Graduate Student Development
Although the expected route for graduate students in the sciences is to enter into an academic research career that typically includes both research and teaching duties, traditional graduate education does not often include training in teaching skills. At Emory University, graduate students in the biomedical sciences receive only a cursory introduction to teaching in their first year, and may have only a limited role as a teaching assistant for an undergraduate course. Yet, we expect these same students to one day become professors and teachers of the next generation of scientists.
The Center for Science Education offers programs and resources for graduate students seeking to enhance their teaching and mentoring skills in preparation for careers in academia, industry, and alternative science careers. Through our programs, future faculty members gain skills in teaching science in an engaging manner beyond the traditional lecture model. We provide opportunities to practice these skills, to reflect on one’s own teaching, and to share challenges and best practices with a community of current and future science educators.
Graduate Student Program Highlights
Teaching Certificate Program
ECCSE Director Dr. Pat Marsteller is leading a planning group to design a teaching certificate program for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in science and mathematics disciplines. The program requires two semesters of course work and two practical teaching experiences.
Mentoring Seminars
Our seminar series, open to graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty is modeled after Dr. Jo Handelsman’s Entering Mentoring seminar and book. This 7-meeting series discusses establishing good mentoring relationships, communicating expectations, developing mentoring philosophies, and recognizing common challenges and solutions.
PRISM (Problems and Research to Integrate Science and Mathematics)
PRISM offers annual fellowships to Emory University graduate students in order to improve the teaching skills and confidence they will need in careers in academia, industry, or other areas. PRISM Graduate Fellows are paired with middle/high school teachers to develop and implement innovative K-12 lessons using problem-based learning (PBL) and investigative case-based learning (ICBL) pedagogies.
HHMI Curriculum Development Fellowships
Graduate students and postdocs work with faculty to develop new courses or enhance existing syllabi. Fellows meet bimonthly with our director, Dr. Marsteller, for pedagogy training and professional development for the group. ECCSE has been impacting curriculum at Emory since 1997. Fifty seven curriculum development fellowships have been awarded since 2005, alone.
Graduate Student Resources
- Scientists in Science Education (BSCS, 2008)
- NIH Science Education Nation: A Scientist’s Guide to Supporting K-12 Education
- Science Writers Association of Emory
- Science Education Research Journal Club (all are invited for weekly discussions of research on undergraduate science education)
- On Recent Discoveries by Emory Researchers (ORDER), an undergraduate teaching fellowship