<p>Hi :D
does anyone know which biology professor would be the best in terms of actually learning biology? at my high school our biology teacher was HORRIBLE and no one learned a thing...and our school doesnt even offer ap biology so i am also worried i will be unprepared compared to other students. so which professor do you recommend at ucsd? Im not necessarily looking for the easiest teacher but the one that i will learn the most from...but then again, i also dont want a professor who's curve is so harsh that instead of focusing on the material i'll get stuck focusing on the grade :/ So, any suggestions? Thank you!</p>
<p>My personal take is that biology is inherently difficult to “teach.” The amount of material you retain is generally proportional to your efforts in learning it. You could be assigned a terrific professor w/loads of passion for teaching, and still learn nothing because you didn’t study. Biology isn’t like the physical/natural sciences, where a good professor can show you shortcuts and relationships between different concepts, thereby making better sense of everything. Even with a stellar teacher, the most learning you’ll do in a biology class is achieved on your own, with your textbook and wikipedia by your side. In my [many] years of TAing biology and chemistry courses, I’ve found that it’s easy to force-feed chemistry; a few example problems done over and over will provide a student with the necessary skills to pass the exam. But if someone falls behind in biology and doesn’t “get” the material, there aren’t any magic tricks to fix that.</p>
<p>Enough ranting. If you already knew all of that and are just looking for a good lecturer, check out CAPE for professor evaluations.</p>