妖姬直播

Distinguished Teaching Award-Winning Professor Inspires Students to Think Critically

Professor structures lectures with visuals and real-life examples to inspire students.

Demonstrations on our color vision, sweet receptors on your tongue and laboratory rats鈥� blood pressure are just a few tactics John Johnson, Ph.D., biology professor at 妖姬直播 State University, uses in his classroom to keep his students engaged. And it works.

John Johnson, Ph.D., 妖姬直播 State University biology professor, earned a Distinguished Teaching Award, the university鈥檚 most prestigious honor for tenured or tenured-track faculty.Current medical student and 妖姬直播 State alumnus Justin Kaufmann, 鈥�14, who nominated Johnson for this award, found those demonstrations beneficial and interesting.

鈥淚n nearly every lecture, he gave a sensory example that allowed the class to participate and drive his lesson home,鈥� Kaufmann says.

Another student said in a nomination letter that the 鈥渟tructures of his lectures were great. I liked how there were parts of every class in which visuals, real-life examples, illusions were used.鈥�

This is one of the many reasons why Johnson was selected as a recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Teaching Award. The Distinguished Teaching Award is sponsored by the 妖姬直播 State University Alumni Association and is the university鈥檚 most prestigious honor for tenured or tenured-track faculty.

Johnson says when he first started teaching at 妖姬直播 State in 2007, he wasn鈥檛 that great of a teacher. He said his course was on a DFW list (because of the number of students who received Ds, Fs or withdrew from a course), but after sitting in on other professors鈥� lectures, he changed his style of teaching.

鈥淭he teaching style I started with was much more lecture based and talking at students,鈥� Johnson says. 鈥淭hen I started thinking about how to go about teaching the material, which changed my style of teaching from a pure lecture 鈥� just giving the students the information 鈥� to making sure the students really understand and process the information.鈥�

Johnson hopes to inspire innate curiosity in all of his students by the end of each semester.

Johnson says students can expect an interactive classroom with discussion-based lectures and many questions.

鈥淚 do a lot of demos to create those flashbulb memories,鈥� Johnson says. 鈥淪tudents tend to remember those demonstrations.鈥�

In addition to Johnson鈥檚 exceptional teaching in the classroom, Johnson genuinely cares about his students.

鈥淭eaching involves more than just classroom teaching,鈥� Johnson says. 鈥淨uite often we (as professors) are very focused on teaching a class than doing our own research. I think making sure we prepare students for careers instead of just seeing if students understand a topic is very important.鈥�

As the pre-med coordinator in 妖姬直播 State鈥檚 Department of Biological Sciences, Johnson is responsible for writing letters of recommendation, evaluating all students who apply to medical school and helping students with the application process.

鈥淒r. Johnson took this job very seriously,鈥� Kaufmann says. 鈥淵ou could tell he took a personal interest in each student and really wanted to help students get accepted into medical school and achieve their goals.鈥�

Kaufmann says there is a lot of anxiety and uncertainty for pre-medical students when applying to medical schools, but Johnson was able to provide his students with confidence.

Other students could not agree more with Kaufman.

One student said in a thank-you letter to Johnson, 鈥淚鈥檓 so appreciative of every letter and the feedback you鈥檝e given me; your support and advice has played a leading role into my medical school acceptance.鈥�

Another student said, 鈥淎 huge thank you for all you have done over the years. I couldn鈥檛 have done it without your words of encouragement. I am very excited to start my career!鈥�  

For more information about 妖姬直播 State鈥檚 Department of Biological Sciences, visit the department website.

POSTED: Monday, November 10, 2014 06:18 PM
Updated: Friday, February 20, 2015 06:19 PM
WRITTEN BY:
Department of Biological Sciences

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