Excellence in Innovative Instructional Delivery - Individual

R. Pamela Tilus Watson, assistant teaching professor, Biological & Biomedical Sciences, eliminated cookie-cutter labs from the general biology curriculum to immerse students in innovative virtual reality (VR) field biology experiments. This pioneering course implements Dreamscape Learn’s Alien Zoo VR, supported by “mission memos” reimagined from licensed materials. It is one of the few courses nationwide to fully integrate VR into inquiry-driven learning. This approach shifted students from simply retaining facts to engaging in real-time biological inquiry. The redesigned program focuses on hands-on experience, reduces student costs, promotes continuity between lecture and lab instruction and infuses the curriculum with transferable skills. In these experiences, students build scientific reasoning and data analysis expertise as they explore biological advances and their ethical implications. “In the age of information overload, immersive experiences focus student attention and provide low-stakes opportunities to experiment with
their ideas,” Watson says. These experiences prompt students to analyze and interpret scientific information. Students disseminate their findings in a peer- reviewed public service announcement. Preliminarily, they showed significant improvements in general science literacy scores and in their identity as scientists.