Kelsey Robson
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." -John Muir
I started my career with the fullest intention of walking the traditional path, from undergraduate to master's to doctor's degree; of pursuing that coveted academic position known as the tenure track research professor. Then I was handed my first teaching assistantship. What most graduate students begrudge was actually the best part of my week. The motivation to help students came much more freely than the motivation to collect data points and run statistical analyses. Enter the Doctor of Arts in Biology degree, a unique program that trains students to deliver quality undergraduate instruction. The learning theories and strategies I studied have had wide ranging applications, from traditional classrooms, to science camps, to provincial park settings. For someone so impassioned with ecology and conservation, it's refreshing to know that the biology we teach can reflect the biology we practice.
For many students, the difference between a pass and fail in a difficult course is the instructor's enthusiasm. It took a long time to uncover a clear why behind my career as a scientist and teacher. But this is where it began...
Videography
Bringing field station research into the classroom: Cold, rainy mornings sampling rodents in an alpine meadow; checking beetles traps hung in the branches of pearly aspen trees. Because it's difficult to bring a class of 200 students into the field...