SoTL stands for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. The acronym, said "sottle" or "sote-all," describes research that involves rigorous examination of teaching and learning by faculty who are actively involved in the educational process. The number of natural-science faculty engaged in SoTL is increasing, and their…

In this article, the author provides information about the Australian education landscape and discusses three articles that focus on innovative laboratory teaching programs. Each of the articles presents a novel laboratory teaching mechanism that has evolved to successfully address a perceived weakness or problem in the laboratory program. It…

Science undergraduate courses typically cater to a mixed-learner cohort, with a diversity of motivations and skills. This diversity introduces pressure for designers of the practical laboratory curriculum. Students who are struggling with the course need a series of tasks that begin simply, and transition to more conceptually difficult material.…

A strong, recent movement in tertiary education is the development of conceptual, or "big idea" teaching. The emphasis in course design is now on promoting key understandings, core competencies, and an understanding of connections between different fields. In biochemistry teaching, this radical shift from the content-based tradition is being…