The Science of Teaching and Learning
Putting value on how students learn, researchers follow in the footsteps of WPI’s founders by investigating innovative approaches to teaching.
Read Story1. Patch
The American Museum of Natural History in New York is one of my favorite places in the world. In addition to enjoying the exhibits, I’ve spent many happy hours researching the museum’s history in the vast and brilliantly curated archives in its library.
2. Stereoscope
Through the viewer, side-by-side pictures of the same object or scene from very slightly different angles are resolved into an image that looks three dimensional. I use it in my Media Revolutions in History class, which includes a section on the history of photography.
3. Postcard
I had a wonderful time advising at the New Zealand project center. The postcard is a souvenir from the interisland ferry, a trip I highly recommend.
4. Shark Teeth
I use these fossil shark teeth in the classification lab in my course on the history of evolutionary thought. Shark teeth and fossil shark teeth set early European naturalists thinking about fossils and about the stratigraphic column, change over time, and, ultimately, evolution.
5. Squirrel Skull
When I teach my class on the history of evolutionary thought, I include two in-class biology labs, one on the history of biological classification and another on the history of comparative anatomy. The squirrel skull is one of many specimens that students use to “invent” comparative anatomy.
6. Puffin
Long ago, I worked at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, where, among other things, I had the privilege of helping to raise baby puffins. They are wonderful birds—smart, sociable, and inquisitive.
7. The Journal of American History
This is a reprint of my published paper “Evolution for John Doe: Pictures, the Public, and the Scopes Trial Debate.” I wrote about how diagrams designed by scientists, intended to explain evolution to the public, were interpreted and misinterpreted.
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