CCB FEST: Community College Biology Faculty Enhancement through Scientific Teaching

What is CCB FEST & Who Should Participate?

Community College Biology Faculty Enhancement through Scientific Teaching (CCB FEST) is a new, National Science Foundation (NSF) supported collaboration between De Anza College, San Francisco State University, and a consortium of SF Bay Area community college administrators and faculty. CCB FEST is aimed at:

• Enhancing pedagogical expertise among community college biology instructors (CCBI) through scientific teaching
• Providing intellectual resources to support CCBI in iteratively improving their teaching practice, and
• Fostering professional learning communities among current and aspiring CCBI

Promoted nationally, scientific teaching engages biology faculty in pedagogical development by using their skills as scientists to examine their own teaching (Handelsman, 2007). In addition, research on participation in professional learning communities suggests that engaging instructors in collaborative environments with professional peers who are grappling with similar challenges is key in sustaining professional growth and pedagogical change (Lave, 1991; Loucks-Horsely, 1998).

The CCB FEST effort has grown organically out of local interest by community college instructors and administrators. CCB FEST includes activities that are both introductory and advanced, occur both during the academic year and during the summer, and that nucleate professional learning communities ranging from one-on-one classroom partnerships to small working peer groups to whole community gatherings. In Phase I of program work, CCB FEST is hosting one-day workshops, intensive summer institutes, partnerships between CCBI and graduate students aspiring to teach in community colleges, and teaching squares.

If you teach any type of biology (anatomy, biotechnology, ecology, environmental biology, general biology, human biology, introductory biology, microbiology, physiology, or others) at any SF Bay Area community college, CCB FEST is for you!

CCB FEST Principal Investigators

Kimberly Tanner, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, San Francisco State University
Jeff Schinske, M.S., Biology Instructor, Foothill College