Unusual teaching methods

I previously blogged about unusual study methods. Well, sometimes there's some unusual teaching methods too. Generally, these are the best. These are the methods that really jam it in a student's brain. Now, not all professors can pull these off and not all subjects lend themselves to bizarre demonstrations. But when they do, it stays with you.

Two brief examples:

A month or so ago, we were learning the life cycle of ick - it's got another name but I can't spell it. It's a fish parasite, common in fish tanks. (Yes, at AVC, we have mandatory classes on fish health. I think we may be the only school to require this, though I'm happy to be corrected). At the beginning of the following lecture, Dr S asked us to take out a piece of scrap paper and draw the life cycle of ick - after reassuring our neurotic vet student minds that we wouldn't be graded on this. There was a good reason why we wouldn't be graded on it, because after briefly reviewing the life cycle, he had us all ball up the papers and biff them at each other. "Now, chances are some of you got hit, and some of you didn't. That's how ick spreads." Suffice to say, we all remember ick. This same professor has had all sixty of us crowd into various sized hypothetical boxes to demonstrate stocking density in aquaculture.

The second example was actually from a complete different professor. Our therio professor is known for his animated teaching style - no one misses that lecture if they can help it. But he outdid himself this week. He rewrote the song Summertime to be about horse breeding, and then sang it live in front of the class (he's a surprisingly good singer). If only I'd thought copy down the lyrics!

So if you ever find yourself as a professor in the future, don't be afraid to be weird. Weird is memorable.