Hannah has >5 years of experience as a Teaching Assistant for undergraduate courses such as 'Marine Science 308: Humans and a Changing Ocean’ and 'Marine Science 354c: Biology of Fishes' at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as ‘Bio 263: Introduction to Ecology & Evolution’, ‘Bio 162: Introduction to Organismal Form & Function’, and ‘Bio 160: Diversity and History of Life’ at California Polytechnic State University. Additionally, she substitute taught two sections of Stat 331: Statistical Computing with R for one week for at California Polytechnic State University and developed 'Intro to Statistical Analysis & Data Visualization in R' teaching materials that were integrated into the course curriculum for Bio 263. She also has experience developing and teaching K-12 science lessons (see 'Outreach' ).
Hannah has mentored 6 undergraduate students on senior research projects at California Polytechnic State University. She has supervised and trained 8 undergraduate research assistants while conducting 1-3 months of fieldwork in St. Croix, Bonaire, and Panamá. She also trained several of these students in conducting a variety of laboratory analyses including DNA extractions and ELISAs. Additionally, she trained and oversaw 21 undergraduate students conducting coral reef image analysis in the Cal Poly Marine Conservation Lab over the course of 3 years, including leading weekly lab meetings and professional development trainings for these students. One former undergraduate student mentee is a co-lead author on a publication and six others are co-authors on a manuscript in review.
Training Graduate Students in Inclusive Pedagogy & Outreach
While research supports that training graduate students in inclusive pedagogy can not only promote increased teaching efficacy, but also science communication skills and self-confidence in research preparedness, many programs have limited formal training for graduates in teaching and mentoring.
From 2023-2024, Hannah and colleagues developed and implemented a 3-week module in a University of Texas at Austin Graduate Professional Development course (Marine Science 191) to provide hands-on training for students in inclusive pedagogy. The module included:
Journal article discussions and workshops with guest educational experts (who were compensated for their time),
Formal instruction in inclusive lesson plan design and development where students created 50-minute 4th, 5th, or 8th grade lesson plans related to their research interests based on US Common Core Standards, and
Practical opportunities for students to teach and receive feedback on their lessons amongst a cohort of peers and by teaching their lessons in local K-12 schools.
Stay tuned for a forthcoming publication sharing this framework by which other educators and institutions can implement formalized training in inclusive teaching practices to promote teaching efficacy, student success, and community engagement. Additionally, several related example K-12 lesson plans will be shared as freely available Open Educational Resources in English and Spanish within the near future.