RIGHT LESSONS FROM WRONG ANSWERS Marc Perkins ’98, Biology Professor Orange Coast College
S
o what if a student’s experiment contradicts 60 years of metabolic physiology? “It’s perfectly fine data,” says associate professor Marc
Perkins ’98, who teaches organismal biology courses at Orange Coast College, a community college in Southern California. “Students think they should always get the text- book result. Often, I find when they don’t get the ‘correct’ answer, they learn a lot more from it.” His teaching philosophy is a byproduct of his HMC edu- cation, in particular HMC’s Field Ecology Lab, and mentor- ing he received in graduate school at Arizona State University. Perkins has tossed out the “cookbook lab” approach—where experimental methodology is easily repeatable—in favor of an open-ended style that he has seen both challenge and energize participants. A recent lab required his students to use equipment such as humidity meters and soil moisture probes to study the microclimates on campus. Students asked their own questions, defined hypotheses, then designed a unique experiment. In addition to tests, full journal articles are required, two per semester. “They’re measuring all the things I would have them
measure anyway, but now it’s testing their own hypotheses. And they’re invested and interested in it. These labs get them to think critically about experimental design.” And if the result is not a textbook answer, no worries. For Perkins, a good question is much better.
I find when [students] don’t get the ‘correct’ answer, they learn a lot more from it.
16 Har vey Mudd College SPRING 2011
CHAUNCEY BAYES
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