Focus on Faculty

Maureen Krause, Ph.D.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY
HOFSTRA COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

To study science, students can't be passive listeners. They need to be actively engaged in their own learning through discussion, experimentation, modeling and group-learning activities," says Professor Krause. "I see my role as facilitating their learning." She aims for interactive classes that make use of personal response system "clickers" to answer questions. "It's not quite a student-centered classroom, but it's not teacher-centered either." Recalling a recent class exercise, she says she kept revealing portions of a young girl's autopsy report, and then asked students for revised hypotheses on the cause of death. "Students used their knowledge of metabolism to solve the mystery of why this girl died."

 

"Technology plays a huge role," she says. "It's really improved the learning atmosphere in class. We use brand-new digital microscopes and laptops for lab reports; we do 3-D modeling of biological molecules in our new computer lab." The reason is clear to Professor Krause, who observes, "To be a practicing scientist, you need computer and graphing skills."

 

As for what she likes most about teaching, Professor Krause cites "the interaction with the students. To see students several years down the road and find that I've made a difference - to see them as excited about biology as I am." She hopes her students will leave her courses with "a general enthusiasm about biology. Living organisms are so incredible. I want them to really appreciate that, to see how intricate and amazing they are."