• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

iBiology

Bringing the World's Best Biology to You

  • Start Here
    • Explore iBiology
    • All Playlists
    • All Speakers
    • All Talks
    • What’s new at iBiology?
  • Research Talks
    • Talks by Topic
      • Biochemistry
      • Bioengineering
      • Biophysics
      • Cell Biology
      • Development and Stem Cells
      • Ecology
      • Evolution
      • Genetics and Gene Regulation
      • Human Disease
      • Immunology
      • Microbiology
      • Neuroscience
      • Plant Biology
      • Techniques
      • Archive
    • Talks by Series
      • Bench to Bedside
      • Famous Discoveries
      • Great Unanswered Questions
      • Young Scientist Series
  • Stories
    • Background to Breakthrough
    • Interviews and Profiles
    • Science and Society
  • Courses
  • Careers
    • Professional Development Talks
    • Professional Development Courses
    • Career Exploration
    • NRMN Resources
    • Biomedical Workforce
  • Educator
  • About
    • Mission
    • iBiology Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Make a Donation
    • iBiology Funders and Partnerships
    • Contact Us
Home » Blog » Active Learning in Biology Education

Active Learning in Biology Education

October 17, 2016

Share

By Anna Hatch

Higher education is slowly shifting away from the traditional lecture style to incorporate more active learning into the classroom. While the phrase “active learning” is commonly used among educators, the words can sound foreign if you are unfamiliar with teaching. According to Boots Quimby, Associate Director of Integrated Life Sciences at the University of Maryland (UMD), the definition is simple. “Active learning is anytime a student is doing something besides listening to a lecture,” she explained.

Thumbnail Think Pair Share

Courses can incorporate different amounts of active learning into the curriculum. For example, a class might be considered 10% active learning when students pause to answer clicker questions throughout the lecture.  Similar to a remote control, clickers are an interactive tool students use to answer multiple-choice questions.  Professors receive immediate feedback from the clickers as well as statistics about class performance on their computer. This allows them to assess overall class comprehension during a lecture.

Another example of active learning is a flipped classroom. At the other end of the spectrum and considered 100% active learning, flipped classrooms provide students with the content outside of class—typically video lectures or reading material. A major goal of the flipped classroom is to help students master concepts that are not easily answered by a Google search. Another goal is to help students can develop higher-order thinking skills such as analyzing and evaluating.

Helping students develop their own ideas

“I was teaching human genetics to biology majors at UMD. The class was working in small groups, discussing an article. I overheard my students debating alternative interpretations of the data. I stopped for a moment and realized: this is what college education should be—using content to develop your own ideas,” said Quimby.

To foster this, Quimby—with the help of five postdoctoral fellows— recently developed a flipped cell biology curriculum course using the well-known textbook, Molecular Biology of the Cell written by Bruce Alberts and colleagues. In the classroom, instead of listening to a lecture or memorizing facts, students work together in small groups analyzing real data—including microscopy images and western blots.  These exercises teach students to draw their own conclusions—as well as acquainting them with the scientific process.

UMD is one of many colleges and universities that have begun to embrace active learning. Research shows active learning increases student performance in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields (see papers here and here).  Now educators are putting these results into practice. For example, William Jeffries, associate dean at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, cited this study in the Burlington Free Press as a primary reason the medical school decided to replace all of its traditional lecture courses with active learning.

Resources

  • For those in scientific teaching and active learning here are a few helpful resources:
  • Teach Students How to Learn, by Saundra Yancy McGuire with Stephanie McGuire
  • iBiology offers multiple resources for educators including a Scientific Teaching Series focused on active learning as well as resources for two flipped courses: Cell Biology and Engineering Life. In each flipped course, iBiology videos featuring prominent scientists provide the content outside of the classroom, so that time in class can be spent engaging in conversations and discussing journal articles. iBiology also offers a variety of educator resources that support active learning.
  • The Yale Center for Teaching and Learning offers a variety of resources and trainings for scientific teaching.
  • Structure Matters: Twenty-One Teaching Strategies to Promote Student Engagement and Cultivate Classroom Equity.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Help us keep bringing the world’s best biology to you!

Like our Website?

You'll love our newsletter...

  • Sign up for:
    • Exclusive iBiology content
    • 10 Must See Biology Videos
    • Talks by 20+ Nobel Winners
    • Our young Scientist Survival Toolkit
    • Talks by trailblazing Women in Biology
    • Updates on exciting iBiology projects in development
    Tyler Allen
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Privacy Policy

About Us

iBiology Teams
Make a donation
What’s new at iBiology?
Contact us
Join us
Mission
iBiology funders and partnerships
Report a problem
Login

Footer

Funders

NSF Logo
Lasker Logo
NIGMS Logo

Partners

Start Here

  • Talks for Everyone
  • Talks for Students
  • Talks for Research
  • Talks for Educators

Explore

  • Explore
  • All Playlists
  • All Speakers
  • All Talks

Talks By Topic

  • Biochemistry
  • Bioengineering
  • Biophysics
  • Cell Biology
  • Development and Stem Cells
  • Ecology
  • Genetics and Gene Regulation
  • Human Disease
  • Immunology
  • Microbiology
  • Neuroscience
  • Plant Biology
  • Techniques

Talks by Series

  • Bench to Bedside
  • Famous Discoveries
  • Great Questions
  • Share Your Research Series

Career

  • Professional Development
  • Career Exploration
  • NRMN Resources
  • Biomedical Workforce

Courses

  • Microscopy Series
  • Short Microscopy Series
  • Open edX Courses
  • Cell Biology Flipped Course
  • Engineering Life Flipped Course
  • Evolution Flipped Course

Educator

  • Educator Registration
  • Educator Resources
  • Log In

About Us

  • About Us
  • iBiology Team
  • Wonder Collaborative
  • Contact Us
  • Make a Donation
  • Mission
  • Privacy Policy

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences under Grant No. MCB-1052331. Any opinion, finding, conclusion, or recommendation expressed in these videos are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily represent the views of iBiology, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, or other iBiology funders.

© 2021 - 2006 iBiology · All content under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Usage Policy
 

Power by iBiology