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Teaching & Learning Critical to the pursuit of scientific endeavor is the communication of core concepts and a continuing effort to learn new things. In recent years, the Field of Teaching & Learning has expanded drastically, incorporating discoveries from research in neurobiology, advances in brain imaging technology, and new theories in brain based learning. New models of pedagogy such as student centering, active learning, and problems based learning have proved to be quite successful. No longer does the "Sage on the Stage" model of teaching, where a professor simply lectures at a class, have to be the dominant mode of teaching and learning. Micro lecturing coupled with student micro teaching seen in such things as power teaching and other models capitalize though engaging students to be a part of the teaching and learning process. Claflin University's approach to academic excellence has been to support implementation of these new pedagogies into its classrooms. See Dr. Panasik's Teaching Philosophy Technology is also breaking old paradigms of what information is and how it can be harnessed. Web 2.0 can provide unique opportunities for the sharing of information in the teaching and learning process. For a list of links that point to some of the interesting Scholarship on Teaching and Learning and tools that can help enable it go here. Dr. Panasik has directly incorporated his research experiments into his Biochemistry Laboratory Courses (Chem 401 & Chem 402) allowing students to participate in a fully problems based, research focused learning environment. Here, students learn basic principles of protein structure and function, molecular evolution, and basic biochemistry research techniques in the context of a critical thinking course. Students begin lab not with a specific protocol, but with brainstorming sessions to design the next experiment. Using Directed Evolution, students create enzymes with new functions, purify them using state of the art purification strategies, and characterize them with the basic techniques of biochemistry including kinetics and thermostability measurements, measurement of association constants, protein gels, and molecular modeling. 3D projectors allow students to discuss their findings in a unique technologically enhanced environment. Dr. Panasik also teaches a novel course in our Masters Program in Biotechnology called Teaching & Leadership. Taken concurrently with their first TA assignment, this course introduces and provides workshops in student-centered, active, problems-based, and collaborative learning pedagogies to graduate students. Students practice and critique lab lectures, become familiar with the scholarship of teaching and learning, gain knowledge in use of technology in teaching for such things as Blackboard, v-casting course content, and recording and editing multimedia enhancements to the curricula. The efforts of these Graduate students are harnessed to enhance the course content in Claflin's Departments of Biology and Chemistry. Partnerships to Aid Matriculation . Dr. Panasik
also participates in a partnership with Yale University's Graduate
Program in Physical
and Engineering Biology to provide students of under-represented
minorities with quality research internships and graduate school program
opportunities as well as scientific research collaborations between Dr.
Panasik's lab and researchers at Yale.
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