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Dr. Pat Marsteller directs the Center for Science Education and
is a faculty member in the department of Biology at Emory University. She studied evolution of animal behavior for
her M.S. degree at University of South Carolina and evolution and quantitative genetics for her Ph.D. at
the University of Florida. She worked with alligators for her M.S. thesis, investigating whether they
could use the sun, the moon and the stars to navigate. Her dissertation research focused on a quantitative
genetic analysis, using fruit flies as a model system, to investigate genetic and environmental
influence on life history patterns and traits such as longevity and quantity and timing of reproduction.
She has taught courses on Darwin, evolution and many other courses over her
30 years of college teaching. She also works with college and pre-college faculty on developing curriculum
materials and on using active learning strategies in the teaching of science and mathematics.
Pat's grand project is to prepare Faculty of the Future to teach well, to be creative, to be excellent mentors.
She believes that we all have a responsibility to educate the public about science.
Prior to arriving at Emory in 1990, Pat taught at large state universities and tiny liberal arts colleges.
This experience gave her the opportunity to teach nearly every course in Biology. She loves teaching
because transmitting the joys (and trials) of the process of science to students gives them the tools for
lifelong learning and discovery. Science is not merely a body of accumulated facts and theories, but an
exhilarating process of discovery. Good teachers are constant learners, inventing, creating and discovering
new ways to facilitate learning. As her friend John Jungck says, "teachers must move from the position of
sage on the stage to guide on the side." Learning is an active process. Students are not vessels into which
we pour our accumulated wisdom; they are participants in generating, constructing and linking knowledge
by placing new content in the context of what they know and by developing critical analysis skills so that they
can generate reasonable hypotheses, test them, analyze carefully and draw reasonable conclusions. Good
teachers and good students should "Question Authority" as the bumper sticker on her door suggests.
Don't just believe! Delve into it, connect, apply, and make it your own!
Pat is a member of the Biology faculty and the NBB faculty and directs the Hughes Undergraduate Science
Initiative and the Center for Science Education. She is the oldest of 11 kids. She is married
to Fred Marsteller, who is a consultant in Biostatistics and Research Design. Her son Sean was the founding
Director of LearnLink. He and his wife now live in Canada. She has two really cute dogs, Dino and Curious George.
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