WORKING LIFE

By Firdous A. Khan

Learning to teach

W
hile preparing to teach my first lecture as a new faculty member, I told myself: “You have
many research presentations under your belt; you’ll nail this!” It didn’t take long for me
to realize that I was way off base. A few minutes in, the students looked tired, distracted,
and in no mood to listen—a stark contrast to my research talk audiences, which seemed
attentive at least. At one point, I noticed a few students giggling. “Do I look or talk funny?”
I wondered. When I saw that the giggling students were on Facebook, I was relieved. But
later I realized that, too, was a sign that I had failed to command their attention.

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In grad school, I had served as a
teaching assistant, helping guide un-
dergraduate students during hands-
on lab sessions. But I was never
responsible for teaching a class on
my own, and I never had any for-
mal training.
When I became a faculty mem-
ber, I had to take on a daunting
course load, teaching 50 lectures
and as many labs per semester. It
felt as though I’d been dropped
in the deep end of a pool with no
swimming lessons. Class by class,
my doubts about my teaching abili-
ties mounted, along with my fears
that students were not absorbing
the key details in my lectures. “Actively engaging students
I started to reflect on my own
experiences as a student and tried
is essential for
to recall the things that helped me holding their attention.”
learn, as well as the things that
didn’t. The researcher in me also began to search for sci-
entific evidence to guide me. I sought help from experts in
pedagogy, as well as colleagues who had more teaching ex-
perience than I did. They told me about tools that they used
during lectures and resources on campus for new teachers.
Within 1 year, there was a marked change in my teaching.
I began to use new skills and tools that kept my students
engaged. One student wrote in a teaching evaluation that
my approach to teaching “made the information exciting”
and “challenged students to pay attention.” Teaching gradu-
ally became a source of satisfaction rather than anxiety.
seek help. I’d recommend taking for-
mal university courses on teaching
methods and participating in work-
shops. They can help you build net-
works with fellow educators, swap
ideas, and share challenges.
KEEP IT INTERACTIVE. Actively engag-
ing students is essential for hold-
ing their attention and nurturing
critical thought. In a small class,
asking students to partner with a
classmate to brainstorm an answer
to a question can help keep them
focused. Then, you can bring every-
one together and ask the students
to share their ideas. Bigger classes
pose a greater challenge, but there,
too, the right tools can help engage
students. For instance, you can ask
multiple choice questions and use
electronic clickers to register the
students’ responses. Or you can tell the students to pass a
soft toy around the classroom, each taking a turn to ask or
answer a question when the toy comes to them.
BE COMPASSIONATE. Students are more likely to learn if they
feel the teacher genuinely cares about them and respects
them. So treat every student with understanding and com-
passion, and make it clear to them that they can come to
you for help. It is also important to be mindful of the di-
versity in student backgrounds and approaches to learning.
Some students may not feel comfortable raising their hand
ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER

Here are some of the lessons that have helped me become
a more effective teacher.
SEEK HELP. Teaching is a skill and as such needs to be learned.
Many scientists assume that their graduate degree or post-
doctoral experience qualifies them to be a teacher. The reality
is far from that. Most universities have support systems for
new teachers, but it is usually up to the instructor to actively
in lecture, for instance, so I use an anonymous Google doc-
ument where they can leave questions for me.
Teaching isn’t always easy or intuitive, but it’s your respon-
sibility to help your students learn. Put in the time to create
an environment that maximizes learning for everyone. j
Firdous A. Khan is an associate professor at St. George’s University
in Grenada.

1574 20 DECEMBER 2019 • VOL 366 ISSUE 6472 sciencemag.org SCIENCE

Published by AAAS
Learning to teach
Firdous A. Khan

Science 366 (6472), 1574.

DOI: 10.1126/science.366.6472.1574

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