| JAMES DALE RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS PEOPLE TEACHING PHOTOS QUELEAS WASPS |
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My teaching interests span the biological sciences. I can teach courses ranging from introductory biology, ecology, evolutionary biology, animal behavior, ornithology and physiology. My wide interests in biology (and beyond) facilitate teaching collaborations with my colleagues. |
Experience During my Ph.D. studies at Cornell I actively pursued the opportunity to teach and to involve undergraduates in my research. I have thirteen semesters of teaching experience at Cornell, including three courses of my own design. I received the “Outstanding Teaching Assistant” award from the Dept. of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell. One of my most challenging teaching experiences was designing and teaching two of our department’s Knight Institute's “Writing in the Majors” courses. These classes are five credit courses which adopt a writing-intensive approach to mastering course material. The first of these courses was a second-year introductory course on animal behavior (BioNB 420). Students attended a three-credit faculty lecture course and my two credit course that involved discussions, additional lectures, field trips, and laboratory work. I designed and taught the two credit course. Students were exempt from the lecture course exams: instead they completed a rigorous set of writing assignments including maintenance of a lecture journal, peer review of other students’ writing, a primary research paper on mate choice in humans, a literature review, a take-home exam, and several short essays. The second of the “Writing in the Majors” courses I taught was an advanced senior/grad class: “animal social behavior” (BioNB 427) lectured by Stephen T. Emlen. Here my responsibilities included guiding students through writing essays, take-home exams, scientific papers and practice grant applications. I also gave a number of guest lectures to the class on subjects ranging from sexual selection to sex-ratio theory to techniques for genetic parentage testing. After finishing my PhD, I lectured Cornell’s first offering of “introduction to animal behavior” in the summer semester. I took on all responsibilities for this undergraduate class: designing the entire course, teaching five 75-minute lectures each week, writing and grading exams, and instructing students through various writing and lab assignments. |
Courses Taught |
| Position | Course | Title | Lecturer | Date | Info |
| Sessional Professor | BioNB 221 | Introduction to Behavior (Cornell) | J. Dale | Jun'01-Aug'01 | syllabus |
| Laboratory TA | Bio G 103-104 | Biological Sciences (Cornell) | C. Hopkins | Sep'98-May'99 | . |
| Lecture TA | BioNB 427 | Animal Social Behavior (Cornell) | S.T. Emlen | Sep'97-Dec'97 | . |
| Instructor* | BioNB 420 | Animal Behavior (Cornell) | P.W. Sherman | Sep'97-Dec'97 | . |
| Head TA | BioNB 221 | Introduction to Behavior (Cornell) | H.K. Reeve | Sep'96-Dec'96 | . |
| Instructor* | BioNB 420 | Animal Behavior (Cornell) | H.K. Reeve | Sep'96-Dec'96 | . |
| Head TA | BioNB 221 | Introduction to Behavior (Cornell) | T. Seeley | Sep'95-Dec'95 | . |
| Lecture TA (double) | BioNB 221 | Introduction to Behavior (Cornell) | S.T. Emlen | Sep'94-Dec'94 | . |
| Laboratory TA | Bio G 103 | Biological Sciences (Cornell) | A. Blackler | Sep'93-Dec'93 | . |
| Field Leader | Ornithology | Spring Field Ornithology - Cornell Lab of Ornithology | S. Kress | Mar'93-May'93 | flyer |
| Laboratory TA | Bio G 103-104 | Biological Sciences (Cornell) | A. Blackler | Sep'92-May'93 | . |
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TA = teaching assistantship which is part-time work (20 hours per week per TAship) * I developed and taught this advanced course (comprised of lectures, discussions and student research projects) |