September 2009 — Volume 3, Issue 5

Scientists teaching scientists

An ALTC-funded project has recommended the creation of teaching-only positions as a way to improve teaching attitudes in the research-focused science discipline.

The project, ‘Raising the profile of learning and teaching: scientists teaching scientists’ was led by Karen Burke da Silva of Flinders University who believes the teaching responsibilities of science academics should be regarded with greater value.

Unfortunately, the serious demand for scientists to constantly engage in research and innovation to gain funding and promotion, means many science lecturers have little opportunity to develop teaching skills and ideas.

“Science lecturers are under incredible pressure to apply for research grants and to publish research papers and as a result, academics don’t have the time to commit to researching innovative teaching methodologies or to apply for teaching-focused grants,” Ms Burke da Silva said.

According to Ms Burke da Silva, a discipline-wide, cultural change is necessary for proper recognition of learning and teaching in the sciences. “Universities have long been rewarding individuals for excellence in research with little or no reward for teaching, and in science in particular it is often assumed that expertise in the subject area is sufficient for effective teaching at the university level,” she said.

Through surveys of 350 first year biology students, however, the project team discovered that many students were unhappy with the quality of their lecturers.

“Clearly, both teaching and research are very labour intensive which makes it nearly impossible for everyone to excel in both areas. One alternative we came up with is to develop dedicated teaching-only or teaching-focused academics with leadership skills, thereby putting them in the perfect position to provide the more research-focused academics with measures to improve learning and teaching,” Ms Burke da Silva said.

“These individuals would also be in positions to carry out science education research as they are acutely aware of the problems and demands of science teaching.”

Nationally, fewer students are enrolling in science-based courses and according to Ms Burke da Silva, poor
teaching may be a major contributor to withdrawal, resulting in even fewer science graduates.

Throughout the project, the team, which included academics from the University of South Australia and the University of Adelaide, worked on increasing the value of teaching and learning by holding teaching symposiums and helping academics by introducing learning technologies to lectures.

In one experiment, the team introduced ‘clickers’ in large first year biology lectures to enable teachers to ask students questions and students to respond in mass. After one year, negative student comments about lectures and their ability fell to 3 per cent from 24 per cent the previous year.

“Australian Universities are currently operating in a highly competitive market, whereby the attraction and retention of students play a significant role in the generation of funding so increasing the quality of academic staff should be considered paramount,” Ms Burke da Silva said.