One measure of success in education is to have inspired students to become lifelong learners. We do this through a variety of instructional approaches and strategies that vary based on our education, professional development, and personal experiences in teaching and learning. However, to continually inspire students to learn, some blend of effective pedagogy and instructional creativity matters.

I have spent my academic career breaking out of the mold of lectures and rote memorization, to create unique classroom experiences wherein students are guided to construct their own, scientifically valid knowledge. My philosophy is guided by constructivist learning theory from thinkers such as Kolb (1984), Piaget (1966), and Dewey (1938) that suggests humans construct knowledge through experience and social discourse, integrating new information with prior knowledge.

In my experience, undergraduate research in the biology laboratory, as a form of experiential learning, is a highly effective element in providing students opportunities to construct...

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