The goal of the Ninth Annual REEFS session is to provide faculty an opportunity to learn about favorite classroom activities from colleagues and to learn about what they are doing to engage their undergraduate students using student-active methods. Instructors at all levels of experience are encouraged to participate.  This workshop includes a lunch and short film screening sponsored by HHMI BioInteractive.

Keynote speaker, Diane Ebert-May, will give a short talk on assessment in the college-level science classroom. 

Instructors will participate in several groups where an existing teaching activity is shared. Groups will discuss what educators need to know to implement an activity in their own courses. Feedback on how each activity could be improved, tailored, and/or adapted for use in different learning environments is encouraged. Participants can take part in four presentations.

Instructors will work together to develop their own teaching ideas through a facilitated process, and learn about digital publishing options in ESA’s EcoEd Digital Library to encourage broad dissemination. Those who wish to share their activities should contact Kim Bjorgo-Thorne, Education Section Chair: bjorgo@wvwc.edu.

REEFS Goals:

• Learn about what colleagues are doing to engage their undergraduate students using active learning methods.
• Improve classroom activities via the exchange of constructive feedback.
• Foster a network of support in advancing ecology education.
• Promote the recommendations of the Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education Call to Action.
• Encourage digital publishing of teaching resources through ESA’s EcoEd Digital Library and Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology (TIEE).