THE OCEANOGRAPHY CLASSROOM | An Awakening (Part I)

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Author

Robert J. Feller | Marine Science Program, Department of Biological Sciences, and Center for Science Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

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First Paragraph

My purpose in this article is to increase awareness about long-standing problems in science education and then, in Part II, to build a case for how marine scientists, and scientists in general, can help improve science teaching and learning at all educational levels. What follows relates a personal journey, started 11 years ago when a former undergraduate who had worked in my research lab convinced me that there was a better way to teach the laboratory portion of our introductory marine science course than by simply lecturing. I was initially quite reluctant to delve into the world of science education, because I didn't think that pedagogy was anywhere near as important as the straight delivery of solid content knowledge (= lecture). After all, that's how I learned science, and if it worked for me, then it should work for other students!

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Full Article

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Citation

Feller, R.J. 2008. The oceanography classroom: An awakening (Part I). Oceanography 21(1):105–109, http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2008.74.

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