A Review of Scientific Teaching

doi:10.1128/jmbe.v12i1.287

Naowarat Cheeptham (Ann)
Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, E-mail:
ncheeptham@tru.ca.

Scientific Teaching; 5^th printing; Jo Handelsman, Sarah Miller, and Christine Pfund; (2007). Supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor Program and The Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching. W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, in collaboration with the Roberts and Company Englewood, Colorado. 184 pages.

This book builds upon the idea that a training institute is needed to nurture scientific-minded educators and revolutionize science education. It strongly presents an argument that science education needs a face-lift, so to speak, regarding the way it is taught and how students are trained to use memorization in order to learn a body of factual knowledge.

To produce students who think like scientists (critical and analytical thinkers), educators need to understand the similarities and connections between science, education, research, and teaching. Thus, scientific teaching, by the definition coined in this book, means “teaching science in a way that (1) represents the nature of science as a dynamic, investigative process based on evidence, (2) engages a diversity of people in a collaborative process, and (3) has clear learning goals in mind, uses methods and instructional materials designed to improve student learning, and evaluates the methods iteratively”.

This book is a comprehensive bible of what scientific teaching is and how educators can scientifically teach. The objective of this book is consistent and clear throughout – to introduce and demonstrate how faculty can treat their teaching with the same scientific mindset as they approach their disciplinary research. In other words, faculty can make teaching more scientific and we, as educators, need to develop teaching habits based on sound evidence with proven assessment methodologies.

The book is intelligently arranged into two sections for educators at two different points in their teaching careers. Chapters 1–6 focus on ‘what is’ scientific teaching and ‘how to’ scientifically teach. They are aimed at educators in the early stages of their careers who may wish to make changes in their teaching and learn more about teaching as a form of science (analysis, collaboration, communication, experimentation, evaluation, inquiry, and knowledge). These chapters are an easy and inspiring read and cover topics such as scientific teaching, active learning, assessment, diversity, definition of a teachable unit, and ideas for institutional transformation.

The second part of the book focuses on educators who are well into their careers, have been practicing scientific teaching for some time, and who are now ready to share their practices with colleagues and the larger community. This latter section gives detailed guidelines and helps the reader to think about effectively sharing what they have learned about scientific teaching in workshops and other forums. With a number of examples in active learning and assessment provided, this book is a solid case of well-established “what is”, as well as a “how to” guide for both novice and veteran science educators.

There are abundant books on education that offer clear pedagogical and principal teaching strategies, many lack specific examples as to how the reader can become a more effective educator. For me, there is one other that stands out and complements Scientific Teaching. In the book, Leaving the Lectern: Cooperative Learning and the Critical First Days of Students Working in Groups (Dean A. McManus; John Wiley & Sons Inc.; 2005), the author demonstrates his passion for science teaching by asking what “success” in the classroom truly means. He shows how his courage to venture out from a traditional teaching setting (i.e. passive lecture mode) results in “success.”

“Scientific Teaching” is a true one stop shop for educators in science education. It combines factual information about best practices (learning goals, learning outcomes, design principles, assessment, addressing diversity) with suggestions on how to implement and share these in the broader community of one’s institution and beyond.

Overall, this book is current and very informative. It is one of a kind and should be recommended to everyone (even in non-science disciplines) who wants to help students learn how to think like real scientists.

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JMBE
ISSN: 1935-7885

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Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education

A Review of Scientific Teaching