PARENT SESSION
Contributed Oral Session 68: Ecology Education II
Tuesday, August 9, 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM, Meeting Room 521 A, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology (TIEE): Its value to ecology faculty.
Grant, Bruce*,1, D'Avanzo, Charlene2, Musante, Susan3, Taylor, Jason4, Riney, Josh1, Morris, Deborah5, 1 Widener University, Chester, PA, USA2 Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, USA3 American Institute of Biological Sciences, Washington, DC, USA4 Ecological Society of America, Washington, DC, USA5 Florida Community College, Jacksonville, FL, USA
ABSTRACT- Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology (TIEE) is a peer-reviewed electronic publication funded by NSF and supported by ESA. It is a resource for busy ecology faculty who are looking for new ways to reach their students, or who perhaps want to learn more about teaching and learning. One of our goals is that TIEE will help ecology faculty improve their teaching as they include more inquiry, active learning, scientific thinking, collaborative group work, innovative assessment, formative evaluation, and advanced instructional technology. To date we have published three TIEE Volumes spanning a wide range of ecological phenomena, including coral reef bleaching and amphibian decline plus laboratory studies of competition among parasitic wasps and a simulation/game about ecological succession for non-majors. We evaluate TIEE with telephone interviews, surveys, and by electronically tracking site use (over 10,000 hits per month in 2004). In surveys and interviews, many faculty value the comprehensive and rigorous nature of TIEE materials and report that TIEE has improved their teaching and their students' learning of ecology. In this talk, we will present evidence about our progress meeting the TIEE goals and our visions for its sustainability.
Key words: ecological education, student active teaching and learning, experiments to teach ecology, pedagogy