Murphy Award winner: David Eichinger
April 16, 2014
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David Eichinger, associate professor of biology education. (Purdue University photo/Mark Simons) |
Five exceptional teachers have been selected as recipients of the 2014 Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Awards in Memory of Charles B. Murphy. This week, Purdue Today will feature a profile on each of the recipients. This profile focuses on David Eichinger, associate professor of biology education.
An opportunity to teach biology and chemistry in Zaire as a member of the Peace Corps led David Eichinger to discover a love of teaching.
Eichinger served in the Peace Corps from 1978 to 1984 before returning to the U.S. to pursue a master's degree and then a doctorate in science education. He now has been guiding new generations of science teachers at Purdue for 22 years. He firmly believes in giving students the opportunity to learn, grow and challenge themselves to continually become better teachers.
"I want them to develop confidence in their abilities to set goals for themselves, to experience the frustration and the satisfaction that come with meaningful learning and then to push themselves just a little bit more," Eichinger says.
One way Eichinger gets undergraduate students involved is by giving them the opportunity to be interns for BIOL 205 and BIOL 206 laboratories. This experience helps many of his students to get firsthand experience in a teaching environment before beginning student teaching.
Eichinger also structures his classes to promote active and collaborative learning. Students in his biology classes spend most of their class time working collaboratively in lab settings. He also uses the microteaching method in his education classes, which allows students to record themselves teaching lessons throughout the semester. Students then complete a self-critique, do a critique of their peers and receive a critique from Eichinger to use as resources to improve their teaching.
"They should develop habits of mind that allow them to critically examine their own knowledge and skills and to constantly ask themselves, 'What are areas for professional growth, and what are some strategies for addressing them?'" Eichinger says.
In 2011, Eichinger received a Fulbright grant, which he used to go back to his international teaching roots, this time at Uganda Christian University. The curriculum and co-teaching approaches that he developed while there are still used today by that university.
In addition to the time he spends with students in the classroom, Eichinger also devotes time after class to engage with students as part of the "Feasting with Faculty" program of the College of Science and University Residences. Since 2011, Eichinger has shared a meal once a week with undergraduate students in the dining courts to encourage professor-student interaction.
Interacting with individual students is important to Eichinger as a teacher.
"I enjoy getting to know students as individuals, even in large lecture classes," Eichinger says. "After they graduate, I love hearing from them and learning about their accomplishments as teachers in their own classrooms."
Writer: Hannah Harper, harper4@purdue.edu