Innovative Teaching | The School of Biological Sciences

Innovative Teaching

Our teaching methods are diverse, innovative and based on research on how students learn.

Transferable skills

Students put a high value on learning experiences that help them to acquire skills that can be used throughout their degree programme and beyond.

Some examples of these learning methods used in our courses, include: presenting posters in public meetings, writing and editing wikis, writing grant proposals, science writing for publication, and the creation of portfolios using multi-media.

For example, here two students are providing each other with feedback on discussion essays as part of Ecology, Conservation and Society (EK5510).

Our graduates tell us they really benefit from this approach:

I have just secured a great position with Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN), who have to provide both scientific papers and government reports on the shark tagging programme in Scotland for both funding and to gain government support for sustainable management and protection of sharks in Scottish waters.

I took along my report from this course as well as my thesis to interview. They were really impressed as it shows how versatile my writing can be and that I can work in a group as well as on my own. Not all students have solid proof of that ability fresh out of uni!

Marine Biology Graduate

I am working in Sea fisheries with Marine Scotland (Edinburgh). I'm in the EU negotiations team. It is a really interesting job and without a doubt I use what I learned in your problem based learning course EVERY DAY!... Thank you ... for challenging us in a way that lets the information stick.

Marine Biology Graduate