shade lab

Teaching

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We have publicly released our teaching and learning materials from the Microbial Ecology course offered by Prof. Shade while at Michigan State University!

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Please read our teaching-as-research publication here!

 

Vandepol NS, A Shade.  2024.  Is everything everywhere? A hands-on activity to engage undergraduates with key concepts in quantitative microbial biogeography.  The Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education. https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00170-23

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Previously Offered Courses

MMG 425 Microbial Ecology (undergraduate) : Fall semester

MMG 499 Undergraduate Research: Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters

Integrated Microbial Biology (graduate, 3 lectures on microbial ecology) : Fall semester

CMSE 890 001 Metagenomics (graduate): varies; rotated with other CMSE modules

Statistical analysis of microbiomes (graduate): Fall semester

Explorations in Data Analysis for Metagenomic Advances in Microbial Ecology (EDAMAME) workshop:  Summer

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Teaching and Learning Philosophy Overview

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My teaching philosophy has been shaped by my educational background and passionate scholarly interest in teaching. In college at Susquehanna University, I received a liberal arts education, which emphasized consideration of diverse approaches and critical thinking to creatively solve problems. I aim to bring this liberal arts perspective into my classroom. In graduate school, I earned a Certificate in Scientific Teaching through the Center for Integration in Teaching Research and Learning, which included training in pedagogy, diversity and inclusion, science communication and informal science education. In scientific teaching, challenges in instruction are approached in the same way as scientific inquiry: front-end data is gathered, hypotheses are generated, an experiment is executed, and results are analyzed. Front-end, formative, and summative assessments provide the data to assess learning outcomes. Data-driven instruction is informed by best practices supported by the literature in educational research. For example, evidence supports that active learning improves learning outcomes in the undergraduate science classroom. Scientific teaching and data-driven instruction provide a strategy for instructional success and student achievement.

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In my main course offering at Michigan State, MMG 425 Microbial Ecology, I emphasized skill development in quantitative reasoning, critical thinking, and team collaboration.  The classroom was "flipped" to have content delivered in short video lectures that can be consumed flexibly and complemented with in-class team activities that built from that content and deepened student understanding through active learning.

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