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> Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience
at Montana State University
Cell Biology and Neuroscience Faculty
Dr. Anneke Metz
Assistant Professor
Science Pedagogy
I am primarily intersted in biology education in the college classroom, especially in developing
major curricula that are both horizontally and vertically integrated.
I am currently focused on four specific areas of this project:
I. Issues of Vertical Integration. The most effective curriculum for a college major will be
one that consists not just of a number of increasingly difficult stand-alone courses, but a suite
of classes that are well integrated. Ideally, students will build into cohesive cohorts, and the
course material in introductory coursework will form a comprehensive basis of knowledge and skills
that students can take with them into advanced major classes. I am interested in studying the best
ways to foster communication among individual faculty members to build such a curriculum, as well
as the design and development of actual lecture and laboratory modules that span across courses to
meet curricular goals.
II. Electronic classroom initiatives. Not only have electronic presentations become the norm in
this biology department (PowerPoint presentations rather than chalkboard/whiteboard/ overheads),
but students often expect online access to course materials. We will be inaugurating the use of
WebCT for all department courses this fall, and the faculty is considering piloting courses using
interactive student response systems ("clickers"). There is therefore a real need to determine how
such technologies can be introduced to the students and consistently used inside and outside the
classroom. I am interested in studying the way in which such technological aids can be a help or
a hindrance to learning in the classroom.
III. Assessment of Learning Outcomes. In the topics above, it is imperative to track if curricular
innovations actually result in new or improved learning outcomes. I am interested in working with
department faculty to delineate the goals of our curriculum (both skill and knowledge) and developing
specific instruments to track within the biology curriculum. We have used a number of qualitative
assessment strategies of the HHMI (Howard Hughes) biology curriculum, and are now well poised to
develop stronger and more quantitative measures to gauge learning outcomes.
IV. Addition of Quantitative Elements into Biology
Quantitative analysis, and the ability to bring statistical methods to bear on biological problems,
are important skills for today's biology graduate. I am working in collaboration with other MSU
faculty to incorporate quantitative and statistical methods into biology laboratory exercises.
Selected Publications
Kalinowski, S.T., Taper, M.L., Metz, A.M. Can random mutation mimic design?
A guided inquiry laboratory for undergraduate students. Genetics Education, Accepted for
publication, 2006.
Kalinowski, S.T., Taper, M.L., Metz, A.M. How are Humans Related to Other Primates?
A Guided Inquiry Laboratory for Undergraduate Students. Genetics 172:1379-1383 (2006).
Metz, A.M., Love, R.A., Strobel, G.A. and Long, D.M. (2001). Two telomerase reverse
transcriptases (TERTs) expressed in Candida albicans. Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry Dec;
34(Pt 3): 47-54.
Metz, A.M. (1997) Technology and National Identity in Kidlat Tahimik's Perfumed Nightmare.
ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, 28:3, 119 142.
Metz, A.M. and Browning, K.S. (1996) Mutational Analysis of the Functional Domains of the Large
Subunit of the Isozyme Form of Wheat Initiation Factor eIF4F. J. Biol. Chem. 271(49), 31033- 31036.
Education
Ph.D., Biochemistry. University of Texas at Austin, 1998.
B.S., Microbiology. University of California at Davis, 1989.
Activities
"CSI Bozeman" careers in biology presentations. National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Planning
for College Success Program "March to College Days," 2006 (three science career presentations to
local middle school students). Also presented to 5th Graders from Ft. Belknap, 5/10/06.
Conference Organizer, Montana Networking Symposium for Undergraduate Researchers and Mentors,
MSU-Bozeman, May 22-24, 2005.
Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) steering committee, 2000 present. Co-chair, Fall
2002-present.
AIRO office MAP program: work with MAP student group each summer for 8 sessions over 5 weeks to
help students make their posters.
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