Fleeting Form Studio forges community-based climate action
Shani Laskin, The Tribune, September 10th, 2024
“We created this workshop not to enrich the community, but to build community,” co-founder of Fleeting Form Studio Hannah Marder-MacPherson said at the onset of the group’s inaugural event on Sept. 6. The organization, supported by McGill’s Sustainability Projects Fund (SPF), is hosting a series of six workshops inviting various artists to share their work, followed by creation sessions and discussions with the goal of fostering climate action through art.
A ‘river of experience’: How many ways of knowing feed a course on the climate crisis and actions
Diane Dechief, Natalya Gomez, Julia Freeman, and Jennifer Sunday, The Conversation, September 3rd, 2024
How can we educate about the climate crisis in a way that gives students the tools they need to move towards hopeful visions for the future? A new kind of climate course has emerged from our collaboration at McGill University across the fields of environmental studies, biology, geoscience and science communication as we teamed up to explore this question.
Celebrating International Pi Day with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives
Christine Pallon, McGill Faculty of Science, August 12th, 2024
Earlier this year, McGill’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives celebrated International Pi Day with a talk from mathematician Dr. Edward Doolittle followed by a student panel on Indigenous experiences in STEM and, of course, some delicious pie.
Can hopeful moments lead to hopeful futures?
Daphne Chalmers, Julia Freeman, Diane Dechief, Natalya Gomez, Blane Harvey, Amy Janzwood, and Nik Luka, Teaching for Learning, June 13th, 2024
A sunny Friday last October found us away from campus, in a narrow room with many plants, conversing at three large tables, but they were not quite large enough as it turned out.
As part of Montreal 2140, a conference organized by the Bieler School of Environment at McGill, more than 50 engaged folks joined us to talk about Teaching and Learning for Hopeful Futures, and together we focused on getting our ideas onto colorful sticky notes. We were working to address climate-focused challenges.
Undergraduate research takes center stage at Poster Showcase
Emily Foxman, McGill Reporter, April 30th, 2024
On the evening of March 19, more than 500 members of the McGill community gathered in celebration of student work at the fifth annual Undergraduate Poster Showcase. Hosted each March by the Office of Science Education (OSE), the Showcase invites students from across the University to share their scientific research, field work, in-class assignments, passion projects and more.
McGill’s Undergraduate Poster Showcase celebrates star students’ scientific research
K. Coco Zhang, The Tribune, March 26th, 2024
On March 19, McGill’s Office of Science Education hosted its fifth annual Undergraduate Poster Showcase in the University Centre Ballroom, providing students with an opportunity to share their research, passion projects, and in-class work. This year, the event featured 150 colourful posters rich with information, images, and creative interpretations of science.
“Everyone wins” in this education research with a TEACH Mentor
Adele Lopes, McGill Faculty of Science, May 25th, 2023
It’s a sunny afternoon at the Office of Science Education office, and I’ve just sat down with Dr. Jasmin Chahal and Alex Wang to talk about the education research they undertook when they teamed up to assess how self-reflection and pre-lab activities affect students’ confidence levels and success in a Microbiology and Immunology 384 Lab course. So, how did this project get started?
Mieux apprendre grâce à la science du cerveau
Jean François Bouthillette, Radio-Canada, April 9th, 2023
Jean François Bouthillette nous emmène sur le campus pour rencontrer ceux qui offrent aux étudiants, à travers le programme SciLearn, des trucs pour étudier plus efficacement, mieux retenir l’information et, surtout, graver les notions apprises plus durablement dans leur mémoire.
Listen to the episode here (in French only)
Teaching hope during the climate crisis
Jeremy Audet, McGill Reporter, March 21st, 2023
Worried about the climate crisis? Want to learn about climate change from experts and explore what you can do about it? McGill has a course for you.
The Undergraduate Poster Showcase 2023: Gather with us!
Ezelbahar Metin and Bhavya Bhushan, Office of Science Education, March 3rd, 2023
Office of Science Education Student Engagement Administrator Ezelbahar Metin and Communications Assistant Bhavya Bhushan sat down with presenters to discuss the upcoming Undergraduate Poster Showcase. This year, the highly-anticipated hybrid event will be hosted on March 15, 6-8 PM ET in the University Centre (SSMU) Ballroom and via livestream.
