Dartmouth Women In Science Project

Faculty and Curriculum Development

Science Teaching Seminars \| Previous Seminars Dartmouth Institute for Science Teaching

The Science Teaching Website at Dartmouth College

The Science Teaching Website is a comprehensive resource for faculty who are interested in accessing relevant, up-to-date information on effective science and engineering teaching practices to enhance learning for all students at the undergraduate level.

Dartmouth faculty serve WISP in valuable ways: as intern supervisors and mentors, as panelists, as steering committee members and as proponents of and fellow experimenters with its new concepts. In 1993-94, funded by a multi-year grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, WISP initiated a series of programs intended to acquaint faculty with new teaching methods and modifications of existing methods to help not only women, but all students, in achieving their full potential as learners. As a result of their participation throughout the project, faculty develop a better understanding of the particular barriers women may face in pursuing their interests in science, increase their knowledge about the breadth of learning styles and needs in the classroom, and can become stronger advocates for reducing the gender gap among students studying science.
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1996-97 Science Teaching Seminars
During the 1996-97 academic year, WISP worked collaboratively with the offices of the Dean of the Faculty, the Provost and Academic Computing, to present Computing Technology and Teaching Seminars as follows: The Liberal Arts Mission and New Technologies Mark Taylor, Director of the Center for Technology in the Arts and Humanities and Preston S. Parish, Third Century Professor of Humanities at Williams College Web Sites and Teaching Science Dartmouth College Faculty: Robert Gross, Professor of Biological Sciences and Director of the Center for Biological and Biomedical Computing; Michael Walters, Professor of Chemistry, and Susan Schwarz, UNIX research engineer, Dartmouth College. Applications and Implications of Computing Technology in Teaching Dartmouth College Faculty: Carl Beckmann, Professor of Engineering Sciences; George Cybenko, Dorothy & Walter Gramm, Professor of Engineering Sciences; Fillia Makedon, Professor of Computer Science, Dartmouth College. Women and Computers: Barriers to Academic Success Eric Roberts, Charles Simonyi Professor for Innovation in Teaching, Department of Computer Science, Stanford University.
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Previous Seminars

Choosing and Leaving Science in Highly Selective Institutions Christopher Strenta, Director of Institutional Research, Dartmouth College Gender Issues in Science and Mathematics Classroom Teaching Claudia Henrion, Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Dartmouth College Strategies for Teaching Large Introductory Classes Delo Mook, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College Particular Concerns for Minority Students in the Sciences Mary Lou Gerinot, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College Changing Curriculum and Pedagogy to Reach the Majority Results in a Positive Upward Spiral Sue Rosser, Director of Women's Studies, University of South Carolina, Senior Porgram Officer for Women's Programs at the National Science Foundation Girls and Science: Are they Still Shortchanged? Susan McGee Bailey, Director of the Center for Research on Women, Wellesley College Science Teaching at Dartmouth: Sharing Our Views Senior Science Majors and Dartmouth Science Faculty
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Dartmouth Institute for Science Teaching

The Dartmouth Institute for Science Teaching presents more extended opportunities to reflect on teaching and learning in the sciences. Typically, The Institute is a 2 and a half day retreat which has been held in residance at the Minary Center at Squam Lake New Hampshire. Past Institutes have included: Web-Based Learning Focused on the intellectual issues surrounding web-based learning, introduced the structural issues of web site design, and provided practical hands-on experience with HTML Active Learning: Cooperative Learning in the College Classroom Facilitator: David Johnson, Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota. The hands on approach to this Institute required active engagement of the faculty, the same kind of active learning that is required of students in the cooperative learning environment of the classroom. "I expected an introduction to cooperative learning and found instead an intense training session. This was extremely valuable and exceeded my expectations..." Math Across the Curriculum: Where Do We Go From Here? Co-Facilitators: Dartmouth Mathematics Professor Dorothy Wallace and Physics Professor Delo Mook Focused on planning the implementation of a major NSF grant to design and implement an integrated math curriculum with introductory science courses. "...I learned more than I expected I would, I worked harder than I expected I would, I will change my teaching because of this..." Effective Teaching Practices This three day teaching institute provided a retreat for junior and senior faculty from the physical sciences to discuss effective teaching practices. The Institute was facilitated by Dartmouth Physics Professor Delo Mook. Guest speaker: Eric Mazur, The Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Professor of Physics at Harvard University, presented "Understanding of Memorization: Are We Teaching the Right Thing?" Curriculum Development Purposely selecting students who have difficulty in his introductory physics course, Professor Delo Mook hired women to help him redesign his course in a way that embraced multiple learning approaches. Different students learn in different ways and Mook's belief is that the trouble some students have with physics may not be a reflection of their ability to learn. Both men and women are being helped by the teaching aids he continues to build into his course.
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