Patricia Stapleton > Articles by: Patricia Stapleton

Author Archive: Patricia Stapleton

Prepping Students for Collaboration

A recent tweet from Dr. Kelly Zvobgo prompted a discussion about how to address interpersonal issues that might come up between students during peer collaboration for a course assignment. When I was a professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), this question was often on my mind, as WPI employs project-based learning across its curriculum, which inherently requires lots of peer collaboration. As someone who hated working in groups for my course grade as an undergrad, I was reluctant to require students to work together. Mostly, I was unsure how to facilitate effective and equitable teamwork in a way that would address the pitfalls of group work that I had experienced as an undergrad (e.g., different expectations, skills, interests, and availability among team members). But…

Pedagogy

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01

Dec

2021

“Politics of Plague” Course Materials

Thanks to Dr. Laurel Eckhouse for putting together a list of poli sci scholars who have offered to guest lecture if/when needed! I’ve noted that I’ve developed and taught a course called the “Politics of Plague” that might be of use to others. You can find the course syllabus here. I’m most proud of the intro activity to the course that I developed for the first day of class to get students engaged in the ideas. The main learning objective of the activity is to get students familiar with the vocabulary and concepts that they’ll learn about in the course. The activity is also designed to get them to engage with the topic in a way that is relevant to…

Pedagogy

07

Mar

2020

Five-year plans!

A recent tweet from Dr. Amanda Bittner launched a discussion about five-year plans (with special H/T to Dr. Mirya Holman and her #MHAWS initiative!). I noted I was happy to share some resources I had organized a few years ago for a workshop on developing a five-year plan, and got a ton of requests. After sending out about a dozen emails, it hit me that it might be better just to put it all in one place! I found all of these resources from poking around on the internet, and can take no credit for coming up with the ideas. I’m grateful to others for sharing their ideas and work online! I’d like to note that not everyone might be…

Professional Development

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11

Dec

2019

Stories to watch: genetic engineering in 2016

The last months of 2015 brought genetic engineering back to the front pages with several major news stories, particularly the FDA’s approval of genetically engineered salmon and breakthroughs in the use of Crispr-Cas9 (a gene-editing technology). Often when I talk to people about my research, they want to know if GMOs are safe to eat, but the debate over GMOs – and genetic engineering more broadly – is much bigger than questions of scientific risk assessment and management. These two recent stories highlight how much the debate focuses on questions of ethics too. I’ve talked a little about Crispr before, so let’s turn to genetically engineered (GE) salmon. Scientists have been working on GE salmon for over two decades, however…

Assisted Reproductive Technology, Biotechnology, Food Safety

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02

Jan

2016

From French lit to biotech regulation…

Inevitably when people find out I started a PhD in French literature before switching to political science, I hear: “You were a lit major? How’d you end up here?” In my mind, the route from French to political science is actually very clear! But sometimes I come across an article that helps me explain it better. Carl Zimmer reported in The New York Times last week on how the “Editing of Pig DNA May Lead to More Organs for People.” Zimmer writes about a new method for editing genes, called Crispr, that presents the possibility of altering pig DNA in a way that would allow doctors to successfully transplant pig organs into humans. Andrew Pollack has discussed Crispr and its…

Assisted Reproductive Technology, Biotechnology, Publications, Utopia/Dystopia

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20

Oct

2015

#IRiA #SocialMedia

As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been writing about my Topics in International Politics for the Active Learning in Political Science site. My first posts examined the structure of the IRiA Simulation and how I evaluated its use in my course. After the first round in Spring 2014, I reconfigured the assignments for the course based on student feedback. While they were enthusiastic about the course and sim, the students reported that there was a bit of a disconnect between the first half of the course – structured around lectures, discussion, and in-class activities – and the second half in which we played the game. As a result, I was motivated to restructure the course calendar and to redesign…

Pedagogy

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04

Aug

2015

Biopolitics & Utopia: An Interdisciplinary Reader

It’s finally here! I’m very excited to announce that my most recent edited collection, Biopolitics and Utopia: An Interdisciplinary Reader, is now out from Palgrave Macmillan. Andrew Byers, a visiting assistant professor in History at Duke University, and I worked hard on bringing together an excellent group of contributors from the US, Canada, Malaysia, and Australia. The project grew out of a panel Andrew and I put together for the Society for Utopian Studies Conference in 2013. The focus of the panel was “Biopolitics and Utopian/Dystopian Politics”. For readers looking to understand what we mean by “biopolitics”, we think of the concept as the strategies pursued and the actions taken by the state to control its citizens at the “level…

Publications

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28

Jun

2015

Experiential Learning in STEP

I’ve unfortunately had little time to keep up with research-related blogposts, in part because of all the research I’ve been doing! But I’ve also been busy with some amazing teaching opportunities. In the last six months, I’ve had the chance to participate in experiential learning and project-based learning programs with WPI students in San Cristobal, Guatemala, and London, England. I’m currently the Associate Editor of the bimonthly newsletter, STEP Ahead, for the Science, Technology, and Environmental Politics Section of APSA, and I wrote about my experience in Guatemala and reflections on experiential learning for our March edition, which I’m sharing below. More will follow on the London trip! ~~~~~ Experiential learning may seem like just another buzzword among higher education…

Pedagogy

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21

May

2015

A Greener Walmart?

Last month, Walmart announced “its commitment to create a more sustainable food system.” As The New York Times noted in its report on the announcement, Walmart is “the United States’ largest grocer, and food is its biggest business. So it has enormous clout with food producers and food processing companies…” As a major player, if Walmart succeeds in its “four pillar” initiatives, its efforts can have a significant impact on how food is produced and sold in the US. The four pillars (affordable, accessible, healthier, safe & transparent) touch upon the main aspects of our food system, namely consumer rights, food safety, and public health issues. This kind of initiative highlights how big corporations can create standards that exceed the…

Food Safety

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02

Nov

2014

Assessing Learning Outcomes of IRiA Sim

I recently guest-blogged on the Active Learning in Political Science website, giving an overview of the International Relations in Action simulation that I incorporated into my GOV 1320: Topics in International Politics course that I teach at WPI. There’s a new follow-up piece addressing the issue of assessing the learning outcomes of using sims, and specifically pondering how I should assess learning outcomes for this particular sim. Please check it out!

Pedagogy

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03

Oct

2014