Lurk or lead? The benefits of community participation.

WINSTON CHURCHILL said “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to have changed often” (4). For educators, change is a constant. We adapt our teaching constantly to new discoveries in education and science, new students, and new technologies. However, current reform efforts are driving significant change at a rapid pace (1, 2, 5, 17, 20). The movement of K–12 and undergraduate education toward student-centered learning is changing the preparation and perspectives of students coming to undergraduate and graduate/professional institutions, respectively. These students come with an expectation of a robust student-centered learning environment. Unfortunately, as educators, we may be just learning to create and manage this type of environment. This creates new challenges for science educators to move from teacher-centered to student-centered learning environments. Pedagogies such as clickers, flipped classrooms, authentic research experiences, online teaching, problem-based learning, blended courses, team-based learning, and team teaching are exciting to try but can be challenging to master. Curricula must address core concepts and competencies, integrated and interdisciplinary courses, learning objectives at all Bloom’s levels, learning contexts, active learning, and authentic assessments. Most importantly, all of these changes must work with an increasingly diverse student body. Whether we are eager to try innovations or are required to add them to our courses, using new methods raises important questions: