BES 312 Ecology
BES 312 ihas become my standard upper level class offered to majors in Env. Sciences and Biology. As I have indicated before, ecology is a topic that is part of my background and research interest, thus that contributes to the excitement of teaching this course.
The course structure is a combination of lectures, small group activities and discussion and in-class exercises. I have made an effort to update the information/activities I provided in this course, making sure that I add examples from the most recent studies in ecological research. I worked my sessions in a way that it encouraged participation from students. A main factor that contributes to participation in this course is the class size (cap at 30), which allows me to have dialogs with all my students during the sessions and establish strong connections with my students.. I also work in increasing interactions among students, and I constantly rotate them in different groups to work in in-class activities. I have a practice of asking “review questions” about the textbook chapters (for extra credit) and that keeps contributing to the students reading and preparation for the course sessions. These review questions and others that I insert during my lectures, also give the opportunity for student active participation in the session, and have given a good active flow to those sessions. Students seemed engaged and with the time more comfortable at speaking in class.
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Here is a link to the spring syllabus and here some examples of work I give to students in this course