Teaching

Goal

My goal is to work in academia so that I can teach others about the amazing planet that we live on. My graduate and postdoc research touched on ecosystem processes at both local and global scales and can serve as a fantastic springboard to discuss the Earth System with people who are interested. Over the years I had to take a wide array of courses in order to assess the Earth through so many different lenses and at so many different scales; I love putting that knowledge to use in the classroom. I have been lucky to teach an equally wide array of courses, but my favorite courses to teach involve those covering planetary, environmental, and ecosystem processes. I have taught at multiple minority serving institutions in California, conducted outreach at San Joaquin California elementary and high schools, at community events in the San Joaquin Valley, and have been an invited lecturer for California Naturalist and graduate Environmental Science courses.

Teaching Philosophy

I firmly believe that attending and thriving at college is for everyone and my teaching methods are designed to reach and relate to all groups. I change my teaching style and presentation depending on classroom equality, equity, subject, and class size. However, I make sure to bring the same basic principles to every class that I teach—questioning, discovery, thinking, and practice. Students who pass though my classrooms will have gained an appreciation for the subject matter, but my ultimate goal is for my students to be well-rounded critical thinkers so that they can identify and solve any type of problem.

I use a learner-centered approach, emphasize the importance of self-questioning, and design hands on activities and assignments that induce critical thinking and facilitate deep learning. Rather than the standard lecturing and testing style that is often seen in higher education, I create learning environments that promote exploration, prompt students to reflect on their own learning throughout, and create an environment that celebrates inclusivity. I have found this to be particularly useful at UC Merced and CSU San Marcos, which both serve many underrepresented groups and whose student bodies are overwhelmingly first-generation college students.

Research Informed Education Techniques

By using my research (my own field/laboratory research and STEM education research) I am able to better my teaching methods and convey information and concepts more clearly. Examples of each are below:

- Having completed a significant portion of my research in Palau enabled me to create case studies (with original data) that take advantage of the unique range of habitats found there to demonstrate various topics including water column profiles, ecosystem metabolism, food-web dynamics, habitat connectivity, and data analysis.
- An example of in-class education research that I have used to improve my teaching was when I developed a community-based research approach for an introductory marine science course. I had previously implemented a successful round table discussion format for an upper division environmental microbiology course—in which students engaged in an in-depth discussion of current research articles—but the same format inhibited student performance in a lower division general education marine science course. For the lower division course, I changed the discussion style to encourage student engagement by creating a community-based inquiry (CBI) environment in which small groups had an hour to answer a question they came up with based on the reading that required both critical thinking and additional research to fully answer. I was extremely pleased to discover that many of the questions that the students came up with were more creative and challenging than questions I would have picked (e.g. what would happen if thermohaline circulation stopped?). CBI had three main benefits: 1) it was correlated with higher participation; 2) it was correlated with higher overall performance on exams and higher performance on exam questions that required critical thinking to answer; and 3) the students preferred small group inquiry and felt that they learned more than they did with either a round table discussion or a more traditional question/answer discussion session. Many students stated that they were "comfortable expressing opinions," and that they "felt more included," which I think contributed to their mastery of the information.

Student Centered Teaching — Flipped Course Format to Increase Student Involvement and Learning

Due to my success with CBI, I began using a flipped classroom format in which students work in small groups to try and understand a new situation or answer practical application problems. In many classes this takes the form of classic lecturing for 10 or 15 minutes followed by students working in small groups. After a check in where we go over answers and make sure everyone understands, we move onto the next topic. I plan to continue using this method due to the teamwork, mastery of material, and self-confidence I have witnessed while employing it (students literally take over on review days because they are so used to working together and teaching each other).

In an upper division Microbiology class, however, I used an entirely flipped format in which student came to class having watched online video lectures and worked in small groups to answer critical thinking application questions. During class, students worked in small groups researching and answering real world application problems that reinforced the theory they had learned, such as:

1. Compare the sizes of phytoplankton found in an oligotrophic versus eutrophic marine environment? How does this affect the food web in each location and how are heterotrophic microbes involved in each food web?
  - This question has students look at bottom-up effects and prompts them to think about the entire food web in very different environments.
  - Students will have to bring in prior knowledge about different areas of the ocean and understand why the food webs at each location function as they do.
2. What microbial process can lead to an explosion in a natural gas pipeline?
  - This requires students to have a working knowledge of the redox ladder and microbial redox reactions.
  - I expect students to look up what chemicals are in natural gas and be able to figure out that microbial sulfate reduction produces hydrogen sulfide—which will corrode a gas pipeline.
3. How does bacteriophage ecology affect bacterial diversity?
  - This question gets students to combine two different lectures—one on viruses and one on bacterial diversity.
  - This question prompts students to see viruses as predators on specific bacteria and how controlling the dominant bacterial species can actually increase community diversity—information that was not covered in the online lecture.

