Fleeting Form Studio forges community-based climate action
Shani Laskin, The Tribune, September 10th, 2024
鈥淲e created this workshop not to enrich the community, but to build community,鈥� co-founder of听听Hannah Marder-MacPherson said at the onset of the group鈥檚 inaugural event on Sept. 6. The organization, supported by 海角社区鈥檚 Sustainability Projects Fund (SPF), is hosting a series of six workshops inviting various artists to share their work, followed by creation sessions and discussions with the goal of fostering climate action through art.
A 鈥榬iver of experience鈥�: How many ways of knowing feed a course on the climate crisis and听actions
Diane Dechief,听Natalya Gomez,听Julia Freeman,听and听Jennifer Sunday, The Conversation, September 3rd, 2024
How can we educate about the climate crisis in a way that gives students the tools they need to move towards hopeful visions for the future? A new kind of climate course has emerged from our collaboration at 海角社区 across the fields of environmental studies, biology, geoscience and science communication as we teamed up to explore this question.
Celebrating International Pi Day with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives
Christine Pallon, 海角社区 Faculty of Science, August 12th, 2024
Earlier this year, 海角社区鈥檚听Office of Indigenous Initiatives听celebrated International Pi Day with a talk from mathematician Dr. Edward Doolittle followed by a student panel on Indigenous experiences in STEM and, of course, some delicious pie.
Can hopeful moments lead to hopeful futures?
Daphne Chalmers,听Julia Freeman,听Diane Dechief, Natalya Gomez,听Blane Harvey,听Amy Janzwood, and听Nik Luka, Teaching for Learning, June 13th, 2024
A sunny Friday last October found us away from campus, in a narrow room with many plants, conversing at three large tables, but they were not quite large enough as it turned out.
As part of听Montreal 2140, a conference organized by the Bieler School of Environment at 海角社区, more than 50 engaged folks joined us to talk about Teaching and Learning for Hopeful Futures, and together we focused on getting our ideas onto colorful sticky notes. We were working to address climate-focused challenges.
Undergraduate research takes center stage at Poster Showcase
Emily Foxman, 海角社区 Reporter, April 30th, 2024
On the evening of March 19, more than 500 members of the 海角社区 community gathered in celebration of student work at the fifth annual Undergraduate Poster Showcase. Hosted each March by the Office of Science Education (OSE), the Showcase invites students from across the University to share their scientific research, field work, in-class assignments, passion projects and more.
海角社区鈥檚 Undergraduate Poster Showcase celebrates star students鈥� scientific research
K. Coco Zhang, The Tribune, March 26th, 2024
On March 19, 海角社区鈥檚 Office of Science Education hosted its听fifth annual听Undergraduate Poster Showcase听in the University Centre Ballroom, providing students with an opportunity to share their research, passion projects, and in-class work. This year, the event featured 150 colourful posters rich with information, images, and creative interpretations of science.听
鈥淓veryone wins鈥� in this education research with a TEACH Mentor
Adele Lopes, 海角社区 Faculty of Science, May 25th, 2023
It鈥檚 a sunny afternoon at the Office of Science Education office, and I鈥檝e just sat down with Dr. Jasmin Chahal and Alex Wang to talk about the education research they undertook when they teamed up to assess how self-reflection and pre-lab activities affect students鈥� confidence levels and success in a Microbiology and Immunology 384 Lab course. So, how did this project get started?听
Mieux apprendre gr芒ce 脿 la science du cerveau
Jean Fran莽ois Bouthillette,听Radio-Canada, April 9th, 2023
Jean Fran莽ois Bouthillette nous emm猫ne sur le campus pour rencontrer ceux qui offrent aux 茅tudiants, 脿 travers le programme SciLearn, des trucs pour 茅tudier plus efficacement, mieux retenir l鈥檌nformation et, surtout, graver les notions apprises plus durablement dans leur m茅moire.
Teaching hope during the climate crisis
Jeremy Audet, 海角社区 Reporter, March 21st, 2023
Worried about the climate crisis? Want to learn about climate change from experts and explore what you can do about it? 海角社区 has a course for you.
The Undergraduate Poster Showcase 2023: Gather with us!
