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Simple, clear, enthusiastic
For Dennis Johnson, teaching comes down to just a few principles.
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A few years back, the Department of Chemistry was having problems finding
instructors to teach Chemistry 163 and 164.
The two-semester sequence of courses in general chemistry is for applied
science majors such as horticulture, agronomy, dietetics and exercise,
as well as students who choose chemistry to satisfy a physical science
group requirement. Many students who take this course are poorly prepared
for college level chemistry and are apprehensive about the class, especially
if it is their first semester on campus.
Dennis Johnson's teaching background at Iowa State was outstanding. Twice
in the 1980s, he received a teaching award from the College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences. He has also received the M.E. White Graduate Advising
Award, a faculty citation from the ISU Alumni Association, and in 1999
was promoted to the rank of Distinguished Professor.
Johnson's love of teaching brought him back to the basics of chemistry.
He volunteered to teach both courses, approximately 430 students in the
fall and another 120 in the spring.
Because of the makeup of the course, Johnson has had to change his teaching
approach somewhat from when he was instructing students in graduate and
chemistry majors' courses.
"I have to realize this class is not their (the students) highest
priority in their academic life," he said. "Furthermore I have
to plan my lectures assuming that they have not read the assigned readings
in advance."
And the results have been extremely positive. His student evaluations
for the last four years are considerably higher than those of anyone else
in the department who has taught these classes in recent years.
Patricia Thiel, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry, agrees
with the students.
"Dennis has had an amazing ability to make these courses not only
bearable but enjoyable for many students," she said. "He achieves
this by his methods of classroom presentation that includes lots of demonstrations
and by his personal interactions with students where he is always sympathetic
and supportive.
"His student evaluations paint a picture of a talented and committed
teacher who makes a difficult introductory course into a positive Iowa
State experience," she continued.
Johnson tries to make each lecture simple, clear and enthusiastic. He
has developed and maintains a web site for the course, which helps the
student make his/her way through the material.
He estimates that students have about a 10-minute span of attention. So
he molds his lecture around doing something different every 10 minutes.
That could be in the form of demonstrations or accounts of personal experiences
or comments on accounts of chemical events reported in the popular press.
He
has even jumped up on the top of the lecture table at times to make a
point about chemistry.
His own enthusiasm level for the material is also important.
"I've got to love the topic even if I don't," he said. "And
some of the chapters we look at in this course are not very exciting to
me. But I have to make it sound like it's the best stuff since sex and
apple pie."
Johnson's antics in front of classroom are tolerated he says because of
his age.
"They (students) will allow us grandpa types to be wild every once
and a while," he said.
Finally Johnson says the key to teaching this type of introductory course
at Iowa State is personal interaction. He would like to be able to look
into the eyes of every student at least once in a class period. But with
large lecture sections, he knows that's not possible.
"I can't look into everybody's eyes," he says, "but they
have to believe that I really care about them."
So whenever possible, Johnson shows up about 15 minutes early for his
lectures and as students drift in, he’ll go out and visit briefly with
several of them.
"This has a beneficial impact on the students because they see that
I really do care about them as individuals," he said
Around LAS
January 14-20, 2002
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