I have spent 9 rewarding years as a lecturer delivering undergraduate courses. I have also had the pleasure of giving classes to postgraduates, adult learners, high school students, primary school students, and participants in after school programs. I particularly enjoy giving students hands-on practical lessons and taking advantage of the natural classrooms that surround us. This has resulted in many life-changing educational experiences in Papua New Guinea, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bonaire, and Panama.
Undergraduate teaching
My first experiences teaching were as a postgraduate student at James Cook University giving classes on reef fish reproductive behaviour.
After finishing my PhD I took a Boston University lectureship as a resident lecturer at the School for Field Studies Center for Marine Resource Studies in the Turks and Caicos Islands. This was an exhausting 24/7 role with staff and students resident at the same remote centre for 90 day semester programs. It was also incredibly rewarding, giving me time to develop as a teacher and time to understand how to design research projects for students that would be both valuable educational experiences and generate useful reliable data.
In 2011, I took a role as lecturer in tropical marine conservation biology at the CIEE Research Station Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean. Bonaire provided great marine field opportunities with all students being SCUBA-certified.
In 2012, I was invited to set up a new research and education centre in Bocas del Toro, Panama, and oversee the centre’s multidisciplinary undergraduate program addressing conservation of tropical marine and terrestrial biodiversity for the School for Field Studies.
Below is a summary of the undergraduate courses I have designed and delivered:
2012–2013 Tropical Coastal Ecology 4 credits SFS-TIBS
2012–2013 Natural Resource Management 4 credits SFS-TIBS
2012–2013 Directed Research 4 credits SFS-TIBS
2011–2012 Tropical Marine Conservation Biology 3 credits CIEE Bonaire
2011–2012 Independent Research 4 credits CIEE Bonaire
2009–2010 Marine Resource Management 4 credits BU (SFS-CMRS)
2005–2008 Tropical Marine Ecology 4 credits BU (SFS-CMRS)
2005–2010 Directed Research 4 credits BU (SFS-CMRS)
2005–2009 Marine Parks Management 4 credits BU (SFS-CMRS)
BU – Boston University Lectureship; SFS – The School for Field Studies | TIBS – Tropical Island Biodiversity & Conservation Studies | CMRS – Centre for Marine Resource Studies | CIEE – Council on International Educational Exchange
Teaching students at high school, after school & adult learner programs
While collecting data for my PhD, I was based in the field as Researcher in Residence at the Mahonia na Dari Research and Education Centre in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea. During this time, I helped deliver the centre’s Marine Environmental Education Program which gives local high school and primary school students an immersive learning experience of their marine environment.
In the Turks and Caicos Islands, I gave classes to the local high and primary school on their natural marine and terrestrial environments. I also gave classes to the Turks & Caicos Islands Government Junior Park Warden program on marine protected areas.
In Bonaire, I gave classes to the Fundashon FORMA adult learner program on fisheries and marine protected areas, and taught participants in the STINAPA Bonaire National Parks Foundation Junior Rangers Program how to dissect invasive lionfish and collect biometric data.
In Bocas del Toro, Panama I gave classes on biodiversity conservation and invasive lionfish to students with the Manos Para el Mar program. I also assisted in a informal program giving classes to improve Ngöbe students’ conversational English.