Assistant Professor of Teaching
Email: refurrow@ucdavis.edu
Office: 1061 Academic Surge
Research and Teaching:
My research focuses on how student learning and sense of inclusion is shaped by course structure, course materials, and the classroom environment. To address disparities in student outcome, and to promote engagement and positive science identity, I seek to involve students in authentic research practices in class. Because quantitative skills are critical to contemporary biology careers, my research focuses particularly on best practices for quantitative teaching and learning. In parallel, I am interested in how students learn wildlife and natural history skills, and how integrating nature journaling and illustration can promote this learning.
Inclusive teaching, developing students' quantitative skills and self-efficacy, natural history education, course-based research experiences, building nature observation skills
Education and Experience:
- BA, Mathematics, 2007, Harvard University
- PhD, Ecology and Evolution, 2014, Stanford University
- Adjunct Instructor, Biological Sciences, 2014-2015, San José State University
- Teaching Postdoctoral Fellow, Thinking Matters, 2015-2018, Stanford University
- Postdoctoral Researcher, Quantitative Biology, 2018-2020, University of California, Davis
Projects:
- Understanding the factors that shape student perceptions of inclusion in the classroom
- Assessing student attitudes towards the role of math in biology, and developing students' quantitative self-efficacy
- Training instructors to use the programming language R in their teaching for introductory biology students
- Integrating discovery-based learning into medium- and large-enrollment wildlife and ecology courses