Student-Centered Education in Molecular Life Sciences: Essentials for Educating the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Undergraduates ASBMB Conf; Colorado Springs, CO; August 5-8

Colorado College, Colorado Springs CO

Investigators

Abstract

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) conference on Student Centered Education in the Molecular Life Sciences will be held on August 5-8, 2009 at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. This provides a unique opportunity for bioscience educators to attend a meeting devoted solely to improving their teaching, mentoring and research as it relates to undergraduate biochemistry and molecular biology (BMB) science education. The meeting involves participation of and support from a number of NSF- and foundation-funded groups including Project Kaleidoscope, POGIL, SMART Teams, and the Teagle Foundation to provide opportunities for dissemination of new pedagogies that have emerged in recent years. Goals of the meeting are two-fold: 1) to supply undergraduate educators with innovative, comprehensive approaches to teaching and research along with providing them with tools for implementation in their own work and 2) to provide them with networking and mentoring opportunities. No similar meeting has been organized in the field of BMB education for many years even though the value of quality education for undergraduates has been well recognized by national societies in various science disciplines within the past five to ten years. At this meeting, BMB educators can devote time exclusively to improving their teaching and research by adapting various successful models that will be presented and developing their own action plans. Plenary talks will frame strategically planned hands-on workshop/discussions sessions to provide successful models for involving undergraduate students inside and outside the classroom. Broader Impacts: A meeting designed specifically for diverse undergraduate professors is a broader impact in and of itself. The meeting will allow PUI faculty to link their teaching and scholarship in meaningful ways while also providing opportunities to expand their service work into the classroom by participating in Service Learning and other K-16 science activities. Results of the conference and the action plans will be presented in various forums including publication in ASBMB Today and in the journal Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education. Travel awards will be provided to the diverse graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty at PUI as well as minority serving institutions.