When polled, I found students loved these active learning questions and I noted how excited they were to share their answers and reasoning with the rest of the class. Further, their mastery of the material was evident through their oral and written communication. As I checked in with students while they worked, I was able to identify what concepts they struggled with and I spent additional class time going over these more difficult concepts again. I wouldn't feel comfortable using this entirely flipped format for a lower division, introductory, or non-majors course as though students often need a bit more guidance, but it was incredibly effective for an upper division majors course.

Jesse Wilson

Check out my YouTube page. I have playlists with flipped lectures from:

Earth Science
Environmental Microbiology
Introduction to Environmental Studies

Devotion to Teaching and Teacher Training

I received the 2016 Outstanding Teaching Award at UC Merced as a direct result of the education research that I have conducted, my learner-centered teaching style, and my extremely positive student reviews. However, I am always striving to improve my teaching and I have earned two Teaching Matters Certificates at UC Merced (including, “Mastering the Classroom with First Generation College Students”) and I attended the 2017 Howard Hughes Medical Institute-UC STEM Faculty Learning Community Conference and the 2018 Ocean Science Meeting where I presented my education research. These experiences solidified that the methods that I employ allow students to effectively engage with and master difficult concepts and sets all students up for success inside and outside the classroom. Finally, at CSU San Marcos I have received my WebAIM certificate (so that I can ensure my courses are accessible to all students) and took part in the 2024 Equity-Minded Pedagogy Program at CSU San Marcos.

Commitment to Diversity

My goal is to decrease STEM program attrition rates by celebrating diversity through inclusion and awareness.

Diversity is one of the greatest strengths that the human race possesses. Different backgrounds, outlooks, abilities, and expertise can be leveraged via shared passions and respect to find solutions to real-world problems and enact positive change. Efforts are being made to recruit diverse people into scientific fields, but recruitment is not enough. In order for this collaboration to take place we, as a society, need to ensure that everyone 1) has access to the tools they need to meet their career goals and 2) feels that they belong in the field they are passionate about.

I obtained my Ph.D. at a minority serving institution so that I could enable young people to take control of their own futures. UC Merced is a Hispanic Serving Institution with a majority of its undergraduate population consisting of first-generation college students. The teaching center on campus prepared me to effectively engage the socioeconomic and ethnic diversity of the student body at UC Merced and I attended and presented at conferences aimed at promoting equity in STEM. However, after seeing an undergraduate decide to leave Earth Science due to a lack of visible LGBTQ+ role models in the field I began to understand how important a sense of belonging is to retaining diversity. This prompted me to change many of my teaching methods in order to increase inclusion in my classroom. One of the very first things I did was to change pronouns from “he” to either “she” or “they” for practice problems throughout all my classes. I also began showcasing the work of diverse scientists (including LGBTQ+ scientists, Latinx, Black/African American, American Indian, and more) and I frequently have students research and report on the work of LGBTQ+ and/or BIPOC scientists of their choosing. Finally, I reference the LGBTQ+ visibility campaign, “500 Queer Scientists” in order to ensure that LGBTQ+ students know that they can be out and themselves in science. My specific goal is for minority students (whether they be trans, gay, queer, BIPOC, disabled, etc.) to know that they are represented and relevant in science, the classroom, and humanity.

Finally, my research has involved working with people all over the world and includes diverse assistant researchers that I expose to science and personally mentor. I am proud to have helped diversify the coming generation of Earth and Environmental Scientists by personally mentoring Hispanic, African-American, LGBTQ+, and many first-generation college students. I plan to continue to conduct outreach activities aimed at exposing and recruiting diverse groups to scientific research and am particularly interested in organizing and participating in programs aimed at helping the sense of belonging of LGBTQ+ students, staff, and faculty.

Potential Courses:

Earth Science

Environmental Science

Environmental Studies

Marine Science/Oceanography

Limnology

Introductory Geology

Field Methods in Marine Science/Limnology

Ecosystems of California

Aquatic Ecology (Marine, Stream, etc.)

Ecology and Ecology Lab

Conservation Biology

Biogeochemistry

Statistics and/or Modeling

Evolution

Environmental Microbiology/Microbial Ecology

General Microbiology