Craig Nelson

The following are consulting opportunities in this category:

About Craig E. Nelson, Ph.D.

Craig E. Nelson is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he has been since 1966. His biological research (60+ articles and chapters) has been on evolution and ecology, most recently on sex-determination in turtles. His articles on teaching (20+) address critical thinking and mature valuing, diversity, active learning, teaching evolution and the scholarship of teaching and learning. He has presented invited workshops these and related topics at numerous national meetings and at many individual institutions (in 36 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, England, Australia and South Africa).

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Stages and Frameworks for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

with Craig E. Nelson

This workshop is quite new and has only been given a few times. The emphases consequently are quite fluid. Its first purpose is to help faculty see that engagement with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) often comes in several stages ranging from initial discomfort with student learning (or other outcomes) through classroom assessment and problem refinement to pilot projects and then to more formal projects that are framed so as to take account of prior work.

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Diversity, Achievement and Retention--A Conversation with Administrators

with Craig E. Nelson

Background points:
The faculty workshop I do on diversity is directed to individual faculty thinking about their own courses (the usual audience interest). The key conclusion of the workshop will be that low grades most often (but certainly not always) reflect out-of-date pedagogy and dysfunctional illusions of rigor. In the workshop, we consider several important but easy pedagogical changes. From an institutional perspective, at least three additional perspectives are important.

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Fostering Critical Thinking and Mature Valuing Across The Curriculum

with Craig E. Nelson

Option 1 (Time 4 to 7 hours): Sophistication in thinking is prerequisite to many of the goals of liberal and professional education. We will both examine two major frameworks for fostering critical thinking: cognitive science (mental models and misconceptions, novice v. expert distinctions, models for thinking about thinking) and intellectual and ethical development (especially Perry; Belenky et al. and Baxter Magolda) and explore the implications of each for classroom practices. An underlying theme will be that often critical thinking can be fostered best by increasing the ratio of support offered for a given level of challenge. Processes: Mini-lectures alternating with writing and small- and whole-group discussions of applications to your own teaching.

in:

Effective Strategies for Teaching Evolution and Other Controversial Issues

with Craig E. Nelson

This session will examine key strategies for teaching evolution more effectively. These include more realistically addressing the nature and limits of science, more explicitly presenting the overall case for evolution, and asking how we can tell weak from good from outstanding science.

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