Teaching Symposium at Plant Canada – Come and join us

The symposium will focus on the importance of writing in (plant) science.  Following is a short description of the event.  The session will start with a 40-minute presentation by our guest speaker, Dr. Lyn Baldwin of Thompson Rivers University, who will speak on: "BOTANY with a dash of SoTL--Improving Undergraduate Botany Curriculum using the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning".  Lyn will explore how we can use SoTL to really find out what works and what doesn't work.  This is a topic that envelopes much of the SoTL work that she's done over the last 5 years, and will include a discussion on how scholarly teaching and learning can be used to assess the success of writing assignments.   The presentation will incorporate time for breakout session/discussion and will be followed by lunch. 

After lunch, there will be a session of contributed talks by members of both the CBA/ABC and CSPP on the theme of "Helping Students Write and Communicate in the Biological Science".  We invite you to participate to this session.  Please send abstracts to make this session the most useful possible (New abstract deadline: April 15^th, 2011).

Finally, we will have an open-discussion Teaching Panel on "Teaching and Evaluating Scientific Writing" led by Dr. John Markham (University of Manitoba).  John will kick off the panel by presenting the results of his nationwide survey: "Undergraduate Scientific Writing Trends in Biology Programs Across Canada".   Panelists will be Dr. Lyn Baldwin from Thompson Rivers, Dr. Norm Hüner from the University of Western Ontario, Dr. Barry Shelp from the University of Guelph, and Ms. Janice Eddington from the Writing Centre of Dalhousie University.  Below you will find a short biography of each panelist.

• Dr. Lyn Baldwin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Thompson Rivers University.  Her disciplinary-specific research investigates the effects of large-scale forest fragmentation on the ecology of bryophytes.  For the last 5 years, she has been using a SoTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) approach to investigate diverse topics such as the effectiveness of specific teaching strategies, the importance of place-based education and the impact of university culture on the acceptance of SoTL.  Lyn was awarded a Thompson Rivers University Teaching Excellence Award in 2010.

• Dr. Janice Eddington’s passions for science and writing combine in her work at the Dalhousie University Writing Centre. Rather than seeing writing as the exclusive territory of English professors, the Dal WC enthusiastically supports a Writing in the Disciplines approach to academic writing instruction: students learn to write within their academic communities; therefore, the WC employs teachers and tutors from diverse fields. Bringing a background that includes being ABD in her Biology PhD and having bachelor degrees in Science, Education, and Journalism, Janice serves as a consultant to faculty wishing to strengthen the science writing component of their courses and as a writing advisor to students. Often Janice can be found teaching a supplemental course for an introductory science writing course, offering seminars in Writing in Science, or assisting science students for whom English is a second or additional language.  Helping students adapt to science through writing and translating scientific findings into narratives for the public reflect Janice’s dedication to both passions.

• Dr. Norm Hüner holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Environmental Stress Biology in the Department of Biology and is the founder and Principal Investigator of the Biotron Experimental Climate Research Centre at University of Western Ontario. Dr. Hüner has over 30 years of experience in university teaching at various levels and class sizes from large, first year introductory biology lectures to medium-sized advanced courses in plant biochemistry and plant physiology at the third and fourth year levels to graduate courses with small enrolments. In addition to over 250 research publications, Dr. Hüner has co-authored several books including a university textbook for use at the second and third year levels entitled Introduction to Plant Physiology (John Wiley & Sons Inc, NJ, USA) that is now in its fourth edition and has been translated into six languages. 

• Dr.Christian Lacroix is Dean of Science at the University of Prince Edward Island. Following a
  post-doctoral fellowship at McGill, he joined the faculty at the University of Prince Edward Island. His research specializes in developmental plant morphology and currently his interests are in the
  biology of the Gulf of St. Lawrence aster, leaf complexity in seed-bearing plants, and developmental aspects of floral organ identity. He has had a long-standing relationship with the Canadian Botanical Association, and was its President from 2006 to 2008. He has also served as President of the Island Nature Trust. In April of 2011, Dr. Lacroix was appointed as Editor of  Botany.
  
  

• Dr. John Markham is an associate professor in the department of Biological Sciences at the University of Manitoba.  His research interests include symbiotic nitrogen fixation, tallgrass prairie ecology and mine site restoration.  He holds a PhD in forestry from the University of British Columbia, a Bachelors degree in Science Education from Dalhousie University and a B.Sc. from Guelph.  He has taught 12 different courses at the university level using tradition lectures, discussion group, and field course formats.