Bard College Teaching

This post is so delayed, and I am very sorry about it! Work and life have really caught up with me, and I have been so busy trying to keep everything together.

In January, I spend two weeks in Bard College, teaching a group of liberal arts students the microbiome in the Citizen Science program. There was a snow storm the day I flew out to NY - I was flying to Albany, and be picked up by the bus driver (together with other faculty members). It snowed so much that I was worried we were going to be stranded in the airport. Luckily, after spending two hours waiting, our driver finally arrived, and we were on the way to the college campus.

The room that I was going to spend the next two weeks was very "spartan" like - a single bed, a single chair and a table. Some of the other faculty members brought along rugs, blankets and lamps to make it more homely - I just treated it as a time for me to rough it out :)

We had additional last minute training for a couple of days, and we were going to meet our students on Sunday evening. There was a opening ceremony, and then we get to talk to our students. Each faculty members were supposed to have 18 students, but due to a few faculty members having last minute cancellations, I had 21 students.

I spend Sunday morning doing some last minute preparation - all the faculty members were excited and nervous at the same time. The students were not biology majors, so this program had been known as "Science Jail" in the past, and our goal was to make them not only understand but also enjoy science!

I arranged my class tables so that I can see all the students. I am excited to meet my students this evening, and ready to take them on a wild trip through the microbiome!

My syllabus for this course was the human gut microbiome, how they are affected by antibiotics, and antibiotic resistance bacteria, and finally ended with a global view on antibiotic resistance bacteria and how it is going to affect us! I used a mixture of videos, scientific readings and group discussions to go through the syllabus. My main goal was not to teach them everything about the microbiome, but for them to appreciate science, and the secondary goal was to empower them the knowledge to be able to find the real facts behind the scientific propaganda and present it to the class (normal people) in simple terms.

Apart from teaching theories, we also had three days of laboratory sessions. The labs were simple, including gram staining, plaque assay and Kirby Bauer assay. I didn't really teach the labs, but instead I taught the Teaching Fellow (who is a senior in Bard College) how to teach the labs. So, in turn, I took a more supervisory role, and the Teaching Fellow became the teacher.

The two weeks when we were there, I couldn't help but be amazed by the beauty of the location. It was almost as if we were in Winter Wonderland.

The student had a final project. The faculty members had the freedom to choose whatever final project they wanted the students to undertake - most of the faculty members asked for a written assignment and a presentation about microbiome. I was pretty bored with microbiome by then, and so I asked the students to be creative and do anything they liked (with bonus points for creativity) about the microbiome.

My class final project included a song, three videos, cooking, a comic drawing, a game, two books, haiku, a computer simulation program and an art installation. Of course, there were also presentations, and for these creative items, they had to prepare a short 5 minutes presentation as well. I was blown away by the creativity of these students... no wonder most of them are art majors :) 

Mid-semester

Wow!... It's already mid semester! It is Easter this weekend, and from the look of the weather forecast, Hannah and I will probably be staying indoors.

This past week has been busy, busy and busy!... First, we spend one day diving the wreck, Canterbury at the Northland Dive. It is located at the Bay of Islands in the North Island of New Zealand. The place we stayed in is call the Cowshed, and it is about 4 hours drive from Auckland. Unfortunately, my drysuit leaked and I was so cold I had to call off the second dive. However, Hannah managed to get two great dives on the Canterbury.

After the dive, we drove Fawkes (the van!) back to Waiheke Island. After careful consideration, we decided to terminate the monthly car park in Auckland city. It is cheaper to use the car ferry after the monthly car parking fees raise to $250/ month, while the return car ferry trip is $90 for Waiheke residents! So we plan to continue working on the upgrading of Fawkes, starting with finishing the painting, and doing up the interior.

I am getting ready to go to Singapore end of next week. I am going to visit my parents since it is on the way to Taiwan, and the school is paying for it! :P I am really looking forward to visit Taiwan to scout out potential locations for my PhD field work, visiting the lab and learning some metagenomic lab techniques.

Teaching has been hectic! Luckily Hannah is helping me with the sorting of the assignments after they are marked. Cannot imagine how much time is being put in just trying to find some student who forgot to write his/her bench number!

** all photos copyright of Northland Dive

New start of the semester

Today was my first day teaching in the BIOSCI 107 lab. When I stepped into the lab this morning and was preparing for my lecture, I was determined to ensure that the students learnt how to use the microscope proficiently and able to do proper scientific drawings at the end of this lab. During the last hour of the lab, I was walking around looking at the students as they worked their way through their microscope and draw the rat's skeletal muscle, I am glad to say - I managed to achieve my goal! This semester I will be teaching two labs - BIOSCI 101 and BIOSCI 107, both are basic freshmen labs. I am glad to be able to teach these labs because I often find second and even third year students are very weak in their foundation lab skills. I hope to be part of the freshmen's experience in making their foundation lab skills more proficient.

The beginning of this semester also bring Hannah and I good news in our diving career.After a long three-day-weekend of dive training, we managed to pass the Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) Fundamental courses. Hannah secured a Recreational diver pass and I secured a Technical diver pass. Eventually Hannah will be tested again in order to get a Tech pass. GUE ( http://www.globalunderwaterexplorers.org/) has the highest standard in terms of dive training. Luckily, we have a GUE instructor in New Zealand, which makes logistics so much easier. The course was not easy - we had moments where we doubt ourselves! There was Hannah unable to remove her mask, I unable to hold my 6-meter mark in the water while shooting a bag, a total flood failure in my drysuit and our teamwork was going haywire! Our course was ran immediately after another Fundamentals course, and together there were six students, and I am proud to say that only Hannah and I managed to secure a pass! The rest of the students got provisional passes, meaning they have six months to work on some issues and re-take their test. Before GUE, it was unheard of that you could actually fail a diving test! However, given diving is an aggressive sport since we are in a harsh environment, why shouldn't our skills be more proficient. So, what's next after Fundamentals? That I will leave it for some other time :)

Lastly, after weeks of paperwork, I am finally a provisional PhD student of University of Auckland. Provisional because there are things I need to do before I am a confirmed student - such as attending student orientation etc, submit a research proposal and defend my proposal, scouting of the research location etc. Now  I start on the 3-year long journey on this route!

Looking back at the resolutions I made at the beginning of 2012, I may have already achieved a few of them! :)

1. Finish and publish the two papers I have been working on for the past 3 months.
2. Portions of the PhD research to be done : location recce, collaborators negotiation, literature review, experimental design.
3. Publish at least one paper from my PhD research before end of 2012.
4. Pass our GUE fundamentals (ACHIEVED)and Rec 3 (Trimix).
5. Conduct at least one exploration dive on the Blue Creek resurgence with TechDive NZ.
6. Clock a total of at least 40 recreational dives and 10 technical dives. 
7. Teach 2 labs per week (this will help with the monthly finances as well :) ) (ACHIEVED)
8. Stick to a strict exercise regime ( I already have a regime, but sticking to it is another story :P)
9. Run the Auckland Marathon.
10. Call home (Singapore) at least once every fortnight.
11. Go home (Singapore) at least one time in year 2012 (not counting the wedding date!).
12. Go back to Iron Mountain.