The Science (Students) of Course Change – FSCI 396 Research Projects
Tamara Western, Office of Science Education, February 6th, 2023
Data and collaboration are key in science – so why not use both to drive change in teaching and learning at the Faculty of Science at McGill? FSCI 396 – Research Project in Science Teaching and Learning is a course that partners undergraduate students and instructors to design and assess learning opportunities, resulting in improvements for everyone.
SciLearn: Helping first-year science students learn better
Fergus Grieve, McGill Reporter, December 12th, 2022
Each year, around 1,000 new students begin an undergraduate science degree at McGill. For many of them, their first year at university represents a dramatic change from the world of high school or CEGEP.
Pursuing an Arctic research dream
Fergus Grieve, McGill Reporter, December 8th, 2022
Lizz Webb, a PhD student in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (and OSE Science Education Fellow) here at McGill University, spent a week in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago barely 1,000 kilometres from the North Pole, as part of her studies.
The Dan Petrescu Speaker Series presents: Rethinking Learning with MIT’s Dr. Sanjay Sarma
Hilary Sweatman, Office of Science Education, December 8th, 2022
On October 28th, SciLearn of the Office of Science Education welcomed Dr. Sanjay Sarma to present a talk on rethinking learning. Dr. Sarma is the former Vice-President for Open Learning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and author of Grasp a book on the science of transforming how we learn. His work has served as great inspiration for the SciLearn program. Burning the midnight oil, Sarma enthusiastically Zoomed in from India to speak to over 60 eager faculty, staff, and students. His talk marked the second edition of the Dan Petrescu Speaker Series, recently renamed in honour of our late friend and colleague. We invite you to learn more about Dan and his legacy on the OSE website.
SciLearn helps connect students with course material outside of the classroom
Gillian Cameron, McGill Tribune, December 8th, 2022
On a Monday afternoon during midterm season, the cafeteria of Royal Victoria College (RVC) is the place to be. It’s buzzing with energy, full of people eagerly discussing a wide variety of topics—and no, they’re not there for the food. The students are there for the SciLearn Peer Collaboration, a program offered by the Office of Science Education (OSE) to help students ace their courses by working together.
Strategies to foster equitable and inclusive learning environments
Jennie Ferris and Charlene Lewis-Sutherland, Teaching for Learning, October 25th, 2022
Diane Dechief from the Office of Science Education and Stephanie Weber from the Dept. of Biology were among several McGill instructors who recently gathered to share their ideas for fostering equitable and inclusive learning environments. Event co-facilitators Charlene Lewis-Sutherland and Jennie Ferris from McGill's Teaching & Learning Services (TLS) wrote the following blog post to make the ideas more broadly available and perhaps inspire other instructors to adopt or adapt them.
Online teaching strategies we can bring back to the classroom
Jennie Ferris and Véronique Brulé, Teaching for Learning, October 13th, 2022
The fall term is underway, and campus is hopping! At McGill, nearly all classes are taking place in person once more. With the start of a new academic year comes an opportunity to look back on instructional strategies that have worked well that we might use again. Many of the strategies that instructors of large classes have used in online courses over the past couple of years can work just as well when teaching in person. In this blog post, you’ll discover strategies for assessment, teaching, and logistics that colleagues from multiple disciplines shared at the Large Class Teaching Exchange in 2021 and 2022. Though these strategies were discussed in the context of large online classes, they can be adapted to in-person classes of any size. Which of these strategies pique your interest?
Meeting the climate crisis with resilience and collaborative action
Office of Science Education, July 14th, 2022
McGill undergraduates have a unique opportunity to expand their climate science literacy and acquire tools for taking action to reduce the impacts of the unfolding climate crisis.
Setting the tone: how you write your syllabus can make a big difference
Diane Dechief and Véronique Brulé, Office of Science Education, December 16th, 2021
Instructors: think back to when you were an undergraduate. Do you remember how you felt as you read the syllabi for your courses? Hopefully there were feelings of excitement and intrigue. But perhaps there was also confusion or worry that certain classes weren't really what you’d thought you were signing up for.