Ezelbahar Metin and Bhavya Bhushan, Office of Science Education, March 3rd, 2023
Office of Science Education Student Engagement Administrator听Ezelbahar Metin听and Communications Assistant听Bhavya Bhushan听sat down with presenters to discuss the upcoming Undergraduate Poster Showcase. This year, the highly-anticipated hybrid event will be hosted on March 15, 6-8 PM ET in the University Centre (SSMU) Ballroom and via livestream.听
The Science (Students) of Course Change 鈥� FSCI 396 Research Projects
Tamara Western, Office of Science Education, February听6th, 2023
Data and collaboration are key in science 鈥� so why not use both to drive change in teaching and learning at the Faculty of Science at 海角社区? FSCI 396 鈥撎�Research Project in Science Teaching and Learning听is a course that partners undergraduate students and instructors to design and assess learning opportunities, resulting in improvements for everyone.
SciLearn: Helping first-year science students learn better
Fergus Grieve, 海角社区 Reporter, December 12th, 2022
Each year, around 1,000 new students begin an undergraduate science degree at 海角社区. For many of them, their first year at university represents a dramatic change from the world of high school or CEGEP.
Pursuing an Arctic research dream
Fergus Grieve, 海角社区 Reporter, December 8th, 2022
Lizz Webb, a PhD student in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (and OSE Science Education Fellow) here at 海角社区, spent a week in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago barely 1,000 kilometres from the North Pole, as part of her studies.
The Dan Petrescu Speaker Series presents: Rethinking Learning with MIT鈥檚 Dr. Sanjay Sarma听
Hilary Sweatman, Office of Science Education, December 8th, 2022
On October 28th,听SciLearn听of the听Office of Science Education听welcomed Dr. Sanjay Sarma to present a talk on rethinking learning. Dr. Sarma is the former Vice-President for Open Learning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and author of听听a book on the science of transforming how we learn. His work has served as great inspiration for the SciLearn program. Burning the midnight oil, Sarma enthusiastically Zoomed in from India to speak to over 60 eager faculty, staff, and students. His talk marked the second edition of the Dan Petrescu Speaker Series, recently renamed in honour of our late friend and colleague. We invite you to learn more about Dan and his legacy听on the OSE website.听听
SciLearn helps connect students with course material outside of the classroom
Gillian Cameron, 海角社区 Tribune, December 8th, 2022
On a Monday afternoon during midterm season, the cafeteria of听 Royal Victoria College (RVC) is the place to be. It鈥檚 buzzing with energy, full of people eagerly discussing a wide variety of topics鈥攁nd no, they鈥檙e not there for the food. The students are there for the听SciLearn Peer Collaboration, a program offered by the Office of Science Education (OSE) to help students ace their courses by working together.听
Strategies to foster equitable and inclusive learning environments听
Jennie Ferris and Charlene Lewis-Sutherland, Teaching for Learning, October 25th, 2022
Diane Dechief听from the Office of Science Education and听Stephanie Weber听from the Dept. of Biology were among several 海角社区 instructors who recently gathered to share their ideas for fostering equitable and inclusive learning environments. Event co-facilitators Charlene Lewis-Sutherland and听Jennie Ferris from 海角社区's听Teaching & Learning Services (TLS)听wrote the following blog post to make the ideas more broadly available and perhaps inspire other instructors to adopt or adapt them.
Online teaching strategies we can bring back to the classroom
Jennie Ferris and V茅ronique Brul茅, Teaching for Learning, October 13th, 2022
The fall term is underway, and campus is hopping! At 海角社区, nearly all classes are taking place in person once more. With the start of a new academic year comes an opportunity to look back on instructional strategies that have worked well that we might use again. Many of the strategies that instructors of large classes have used in online courses over the past couple of years can work just as well when teaching in person. In this blog post, you鈥檒l discover听strategies for assessment, teaching, and logistics听that colleagues from multiple disciplines shared at the听Large Class Teaching Exchange听in 2021 and 2022. Though these strategies were discussed in the context of large online classes, they can be adapted to in-person classes of any size. Which of these strategies pique your interest?听
Meeting the climate crisis with resilience and collaborative action
Office of Science Education, July 14th, 2022
海角社区 undergraduates have a unique opportunity to expand their climate science literacy and acquire tools for taking action to reduce the impacts of the unfolding climate crisis.
Setting the tone: how you write听your syllabus can make a big difference
Diane Dechief and V茅ronique Brul茅, Office of Science Education, December 16th, 2021
Instructors: think back to when you were an undergraduate. Do you remember how you felt as you read the syllabi for your courses? Hopefully there were feelings of excitement and intrigue. But perhaps there was also confusion or worry that certain classes weren't really what you鈥檇 thought you were signing up for.