University Times

As coordinator of the biological sciences depart-ment’s Foundations of Biology lab program, Carole LaFave is the head of a team that is responsible for 108 sections a year of the department’s introductory lab courses, making her instrumental in the science education of some 2,000 Pitt students annually.

The two-semester sequence is limited to sections of 18 students per lab. The fall and spring classes are offered at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. each day, plus 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays; a smaller number of sections are scheduled during summer term.

“We have multiple labs running three times a day,” she said. “It’s pretty tough from a materials perspective, but it works.” Each three-hour lab meets once a week for 15 weeks.

One might think that dealing with so many students would require an assembly line-mass production type of approach, but LaFave has shown that the personal touch is possible, even when thousands of students are in the mix. It all boils down to putting the student first and recognizing the diversity inherent in such a large group, she said.

It’s evident to a visitor to her strategically located office just inside the main entrance to Clapp Hall that students definitely find her approachable. A steady stream of taps on her office door punctuates her day as students, who know her as Carole, come by with questions.

On a recent day just before an important class assignment was due, students queued up outside her door and filled her email inbox with questions. She’s glad they ask, viewing their desire for help as a sign that they are taking the class seriously and want to do well.

Although LaFave teaches one section herself each fall and spring — “It keeps me abreast of what’s in the classroom; what’s working and what’s not working,” she said — some who turn up on her threshhold aren’t students from her section. Because all sections are given the same lab assignments in any given week, LaFave said a student can approach any of the instructors with questions.

“I encourage them to do it,” she said. “I want to the students to feel as if we’re accessible.”

The “we” is her team of as many as seven grad students, 18 instructors, assistant Meredith Barbieri and prep person Laura Babcock.

Faculty meetings each Friday afternoon give the team a chance not only to coordinate content for the coming week’s lab, but also to get together and get to know one another. “It’s a very good professional contact,” LaFave said, adding that her lab instructors come from a variety of backgrounds and are found either through word-of-mouth or periodic advertising. Some are full-time faculty; many others are part-timers with science backgrounds. “They offer a lot and do a lot,” she said.

LaFave herself joined the department as a part-timer in 1992, having earned a master’s degree in mycology in 1970 at Ohio State. She raised three children — including two Pitt graduates, one of whom was a Marshall scholar — before continuing her career.

Team members often are called upon to write recommendations for students, she said. “Students feel comfortable coming to us with all kinds of concerns,” she said. “We’re on a first-name basis; we really, really do know them.”

The program is the first stop for many freshmen who aspire to degrees in biology or neuroscience, while others in the class are graduates on their way to the professional schools.

In that capacity, her team’s role is to teach the students how science works. They focus on five areas: science content; math concepts; equipment use; computer understanding; and thinking, writing and oral presentation.

“In all five foci, we’re trying to get students to develop good scientific reasoning skills and a strong interest in science,” she said.

LaFave said students are expected to perform but also can find a wide range of help. “We provide challenges and support,” she said, noting that there’s sufficient support to ensure that students with weak science backgrounds aren’t left behind in a class that may include those who have had AP biology.

Plenty of tools are available to ensure students succeed: They learn Excel and are taught how to format graphs and tables; they are given a guide on how to write a proper lab report and review tests are available so students can assess their own knowledge.

Those who need help are encouraged to utilize the writing and math skills resource centers or biology tutoring offered by honors students.

“I think the most important thing is that you have to give them encouragement. They’re harder on themselves than anything,” LaFave said, pointing out that first-semester freshmen in particular have been dropped into a very unfamiliar world on campus.

“So many are turned off by the time they come to us,” she said, noting that many students dislike the rote memorization they associate with science classes. The class, while rigorous and not devoid of memorization, provides a breath of fresh air with labs designed to have real-life applications attached to the scientific content.

“So many students learn in a vacuum,” she said. “They study with no application.” Not so in her labs, which are continually updated to include timely topics. Students may be looking at trans fats and high-fructose corn syrup as part of a lab, or studying about stem cells. One lab looks at how enzymes and genes directly impact certain inherited diseases.

Noting that the course content has moved away from dissection and such, “we try to follow major topics in the lecture books and relate them to what’s going on in science today,” she said. “We don’t stay in past decades.”

She hopes to spark students’ curiosity by piquing their interest.

“Curiosity is the most important factor,” she said. “If you’re curious, you will be a good scientist.”

LaFave said students are expected to take responsibility for their learning, but also to know the instructors are pulling for them. “They understand we want them to succeed,” she said. “I strongly believe in the positive attitude. I believe our students should, can and will do well.”

One element she’s implemented in the program is individual meetings with each student during the first few weeks of class. “It shows you can get to know students even in a class of 900 students,” she said, admitting that it sounds impossible.

“It was incredible,” she said. “They were revealing themselves. … It was a remarkable experience.” She recounted how she learned one student had just returned from a 13-month tour in Iraq; others talked about their fears, their education or their career goals.

Another impossible-sounding element is that all tests are based on recall and short answer, not multiple choice.

Even in large courses students can do a lot of writing, LaFave said. “In the exams, it’s write, write, write; in the reports, it’s think, think, think, present, present, present.”

LaFave noted that class assignments take a variety of forms so that students who may not do well in one area have the opportunity to shine in another. In addition to presentations and lab reports, there are pre-lab analyses and other assignments. And some assignments are just for skill building; not all are graded.

With 900 students in the course each fall and spring, “you’ve got to recognize you’ve got all kinds,” she said. “We need to recognize the person we’re here for is the student.”

What is key is “what is good for the student — not what is good for the teacher, not what is good for the department,” she said. “When push comes to shove, it’s the student that’s why we’re here.

“You can have excitement, you can have success with large numbers of students and still treat them as individuals,” she said.

“There’s nobody more important than the student. That’s critical.”

—Kimberly K. Barlow