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Many higher education faculty and instructors in STEM disciplines have not had formal training in teaching science, even though high quality teaching is often cited in university and college mission statements.
This certificate provides you with a more sophisticated understanding of teaching and education research in the context of college-level science classrooms. We believe this will empower you to become a “change agent” as we strive toward positive reform in undergraduate science education.
This program will provide you with the skills and knowledge needed to implement and evaluate evidence-based teaching at the college level. Graduate students currently enrolled in a program at ASU are eligible to apply to this certificate program.
The program has three major components:
Mitra Asgari, School of Life Sciences
J. Bryan Henderson, Mary Lou Fulton Teacher’s College
To earn the certificate, you must complete 17 credits, including a culminating experience in the form of an applied project.
Each of the following core courses must be taken to total 6 credits:
You may select from the following electives to total 6 credits:
You may select from the following courses for a total of 2 credits:
Note: In coordination with, and under the supervision of the program chairs, you may teach at another university or college to fulfill the teaching experience requirement. However, making these arrangements is an exception that will be decided on a case-by-case basis by the program directors.
The following applied project course must be taken (3 credits):
Note: For details on the required capstone experience, please see the Culminating Capstone Experience tab.
Normal Plan
Accelerated Plan
You may choose one of the three following options:
You will engage in a significant teaching experience during this program. Either as a co-instructor with a faculty member, or by yourself, you will teach an undergraduate course at ASU for one semester. You must teach in an evidence-based way (e.g., frequently assessing students and using peer evaluations to guide practice).
In coordination with, and under the supervision of the program chairs, you may also teach at another university or college (BIO 584 Internship). This option is an exception that will be decided on a case-by-case basis by the program directors.
Faculty who have offered to serve as teaching mentors:
Note: Other faculty members may be willing to serve as a teaching mentor.
With guidance from a faculty member, you will either revise the curriculum for an existing course or create the curriculum for a newly developed course.
This curriculum should be aligned with the goals for evidence-based scientific teaching outlined in the Vision and Change of Undergraduate Teaching in Biology, detailed by AAAS and NSF, and taught in BIO 530 Scientific Teaching and BIO 531 Advanced Scientific Teaching. Additionally, you will provide learning goals and proposed assessments that test these learning goals.
Faculty who have offered to serve as curriculum development mentors:
Yi Zheng (statistics)
For education research, you will work closely with a discipline-based education researcher over two semesters to conduct a research project. This project will examine the effectiveness of teaching strategies, classroom innovations, or other interventions that aim to improve higher education in science.
Faculty who have offered to serve as education research mentors:
Note: Scientific teaching faculty mentors for this track should be faculty who actively engage in education research.
For each of the culminating capstone experience options described above, you are required to enroll in BIO 590 Applied Project. You will work closely with a scientific teaching faculty advisor on your culminating capstone experience and will present your results as a poster in an annual spring symposium focused on Scientific Teaching in Higher Education open to the whole ASU community.
We also will have a set of faculty talks about innovations and research in scientific teaching. This symposium will be sponsored through the School of Life Sciences. Not only is this an opportunity to showcase your work, but it would also be a chance for faculty and staff to talk more deeply about effective teaching strategies.
Scientific Teaching in Higher Education Certificate (Graduate Certificate)
Liberal Arts & Sciences, The College of
Location
Tempe
The Plan of Study is the required curriculum to complete the program.