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Applications are now closed for the 2021 Scientific Teaching Fellows. Applicants will be notified of final decisions by mid-December.
Deadline to apply: Tuesday, November 17, 11:59 p.m.
About the Program
Part of the Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching
If teaching biology is part of your career path, it's worth polishing your skills and gaining experience as an actual instructor to add to your resume.
Scientific Teaching Fellows gain special insight into the needs of first-year biology students as they spend a semester developing instructional materials for a first-year course and then teach the course the following semester. Designed for graduate students and postdocs, the program offers two credits per semester for graduate students. There are no course prerequisites, but experience as a teaching assistant is highly recommended.
The program takes a unique hands-on and top-to-bottom approach, combining theory, practice, reflection, assessment, and more practice, while providing experience in all aspects of teaching, including meeting the unique needs of first-year students. Participants build classroom skills and understanding through active learning, with continuous feedback provided by intensive mentoring and peer support. In addition to classroom experience, opportunities are available for mentoring undergraduate peer leaders and facilitating interdisciplinary learning that connects biology to math and chemistry. The program is designed to help participants:
- Become more effective with a broader range of students, addressing issues of diversity
- Assess learning outcomes and use data to continuously improve
- Develop instructional materials that encourage active learning, and test them in a real-life setting
- Experience all aspects of teaching, from class rules to grading and evaluation
- Learn about mentoring undergraduate peer leaders and facilitating first-year interdisciplinary learning communities
- Join an ongoing community of peers who care about teaching and mentoring
Spring Semester: Learn about teaching (format: online)
Summer Term: Developing Materials (format: TBD)
Fall Semester: Teaching (format: TBD)
Discuss your participation in this program and its time commitments with your PI (or equivalent) prior to applying.
Exploring Biology (Integrated Science 100)
Teaching Fellows starting during the Spring semester typically design materials for the large first-year seminar Exploring Biology, which is taught in the fall. The course is designed to introduce students to the Five Big Ideas, enhance their awareness of career options, help them navigate biology-related degree options at UW–Madison, and introduce them to high-impact learning opportunities, such as study-abroad experiences and undergraduate research. This course meets in one of the WisCEL classroom spaces, and is taught by a team of Fellows working together to develop instructional materials, and teach the course.
Secrets of Science
Teaching Fellows also teach a smaller first-year seminar, called Secrets of Science. This course has many of the same goals of Exploring Biology, but also explores the science behind biology research in the popular press and helps students come to understand more about the overall process of doing science. This course helps students improve their analytical skills, gain confidence as a scientific thinker, and become a more informed consumer of the science in their lives.
Learning Communites and Peer Leadership
Most discussion sections are part of the Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) program, which means that students in those sections are also in the same section in two other classes, forming a mini learning community. This model, which is growing in popularity across the country, adds interesting dynamics to the section, as well as providing opportunities to link biology to chemistry and math.
Exploring Biology also has a peer mentor component, another effective teaching tool found at institutions across the country. Fellows may choose to be involved in the IMPACT Peer Leaders program, gaining additional experience mentoring undergraduate peer leaders.
Apply to be a Scientific Teaching Fellow
Cara Theisen, PhD

445 Henry Mall
Room 114B
Madison WI, 53706