Biology 13 Tues / Thurs 2:00 - 3:30
B.A. Kalamazoo College
M.S. Kansas State University
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley
Linda McPheron has taught at community colleges in the Bay Area for a number of years. She received a Master’s degree from Kansas State University and a Ph. D. from UC Berkeley in entomology (insects). Her dissertation was on the behavior and ecology of paper wasps. Recently she has begun to do research on student learning. Her latest research is on the role of terminology in learning biology for non-major biology students. Dr. McPheron has taught a variety of courses including: Human Biology, Ecology, The Ecology of California, Limnology, and Scientific Literature. In addition to her work, she stays active coaching soccer and playing both pickleball and volleyball!
Ph.D. thesis: The role of visual and olfactory cues in the foraging of the paper wasp, Mischocytarus flavitarsis
Discipline based education research: Does terminology interfere with learning biology concepts?
Recently:
Owens, MT*, Seidel, SB*, Wong, M*, Bejines, TE, Lietz, S, Perez, JR, Sit, S, Subedar, ZS, Acker, GN, Akana, SF, Balukjian, B, Benton, HP, Blair, JR, Boaz, SM, Boyer, KE, Bram, JB, Burrus, LW, Byrd, DT, Caporale, N, Carpenter, EJ, Chan, YHM, Chen, L, Chovnick, A, Chu, DS, Clarkson, BK, Cooper, SE, Creech, C, Crow, KD, de la Torre, JR, Denetclaw, WF, Duncan, KE, Edwards, AS, Erickson, KL, Fuse, M, Gorga, JJ, Govindan, B, Green, LJ, Hankamp, PZ, Harris, HE, He, ZH, Ingalls, S, Ingmire, PD, Jacobs, JR, Kamakea, M, Rhea R. Kimpo, Knight, JS, Krause, SK, Krueger, LE, Light, TL, Lund, L, Márquez-Magaña, LM, McCarthy, BK, McPheron, LJ, Miller-Sims, VC, Moffatt, CA, Muick, PC, Nagami, PH, Nusse, GL, Okimura, KM, Pasion, SG, Patterson, R, Pennings, PS, Riggs, BE, Romeo, J, Roy, SW, Russo-Tait, T, Schultheis, LM, Sengupta, L, Small, R, Spicer, GS, Stillman, JH, Swei, A, Wade, JM, Waters, SB, Weinstein, SL, Willsie, JK, Wright, DW, Harrison, CD, Kelley, LA, Trujillo, G, Domingo, CD, Schinske, JN, Tanner, KD. 2017. Classroom Sound Can Be Used To Classify Teaching Practices in College Science Courses,Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 (12): 3085–3090; doi: 10.1073/pnas.1618693114.
McPheron, L. J. and Mills, N. J. 2007. Discrimination learning of color-odor compounds in a paper wasp (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Pompilinae: Mischocyttarus flavitarsis). Entomol. Gener.,29 (2/4): 125-134.
Presentations:
“Using Health Claims on Food Packages to Teach Critical Thinking,” American Society for Microbiology Conference for Undergraduate Educators, Tysons, VA, Aug. 1-4, 2019.
“Does Excessive Scientific Terminology Interfere with Student’s Ability to Learn Biology Concepts?” American Society for Microbiology Conference for Undergraduate Educators, Austin, TX, May 28-31, 2015.
“Does Scientific Terminology Affect Students’ Ability to Learn Biology?” Society for Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER West), Irvine, CA, Jan. 14-15, 2017.