white text that says investigative biology teaching laboratories: inquiry based laboratories designed to promote collaboration, communication and literacy in science

From the Desk of the Director: Opening a Can of Bookworms

When was the last time you walked into a library to pick up a book? Do you remember the title of the book? Do you remember how many books you left the library with? In the Wikipedia class that I co-teach with two Mann library staff (Ashley Downs and Kelee Pacion), we asked our students to go and find a book in the library, and use that book as a reference for their biology-related Wikipedia entry….

From the Desk of the Director: Science and Salad

Developing a personal connection between teachers and students is a challenging task, especially in large college lecture courses. The classroom environment alone does not offer many opportunities for a one-on-one conversation between an instructor and a student, and I have learned that many students miss the teacher-student relationship that they got used to in high school….

Ye Olde Email – Emails and Electronic Etiquette

There was a time when scrolls and parchment were sealed with wax, and hand delivered to their recipient. If the person wasn’t there to receive their message, often the sender had to stick around until they showed up. Fortunately we’ve moved past that form of communication as a society, but even with electronic wizardry there are limitations. In order to prevent further communication mishaps, below are listed the acceptable times to email course staff, and the expected response time for emails….