"It has made me think about the teaching and learning going on in my classes in a much more focused way. Before CASTLE, I thought about and was instituting a variety of teaching styles. However, I was very focused on me, the teacher, and how could I improve myself, as well as the class. I now look at what I do in the classroom with respect to the learning that is going on. It has become much more important to me that the changes I make in my classrooms affect learning. I am endeavoring to make my classrooms learner-centered rather than teacher-centered. The only way I can know this is to try to measure the learning that is going on. To this end, I am reading much more education literature, with guidance from CASTLE's bibliography and participants."
"I really hadn't thought of the scholarship of teaching and learning at all before becoming involved in CASTLE. That was something education people did. However, I am now realizing how important it is for discipline-specific people, such as myself, to be involved in scholarship in the area of teaching and learning in my discipline. I better know the issues of what my students need to learn in Genetics than someone who is not trying to teach genetics. By becoming conversant in the education/psychology of learning literature, I can better achieve my goals of producing effective learning in my genetics classroom. I also realize how important it is to share what you do in the classroom with colleagues. I don't need to be reinventing the wheel every time everytime I look at teaching and learning genetics with my colleagues. This means scholarly activity in the form of presentations at meetings and publications in appropriate peer reviewed journals. Since becoming involved in the scholarship of teaching and learning, I have discovered many journals in the area of teaching college science and specifically biology that I never knew existed."
"I had been trying to do some classroom research before becoming involved in CASTLE, but it wasn't very focused and I didn't know where to find answers to my questions. For my genetics research, I am part of a group that meets weekly to discuss any data obtained that week and to discuss experimental designs for future experiments. The process of these meetings allows much thought to be put into the experiments before they are done, so questions get answered efficiently. CASTLE has provided a similar forum in the area of classroom research. With clear objectives and methodology (obtained with the assistance of my colleagues), I will be involved in more productive, classroom research."
"CASTLE energizes me. Teaching the same material year-in year-out gets boring and if I am bored, my classroom performance will not be effective. I love my subject area and I love teaching it. I am constantly looking for ways to change/improve teaching and learning in my area. Before CASTLE appeared on campus, I relied solely on my attendence at national meetings to talk to colleagues about teaching and learning genetics/microbiology/scientific research. Discussions with colleagues at these yearly meetings would energize me for the following year. Talking with like-minded colleagues gives me confidence to be inovative in my classrooms. Trying something different, particularly if the students might be resistant because it is different takes a lot of energy and can be scary. Now I can get the support I need from my colleagues on campus. I have found a group of people I can turn to with a variety of expertises who can help me successfully implement new innovations in my classrooms. Airing your ideas and having them validated by colleagues is very important when trying something new and diiferent. For me, CASTLE serves that role. In addition, the disussions at CASTLE meetings provide me with new ideas and different ways of looking at issues in teaching and learning - all of which keeps me fresh in the classroom."