“I took a fresh look at how I teach and saw how it's done here”

“This program is usually offered to math, physics, chemistry and computer science teachers, and we’re delighted to now include biology teachers too,” says Sabrina Rami Shojaei, director of EPFL’s Education Outreach Department and head of the High school–EPFL Interface team. The program, introduced in 2016, is run with the cantonal government and gives upper secondary teachers an opportunity to sit in on the classes that first-year university students take. This gives the teachers a better understanding of what goes on in those classes in terms of the material that’s covered and the teaching methods used.

“You don’t teach the same way to 20 students in a classroom as to 200 in a lecture hall,” says Vincent Turner, who – in addition to teaching biology – also heads his high school’s mentoring program. He sat in on a general biology class for first-year life-sciences engineering students. What struck him almost immediately, beyond the content of the class, was that its effectiveness is heavily dependent on the students’ motivation, independence, commitment, organizational skills, perseverance and work ethic. “Those are behaviors and study habits that we can help students develop in high school through the various study tracks available to them,” says Turner.

The general biology lectures he attended were given by Prof. Johannes Gräff, head of EPFL’s Laboratory of Neuroepigenetics. Turner learned new things about some of the chapters taught in high school that he intends to share with his colleagues. He also believes that this experience will influence how he teaches his own classes going forward. “It’s like when you travel – you feel different afterward, even if you don’t always know why,” he says.

A breath of fresh air

For his part, Gräff appreciated the constructive discussions he had with Turner, which will probably lead to changes in his class, too. “I currently use digital tools to ask my students questions during the lectures and make sure they understand the material,” says Gräff. “Now, based on Vincent’s suggestions, I think I’ll add some questions about potential applications that will require students to think more deeply. That will fuel the most advanced students’ desire to learn more, and it could spark more interest among the other students.”

Turner has paved the way for a second biology teacher to participate in the program next spring. He says he’s very happy with the experience, calling it a breath of fresh air. “I would recommend this program to any teacher who is curious and wants to take a fresh look at their teaching methods – or who wants to see how biology is really taught at EPFL,” he says.