Stephanie Pierce, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Mansi Srivastava, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences co-developed a course for undergraduates with a goal of reaching a larger number of students and exploring similar sets of questions from different angles. They bring their expertise together in a novel course that truly represents the aims of integrative biology: How to Build an Animal. Pierce is a structural biologist and Srivastava is a developmental biologist. These two perspectives of animal biology are rarely taught in the same course, but they’ve found the lenses are complementary. The combination is intended to provide students with a robust foundation of knowledge or “springboard” that can help deepen their interest in integrative biology, as well as foster deeper engagement in upper level courses. Week to week, the course is structured as a modified flipped classroom. The first of two weekly class meetings features a lecture session directed by both professors that gives the foundation needed to participate actively in the second class meeting—a hands-on lab component centered on exposure to research techniques. The week culminates in a teaching fellow (TF)-led section focused on learning to read academic literature effectively.
Improving your pedagogy and enhancing student learning through team teaching
The benefits
Pierce and Srivastava note that team-teaching has several benefits. Through intentional planning of lectures and lab activities that balance the different perspectives of the two faculty members, students are exposed to a deeper understanding of the multifaceted nature of the course material. In addition, the team teaching structure has enabled Pierce and Srivastava to have a greater presence in both lecture and lab, creating more opportunities for contact with students. Pierce and Srivastava also credit co-teaching with improving their pedagogy, as they have each other as a thought partner to discuss effective strategies for the cohort, consistent peer observation of their teaching, and the opportunity to observe the other and gain deeper expertise of their own field. “We both deeply care about enhancing our students’ learning,” notes Srivastava, “and that’s what makes the whole effort worth it.”
“This course gives them a snapshot, a window into all the different things that animal biologists do and provides a foundational knowledge that students can carry with them as they go through into upper-level courses.”
The challenges
Team teaching requires more coordination than teaching independently. Instructors must work together thoughtfully to ensure a cohesive student experience. Additionally, adapting this structure for large courses may be more challenging as small courses give students ample opportunities to engage with the faculty at each stage of the learning process.
Takeaways and best practices
- Partnership is key. When team teaching, it may be tempting to divide the course time and plan independently. However, this can create a disjointed experience for students. For course cohesion and a deeper learning experience for students, Pierce and Srivastava recommend planning your lectures in tandem and selecting similar examples to examine through different lenses.
- Be fully invested. For team teaching to be successful, the instructors should share similar teaching philosophies, find synergy with each other, and be fully invested in the course. Students benefit from both professors being present for each course session, including the labs. While there are two instructors, the amount of coordination needed in team teaching does not lessen the workload.
Bottom line
Team teaching offers the opportunity to develop a course that can expand students’ conceptions of their field of study and deepen instructors’ pedagogical skillset.