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Professor of Biology
Professor of Biology
James (Jim) Shinkle, who received his PhD from Stanford, describes himself as "an old-school 'black-box' physiologist. He is a Professor of Biology and studies--alongside his students--responses to UV in both laboratory and field conditions. He says that one of the most satisfying aspects of his research career "has been the number of times students have seen something that everyone else has missed (including me)."
James (Jim) Shinkle, who received his PhD from Stanford, describes himself as "an old-school 'black-box' physiologist. He is a Professor of Biology and studies--alongside his students--responses to UV in both laboratory and field conditions. He says that one of the most satisfying aspects of his research career "has been the number of times students have seen something that everyone else has missed (including me)."
To learn more about Shinkle and his teaching philosophy, we asked him a few questions.
To learn more about Shinkle and his teaching philosophy, we asked him a few questions.
What is the single most important active learning technique that you employ?
What is the single most important active learning technique that you employ?
I have been consciously reviewing the subject matter that I (and my students) found most complex. Where I used to painstakingly explain those concepts, I now present the facts as clearly as I can and ask the students to come up with explanations. Sometimes the issue is underscored by a clicker question that results in no class consensus. The student work begins with a version of “think pair share” although the groups can be more than 2. In response to the first attempts I provide clarifying comments about just what needs explaining and through several back and forths many in the class have something close to the solution and the rest at least grasp the problem. Only then will I take the students’ productive ideas and restate them into my version of an answer.
What do you believe is necessary for success in the classroom?
What do you believe is necessary for success in the classroom?
In no particular order of importance: a class that has intrinsic and instructor provided/supported interest in learning, learning objectives that invite/require active learning experiences to achieve and an instructor who is willing to improvise off of student responses both in the moment and with follow ups in later sessions.
How do you motivate/push students to form connections between course material?
How do you motivate/push students to form connections between course material?
The first quiz or test provides one kind of motivation, since as many questions as possible are about links between individual facts/concepts. To encourage the habit of expecting connections between ideas I have the students create what I call “micro-concept maps” where they are given 3-4 terms that have more and less obvious connections and the students draw maps incorporating as many links as they can describe.
What is one piece of advice you wish someone had told you when you first started teaching?
What is one piece of advice you wish someone had told you when you first started teaching?
What I was told was that first year college students can only handle concrete thinking, not higher levels on the Bloom ladder. I instinctively resisted this assertion. What I wish some had said is that for early career students it gives them some confidence that they are learning if they do get to continue the habits they are ready have. And further, learning most anything is a hunt up AND DOWN the Bloom’s taxonomy hierarchy. All elements have value.
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