Anna Mosser

My teaching approach focuses on how students learn, what they learn, and why they should learn it. I use evidence-based methods to design how students learn in and out of the classroom, with an emphasis on active learning and student-driven inquiry. What students learn in my courses is strongly focused on concepts and process, where students learn the larger concepts that provide the framework for our current understanding of the natural world and practice the process skills needed to be an effective professional. Finally, in my teaching I aim to demystify why certain ideas and skills are important to learn.

Degrees earned

• PhD, University of Minnesota, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
• BA with honors, The University of Chicago, Biology

Research interests

Team-based learning; Uncovering and correcting misconceptions; Strategies for fostering independent critical thinking and problem solving; Wildlife ecology and animal behavior

Awards/honors

• Finalist, Allee Session for Best Student Paper, Animal Behavior Society Meeting
• University of Minnesota, Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
• University of Minnesota, Doctoral Dissertation International Research Grant
• University of Minnesota, Dayton-Wilkie Summer Research Grant
• University of Minnesota, Florence Rothman Award (research funding)
• University of Minnesota, Graduate School Fellowship

Favorite teaching innovation or approach

Recently, I introduced a extra credit project in my Foundations 2 course, where I ask students to express one of three ecology concepts in an artistic way. They could draw, sing, write a story, and so on. The student creativity that is expressed though this assignment blows me away every time! Students bring guitars to class for an original song, write poems in iambic pentameter, and make wonderful paintings that now adorn my office walls. For the most part, I find that the activity requires a deep understanding of the chosen concept. I look forward to this each time I teach this course!

Courses taught

• BIOL2002 – Foundations of Biology 1: Genetics and Evolution
• BIOL2003 – Foundations of Biology 2: Cell Biology and Ecology
• BIOL3001 – Nature of Science and Research (for incoming transfer students)
• BIOL1905 – Freshman Seminar (How to Think About Weird Things)
• BIOL1805 – Nature of Life: Summer module at Itasca

Recent presentations, invited seminars, and workshops

Best practices presentation, 2013, POGIL South Central Regional Workshop, St. Louis, Missouri. “Foundations of Biology: Think Like a Scientist!” Gibbens B and Mosser A.

Sample teaching activity presentation, 2013, POGIL South Central Regional Workshop, St. Louis, Missouri. “Where Does Science End?” Mosser A.

Oral presentation, 2013, 98th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Minneapolis, Minnesota. “The view from a caribou: a collar + GPS + accelerometer + on-board video = extensive data on an elusive species”. Mosser A, Avgar T, Rodgers A, Fryxell J, and Thompson I.

Oral presentation, 2012, 97th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Portland, Oregon. “Towards and energetic landscape: broad-scale accelerometry in woodland caribou”. Mosser A, Avgar T, Brown G, and Fryxell C.

Invited seminar. 2011. Department of Conservation Biology, Doñana Biological Station, Seville, Spain

Oral presentation. 2011. 6th annual meeting of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution, Banff, Alberta, “Energetics and landscape patterns in Ontario woodland caribou”. Mosser A, Avgar T, Brown G, and Fryxell C.

Invited seminar. 2011. Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Professional experience

• Teaching Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, Department of Biology Teaching and Learning (2013 – present)
• Postdoctoral Fellow and Sessional Lecturer, University of Guelph, Department of Integrative Biology (2010-2013)
• Director of Research, Gombe Stream Research Centre, Gombe National Park, The Jane Goodall Institute, Tanzania (2008-2009)

Professional service

• Disability Issue Committee, University of Minnesota (2013 - present)
• Faculty mentor for ESA undergraduate SEEDS program (2013 - present)
• Speaker at Environmental Sciences Academic Open House, University of Guelph (2011 & 2012)

Current grants

• Digital Biology Initiative, University of Minnesota