For students struggling in Bryan Dewsbury鈥檚 first-year classes, the intervention starts before class is over.
Dewsbury monitors email while teaching so that he might address students鈥� questions about the material in the moment, sparing students the embarrassment of publicizing their confusion. It鈥檚 one pillar of what Dewsbury calls his 鈥減retty aggressive early intervention system.鈥� Other intervention techniques鈥擠ewsbury calls them 鈥渢ouch moments鈥濃�攊nclude calls to students and emails or calls to their advisors.
Recently Dewsbury shared his philosophy of teaching on the Scientific American Voices blog. In a piece called 鈥溾�� Dewsbury makes the case that the key to reducing failure and withdrawal rates in introductory science courses is an inclusive approach to teaching that considers the diverse students a professor finds in his or her classroom.
“What inspires me about teaching is not the dispensation of information; it is the awakening of the soul.” Bryan Dewsbury
Dewsbury is onto something. Nationally, big, introductory math and science courses have a high D, F and W (withdrawal) rate. In Dewsbury鈥檚 introductory bio classes (he teaches two sections), that number has been as low as six percent. Dewsbury argues student success is about really getting to know students in tandem with adherence to best practices.
鈥淲hat inspires me about teaching is not the dispensation of information; it is the awakening of the soul,鈥� he said.
All students in Dewsbury鈥檚 classes benefit from his inclusive teaching approach, which involves his facilitating learning using differentiated techniques in response to students needs. In practice, this involves Dewsbury鈥檚 studying his student rosters, familiarizing himself with students鈥� pictures, and surveying them to see what their long-term education and career goals are. Early on in the course, Dewsbury assigns students a reflective essay modeled after the 鈥淭his I Believe鈥� pieces popularized on NPR. 鈥淚 tell them, 鈥楾ake the time and reflect on what motivates you,鈥� and boy oh boy, do they write.鈥�
The inclusive teaching approach works especially well with groups such as minorities who historically struggle with STEM disciplines, Dewsbury said. A growing body of research supports this, but Dewsbury has anecdotal evidence as well. He cites his experiences teaching as a graduate student in Florida. Dewsbury taught first-generation college students and gained an appreciation for the challenges they faced. Some challenges, such as socio-economic pressures, were obvious. But others weren鈥檛 as apparent. Dewsbury鈥檚 students鈥� career choices were often dictated by their parents who saw in their children a way to create upward mobility for the whole family. A heavy mantle for a student to bear, Dewsbury noted.
鈥淚n bumbling through my initial semesters as a TA, I learned the value not of content delivery, but of what it means to teach someone to believe they could be better than what they imagined,鈥� Dewsbury said. 鈥淭his belief is the fire that propels ordinary people to do great things.鈥