IRACDA Fellows Show Off Their Research Skills, Education-Style
The blistering Arizona sun did not keep a delegation of Einstein postdocs from making the most of this year’s Institutional Research and Academic Career Awards (IRACDA) conference in Tucson. The three-day event, held at the University of Arizona in June, included a wide range of topics for researchers with a passion for teaching. Talks and workshops ran the gamut, offering attendees information on cutting-edge classroom techniques, and the chance to participate in mock faculty interviews and hone their speaking skills through improvisational theater.
BETTR fellows and faculty gather at the annual IRACDA conference. From left to right: (top) Drs. Brett Hirsch, Kessler McCoy-Simandle, Sara Donnelley, Eric Chang, Tadakimi Tomita; (middle) Drs. Francine Morris, Christopher Blackwood, Travis Bernardo, Nelson Nunez-Rodriguez; (bottom) Drs. Na Xu, Barbara Birshtein, Punita BhansaliThe postdocs were members of the Bronx-Einstein Training in Teaching and Research (BETTR) program, now in its fourth year. One of 20 IRACDAs funded by the National Institutes of Health, BETTR trains postdoctoral “scholars” as both scientists and educators by providing them with research, teaching and other professional development opportunities.
An Assortment of Teaching Projects
Einstein research made a strong showing at the event’s poster session, with six current BETTR fellows and two alumni showcasing their scholarly work. But this was not your typical bench research. Outside of their respective scientific fields, each scholar has dedicated time to spearhead so-called pedagogy research—teaching-based research projects that aim to improve outcomes for students learning STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) subjects.
Dr. Kessler McCoy-Simandle, a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Dianne Cox (who is a program director/principal investigator of BETTR), showed how a biology classroom can be transformed using ”active learning,” an approach that shifts the process of learning away from passively listening to a professor to actively engaging during class. Dr. McCoy-Simandle developed these approaches as part of the BETTR program and employed them first-hand in an undergraduate immunology course at Lehman College, which is formally affiliated with BETTR.
Einstein BETTR scholar Dr. Kessler McCoy-Simandle discusses her research with another IRACDA scholarDrs. Travis Bernardo, Punita Bhansali, Christopher Blackwood and Na Xu presented an ongoing multi-semester research project they carried out in chemistry classrooms under the direction of Dr. Nelson Nunez-Rodriguez, the BETTR teaching coordinator at Hostos Community College, another BETTR affiliate. They are developing techniques to improve students’ mathematical reasoning and scientific writing, and looking empirically at the effectiveness of the new techniques.
Drs. Eric Chang, Sara Donnelley and Tadakimi Tomita looked introspectively at the BETTR program. They surveyed BETTR scholars on their training and asked for suggestions to augment the program. Their poster included a write-in survey, to collect on-the-spot data about training experiences from other IRACDA scholars from institutions across the nation.
Good for Students, Good for Postdocs
Because education research is not a part of every IRACDA program, conference attendees expressed interest in BETTR’s experimental bent. “Educators were intrigued by scientific efforts geared toward improving student learning,” said Dr. Bhansali. “As teachers, we want to make sure that the practices we use in the classroom are effective. Pedagogy research helps us to be better teachers.”
And while education research ultimately focuses on student success, the benefits redound to scholars as well. At a time when academic positions are difficult to come by, “BETTR gives IRACDA scholars an opportunity to expand the scope of their research and develop expertise as educators, making them more competitive in the job market,” said Dr. Cox.
Posted on: Friday, July 29, 2016