Molecular Biology AI Manual

Additional Resources

From an Undergraduate's Perspective:
It might be easier to teach your students if you have a little bit of an idea of what undergraduate life at Princeton is like and what might be expected of you as a TA. The Princeton AI Handbook briefly describes the "academic and social phases" of an undergraduate's life in the section titled AI's and Authority. College is an adjustment for everyone and advice is often sought from a variety of places. Although some undergraduate institutions assign an academic advisor to incoming freshman for their entire undergraduate career, Princeton students receive guidance based on their year of study.

As freshman and sophomores, Princeton students live in one of the residential colleges. Each college has its own library and dining hall - although they can eat anywhere, students often go to their own college (sometimes a good place for a TA to hold help sessions!). The college provides an RA group and Director of Studies for its residents. Freshmen usually discuss their course selection with their freshman academic advisor, who is assigned based on the students' general interests. Some students also talk with the Director of Studies of their colleges. Often a note or a phone call from a student's Director of Studies is necessary for an absence to be excused.

Butler: 258-4954
Forbes: 258-5229
Mathey: 258-3317
Rockefeller: 258-5313
Wilson: 258-6496

Sophomores live in the college of their choice and no longer look to the Director of Studies for as much guidance. Instead, they select an advisor from a list of faculty - since they have not yet chosen a major, this advisor may or may not be in their proposed field of study.

Once a major has been declared, all juniors in Molecular Biology will go to a few selected faculty advisors. Since these faculty members are responsible for the entire class, they sign course cards and handle the official academic business. However, according to the undergraduates, the students rely a great deal on their TA's to provide personal support, help and guidance. By December of their junior year, Molecular Biology undergraduates are matched up with a thesis advisor who will grade their JPs in the spring and often direct their senior thesis project. However, undergrads still depend on their TA's for general support.

Additionally, pre-med undergraduates have specific pre-med advisors. By encouraging students to work their best, students may feel overwhelmed by the comments of their pre-med advisors - another case when a TA may be sought out for support.

So it seems that your job as a TA may reach beyond the classroom possibly to the extent of an advisor or mentor to your students, especially once they have left the support of the residential colleges. For this reason TAs may want to be familiar with the course requirements for undergraduates in the Molecular Biology department. These requirements and what is needed to graduate with a Molecular Biology degree are covered in the Undergraduate Announcement under Academic Departments (Molecular Biology). Since at least eight courses are required to comprise their departmental gpa, undergraduates are often highly concerned about grades in these 300 level or higher courses. Additional information can be received from the undergraduate secretary, Joan Wyckoff. She can be reached by e-mail (jwyckoff@molecular.Princeton.EDU), by phone at 258-2923, or in person in 126 Lewis Thomas Lab.

If you have students experiencing academic difficulties, you may suggest a tutor. The Director of Studies can provide the names of older students who will tutor at no cost to the student requiring help. For athletes, coaches are also a good resource for finding a tutor. Some departments, such as math and physics, have group tutorials during the week as well, which are posted in the residential colleges.

For additional advice:
Dean of the College (academic and other matters):
Nancy Weiss Malkiel: 4th floor West College
Freshman & Sophomore advisement: 258-5519
Junior advisement: 258-5524
Senior advisement: 258-5520

Dean of Student Life (other matters):
Janina Montero: 258-3055
313 West College: 258-0088

All Princeton students agree to the Honor Code with which TAs should be familiar. It is described in the University AI Manual under the section titled Honor System and Academic Regulations.

Some Web Sites of Interest:

Molecular Biology Teaching Pilot Program:
www.princeton.edu/~bioteach

Princeton University AI Homepage:
www.princeton.edu/~aiteachs

Yale University Working in Teaching (WAT):
www.pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~WATteach/wattextlinks.html

National Association for Research in Science Teaching:
science.coe.uwf.edu/narst/narst.html

Tips on Teaching
www.science.mcmaster.ca/idc/tiplist.html

CELS: Coalition for Education in the Life Sciences
www.wisc.edu/cels/

Education Periodicals of Interest:

There are a number of periodicals pertaining to teaching at the university level which are available at Princeton. Some are general, and some are geared more towards teaching science.

American Biology Teacher
Issues from 1984 to the present are available in the Biology Library.
There is also a web site which has the table of contents only.
www.nabt.org/

Chronicle of Higher Education
The permanent copy can be found on microfilm at the Firestone Library microfilm room. Microfilm readers and printers are available there, so you can print out articles you might want to take with you.

There are two current copies which can be found in either the periodical room at Firestone (this copy actually makes the rounds of the branch libraries for one week each, so it will be in the Biology Library at some point) or in the Woodrow Wilson School.

The web site is available to us on the Biology Library terminals. (A subscription and a password is needed to access the web site, so it will be necessary to actually go to the library for this.)
www.chronicle.com/

The Journal of Chemical Eduation
This journal deals mostly with chemical education, but there are some general articles and the biochemisty articles may be of interest to TAs in Molecular Biology.

The Chemistry Library (located in Frick Hall) has a complete set.

Current issues are routed to the Biology Library for one week.

Biochemical Education
This journal is mostly European and medical in orientation but may occasionally have articles of interest.

The Biology Library has a complete set.

Tah American Society for Cell Biology Newletter, Vo. 23 No. 6, August 2000. Women in Cell Biology: Teaching Science in High School. Download PDF file.