Hello! I’m Dr. Margaret Sonnenfeld.
I combine my scientific research/teaching experiences and passion for pedagogical/course design to establish connections with students & provide relevant, innovative, and engaging lessons in undergraduate biology. My best practices are student centered, and I am committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion in undergraduate education.
I want to excite students about learning biology while keeping them engaged and on task in both remote and face-to-face settings. I strive to develop inclusive lessons that will entice as many learners as possible by beginning with the ‘why should you care?’. Toward these goals, I have been developing technological skills to design and build engaging and interactive activities. I hope you will take a look through my site to see what engaging lessons and alternative assessments I’ve come up with! Feel free to use and/or adapt as many lessons/activities as you like.
I believe that the biggest influencer of my educational strategies was my international travels as a child. These world experiences opened my eyes at an early age to the diversity that exists in the world. It was my parents who reinforced my ability to embrace such diversity in my everyday life.
I’ve actually had the pleasure of working with undergraduate students since 1990! (No, actually 1988 and Yup, that’s over 30 years). I obtained my PhD in Developmental Genetics from McMaster University in 1995. Then, I took my family down to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for another amazing adventure in investigating which genes ‘tell’ cells to become who they are meant to be!
I was raised by academics and followed their footsteps into my first job as a research professor in 1998 in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Ottawa. I was identifying which genes were most important in controlling the development of the central nervous and tracheal systems in fruit fly embryos. I transitioned into strictly undergraduate education twelve years later. I am lucky that my training ground has been Thompson Rivers University (TRU) for the last ten years where I’ve now taught six different lecture courses and seven different lab courses. Here, I’ve been able to focus on designing active-learning strategies to help students learn one of my great loves–BIOLOGY.
I have recently taken on the role of Laboratory Coordinator in biological sciences at TRU in which I can use my extensive skills and experience at supervising students to develop engaging lab exercises. This position requires strong communication, interpersonal, organizational and administrative skills, sound judgment, relevant theoretical knowledge in the biological sciences and expertise in a variety of specialized laboratory techniques and procedures.
Please explore my site to get an idea of what I feel is important as a biology instructor in lectures, labs and tutorials.
Don’t miss out on this!!!! What do orangutans have to do with all of this? Check out how I bring orangutans into TRU classrooms here https://msonnenfeld.trubox.ca/supporting-our-communities/ This promotes awareness and support for our communities (Human & otherwise) around the world.