. In fact, she was “floored” last fall when a student lab group made a professionally significant discovery.

Hudgings also admires physics and mathematics professor Mark Peterson’s ability to reach out to nonmajors by integrating writing and history into his courses. In his physics class on Galileo, Peterson (an internationally renowned Galileo expert) has students re-enact and re-create Galileo’s discoveries, then discuss and write about their experiences. “It’s a neat cross between the liberal arts and sciences,” says Hudgings.

And Ward Lopes is a fan of chemistry professor Sheila Browne, who advises Sistahs in Science (an organization for students of color) and who teaches students to be aware of how they learn by being mindful of each other. In Browne’s organic chemistry class, she randomly assigns students to groups that keep track of one another during the semester, pairs high-performing students with low-performing students for tutoring, and asks students to volunteer information about their study habits during class. She gets students to think differently about how they learn by learning from one another. Their learning needs and methods are varied and diverse, just like their professors.

“The faculty at Mount Holyoke have a real passion for teaching,” says Hudgings. “That’s why most of us took these jobs. We care about teaching, and we want to teach well.”

MHC: Still a Leader in Science The National Science Foundation (NSF) ranks Mount Holyoke among the top colleges in the nation for the achievements of our faculty, students, and graduates. #1 - MHC’s ranking for graduating more women than any other liberal arts college who went on to get U.S. doctorates in the physical and life sciences from 1966 to 2004. This puts MHC in the top 2 percent of all colleges and universities—even major research universities with at least double the enrollment. #1 - MHC’s ranking among leading liberal arts colleges in graduating minority women, and among all schools in graduating international (non-U.S. citizen) female graduates who went on to receive U.S. doctorates in life and physical sciences from 2000 to 2004. 26.6% - percentage of declared majors who are natural science majors 57% - percentage of women science faculty at MHC 22% - percentage of science faculty of color at MHC   Sources: National Science Foundation, MHC registrar’s office

For More Information on the Sciences at MHC

• MHC’s leadership in science
• Virtual tour of the sciences at MHC
• A list of notable alumnae (including scientists)

MHC Science departmental Web pages:

• Astronomy
• Biochemistry
• Biological Sciences
• Chemistry
• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Earth and Environment: environmental studies, geography, and geology
• Mathematics and statistics
• Neuroscience and Behavior
• Physics
• Premedical Studies

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Photos by Paul Schnaittacher and Ben Barnhart