by Caroline Crocker | Nov 11, 2025 | Science, Teaching
It was my second semester at NVCC, and I’d been assigned Bio 102. Full of enthusiasm, I wanted to be the best college professor I could be. I pored over the course objectives for Bio 102 and the list of chapters to be covered: zoology, botany, and ecology. “Wow,...
by Caroline Crocker | Oct 28, 2025 | Teaching
After my first lecture of the semester, two young men approached me. Claus was chunky with an arrogant tilt to his chin; Andrew was dark-haired, diffident, and shy— but they had the same story. “Dr Crocker, I have a learning disability. The disability office told me to...
by Caroline Crocker | Oct 28, 2025 | Science, Teaching
It was time to tackle the reproductive system—including sex. The textbook started with external anatomy, but I suspected the students would know this. I elected to avoid the guffaws that would accompany the labeling of a penis on the screen. Instead, starting with the...
by Caroline Crocker | Oct 21, 2025 | Science, Teaching
The following semester at NVCC, I taught Bio 102, and we came to the lab on the excretory system, which produces urine. After locating the fetal pig’s kidneys, bladder, and other parts of the system, the students had the opportunity to experiment on themselves. ...
by Caroline Crocker | Oct 14, 2025 | Science, Teaching
We were nearing the end of Bio 101. I was painfully aware that many students had not yet grasped the basic concepts of the course, so decided to make one last attempt to help them do so, while also making it possible for them to raise their grade. My Offer “I want to...
by Caroline Crocker | Oct 7, 2025 | Science, Teaching
Welcome to the fourth in my series of blogs on teaching at NVCC and GMU. The study of genetics involved mathematics, which is never a favorite. But I knew that it was personal enough to capture student interest. In the lab, after counting kernels of corn (not an...
