Keen-Rhinehart E, Eisen A, Eaton D, McCormack K
Division of Psychobiology, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, ; Department of Biology, Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA 17870.
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ. 2009 Spring;7(2):A74-9. Epub 2009 Jun 15.
Acquiring a faculty position in academia is extremely competitive and now typically requires more than just solid research skills and knowledge of one's field. Recruiting institutions currently desire new faculty that can teach effectively, but few postdoctoral positions provide any training in teaching methods. Fellowships in Research and Science Teaching (FIRST) is a successful postdoctoral training program funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) providing training in both research and teaching methodology. The FIRST program provides fellows with outstanding interdisciplinary biomedical research training in fields such as neuroscience. The postdoctoral research experience is integrated with a teaching program which includes a How to Teach course, instruction in classroom technology and course development and mentored teaching. During their mentored teaching experiences, fellows are encouraged to explore innovative teaching methodologies and to perform science teaching research to improve classroom learning. FIRST fellows teaching neuroscience to undergraduates have observed that many of these students have difficulty with the topic of neuroscience. Therefore, we investigated the effects of interactive teaching methods for this topic. We tested two interactive teaching methodologies to determine if they would improve learning and retention of this information when compared with standard lectures. The interactive methods for teaching action potentials increased understanding and retention. Therefore, FIRST provides excellent teaching training, partly by enhancing the ability of fellows to integrate innovative teaching methods into their instruction. This training in turn provides fellows that matriculate from this program more of the characteristics that hiring institutions desire in their new faculty.
在学术界获得教职岗位竞争异常激烈，如今通常不仅需要扎实的研究技能和对所在领域的了解。招聘机构目前希望新入职的教师能够有效教学，但很少有博士后岗位提供教学方法方面的培训。科研与科学教学奖学金项目（FIRST）是一个由美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）资助的成功博士后培训项目，提供研究和教学方法两方面的培训。FIRST项目为学员提供神经科学等领域卓越的跨学科生物医学研究培训。博士后研究经历与一个教学项目相结合，该教学项目包括一门“如何教学”课程、课堂技术指导、课程开发以及带教教学。在带教教学经历中，鼓励学员探索创新教学方法，并开展科学教学研究以改善课堂学习效果。FIRST项目的学员在给本科生讲授神经科学时发现，许多学生在神经科学这一主题上存在困难。因此，我们研究了针对该主题的互动教学方法的效果。我们测试了两种互动教学方法，以确定与标准讲座相比，它们是否能提高对这一信息的学习和记忆效果。用于讲授动作电位的互动方法增强了理解和记忆效果。因此，FIRST项目提供了出色的教学培训，部分原因是提高了学员将创新教学方法融入教学的能力。这种培训进而为从该项目毕业的学员赋予了更多招聘机构在新入职教师身上所期望的特质。
