General Principles and Visualization Tools for Active Learning in Biology

In this webinar, there will be an Introducer / Moderator (Distinguished Professor Emeritus Jeremy Thorner, UC Berkeley) and two Speakers. The first speaker will be Dr. Lynn Tran, a Program Director in the Division of Research on Learning in the Directrate for STEM Education at the National Science Foundation; she will discuss the fundamental features of, and best practices in applying, the pedgogical approach known as “Active Learning.” The second speaker will be Dr. Shannon Behrman, Senior Director of the iBiology team at the non-profit Science Communication Lab; she will discuss the role that visualization tools (graphics, animations, videos, recorded interviews with scientists, etc.) can play in enhancing student comprehension. It is anticipated that after a 5 min introduction, each speaker will give a ~30-min presentation, followed by up to 10 min of questions from the Q&A or Chat box, and then a brief thank you to all by the Moderator, for a total of 1-1/2 hours.

In this webinar you will learn, the fundamental features of, and best practices in applying, the pedgogical approach known as “Active Learning” and the role that visualization tools (graphics, animations, videos, recorded interviews with scientists, etc.) can play in enhancing student comprehension.

Speakers:

Lynn Tran, Program Director, Division of Research on Learning, Directorate for STEM Education

National Science Foundation (NSF)

Lynn Tran obtained her B.S. in Biology from UCLA (1998), an M.S. (2002) and Ph.D. (2004) in Science Education from North Carolina State Univ., and carried out three years (2005-2007) of postdoctoral research at the Center for Learning at King’s College London. She then joined the staff at the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley, where she is still affiliated, and accepted her current position at the NSF in 2021.

Shannon Behrman

iBiology / Science Communication Lab

Shannon Behrman received her B.S. in Plant Biology from UC Berkeley in 2000, and then her Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 2010. Shannon was then a science communications manager at the National Cancer Institute. In 2014, she joined iBiology (and now Science Communication Lab).

Moderator:

Jeremy THORNER, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry, Biophysics & Structural Biology

University of California, Berkeley

Jeremy THORNER received his A.B. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College (1967) and his Ph.D. from Harvard University (1972). After two years of postdoctoral research in the Biochem. Dept. at Stanford Univ. Sch. of Med., he accepted a faculty position at UC Berkeley, where he has been ever since He retired from active service in June 2020 and closed his research lab in June 2021.