The Course

A major priority in the design of this course is the engagement of students as scientists and citizens. This is accomplished through the variety of techniques described below.

Tuberculosis Syllabus (Acrobat (PDF) 177kB Jul8 08)

Course Management

Leading Discussion

The one aspect of my teaching I would like to improve most is my ability to stimulate and lead classroom discussion. Bio 102, in contrast to
nearly all the other courses I have taught, depends very much on discussion, and I do not think that I facilitate discussion as well I should. In contrast, class discussions in my senior seminar at Princeton University in Fall 2001 (in which the subject matter was similar) were, for the most part, very stimulating. In the latter course, the students carried the discussion themselves on some days. It was truly a wonderful thing to see. I continue to work on this part of my teaching of first-year students.

Problems With Group Projects

In the first two iterations of Bio 102, students worked in groups of 3 or 4 on their semester-long projects. Each group produced a single document authored by all members of the group; all members of the group received the same grade for the paper. Each group decided among themselves, sometimes with advice from the preceptor or me, how to divide up the work and produce the papers. Some groups quickly came to consensus on
their topic, achieved a good division of responsibility, and got right to work on their projects. Other groups, however, did not work together well, for a variety of reasons: 1) they took a long time to reach consensus on a topic; 2) they never reached true consensus on a topic but proceeded nevertheless, with some members of the group going along reluctantly; 3) some members of the group did not do their fair share of the work-they did not attend group meetings, they were unprepared for group meetings, they did not do their "assignments" within the group. In the worst case scenario, the grade of every member of the group may suffer as the result of the unsatisfactory work of one member of the group. Alternatively, some members of the group must unfairly shoulder the work of the errant member.

With the help of my preceptor, I have tried to facilitate the group work as best I can, but my efforts have not always succeeded or have been too late to be of much use to the group. However, I ask all members of the group to evaluate each other near the end of the semester (See my response to II.E.1 below), and I take these peer evaluations into account when I grade each student's "Class Participation," on which 20% of the course grade is based.

This is an ongoing problem that I am addressing this summer as I prepare my syllabus for the Fall 2002 iteration of the course.

Too Many Oral Reports Linked to the Projects

In the first two iterations of Bio 102, oral reports to the class accompanied the proposal, progress report, and final projects give the class, preceptor, and me ample opportunity to ask questions and to suggest improvements in the papers.

Group Work on Discussion Questions

Before each discussion class, I send discussion questions to groups of students and ask them to prepare responses for discussion. I change the composition of these groups from one assignment to another.

Peer Led Class

Each semester, the preceptor leads one of the class discussions. The preceptor consults with me about the topic, chooses the readings, prepares
discussion questions for the class, and leads the discussion. I have enjoyed these classes very much because they allow me to play more the role of an observer (though I do participate in the discussion myself). Both my preceptors have done superb jobs in leading discussions.

Guest Teachers

Dr. Lee Reichman (Professor of Medicine; Professor of Preventive Medicine & Community Health; Executive Director, New Jersey Medical School National Tuberculosis Center; Newark, NJ) visited the class in both 1999 and 2000. He gave a public lecture, met with the entire class for 80
minutes, and then met with groups of 3-6 students throughout the day to discuss their projects and answer questions. Dr. Reichman's visits have occurred at around the time that the students were writing their progress reports. Thus, each group knew their topic well and, at the same time, had many questions for Dr. Reichman. For the students' final oral reports, I also invited "discussants," i.e., other faculty, physicians, community health care workers, to hear the reports and respond to them.

In Fall 2002, I plan to invite a broader array of local health care workers to meet with the class.