Bassam Shakhashiri had a profound role in my development as a professor at a major research institution and my ability to address the challenges facing chemistry and society. Shortly after my arrival at Wisconsin, Bassam visited me to discuss a faculty member's responsibilities, namely that a faculty member has a long-term commitment to teaching excellence as well as research excellence. Although I did have that commitment to teaching, my real role in advancing teaching excellence did not become clear for 20 years, when the challenges facing chemistry and society became clear. I noticed two problems: excellent students often couldn't connect their mastery of course material on examinations with their abilities in the laboratory and poorly performing students could not grasp the course material. The second profound influence was the obvious success of John Walters (St. Olaf College) in addressing these challenges. The key was involving students in an authentic, challenging, and supportive academic environment where they would succeed and take ownership for their work. There are many ways to create this environment and much of this presentation will focus on my exploration of different strategies, all involving active learning. The talk will also present the results of an extensive evaluation of the effectiveness of different teaching strategies on the problem solving competence of undergraduate students.

Bassam and the development of teaching as research, active learning, and the new traditions required for effective education

248th National Meeting (2014)

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