A Course in Adventures in Life

By Marvin Druger  |  mdruger@syr.edu

The mission of a teacher of any subject at any level should be to “provide meaningful, motivational experiences that enrich the lives of the students and help them identify and nurture their unique traits and discover where they fit in life.”

Information can be useful, but we forget information. We remember experiences. Even trivial experiences can have a long-term impact.

I recall my second-grade teacher who often grabbed me by the chin and said, “Marvin, be a good boy!” I told my wife, “That’s why my chin looks like this.” She replied, “How do you explain your nose?”

In my long teaching career of more than 60 years, I taught more than 50,000 students, mostly in the introductory biology course at Syracuse University.

I had the opportunity and the privilege to design this introductory college course to fit my philosophy of teaching. Although the two-semester course was listed in the catalogs as “Biology 121-123,” it really should have been listed as “Adventures in Life.” I tried to provide unique, motivational experiences that would influence students for the rest of their lives.

My course involved interactive, radio-style audio tapes (later CDs), one live lecture per week and a small recitation class taught by graduate teaching assistants. Because of the large class size, usually about 900 students, I had to repeat the same lecture (with different jokes) to smaller groups a few times per week. Students would spend as much time as needed (usually four to six hours) per week listening to the interactive audio tapes and doing associated lab work. Labs were open seven days a week, including evenings. Students could spend as much time as they needed with the audio tapes. A graduate teaching assistant was always available to help students.

There were many special features built into the course that were consistent with course objectives. Some of the special features of the course included:

1. Helpful Hints: Helpful hints was a document that described every aspect of the course, including objectives, course policies and grading procedures. Attendance at course components was required. Students were expected to attend all regular class activities and participate fully or they would receive an F for the course, regardless of their grades on the exams. Students were taking the course for the experiences, not just the information, and if they didn’t attend, they missed the experiences and essentially failed the course.

One delinquent senior didn’t attend class, but minimally passed the exams. In accordance with my policy, I gave him an “F” in the course. He complained to me, “You can’t do this to me. I’m a senior.” I replied, “This policy is stated on page two of the Helpful Hints.” He responded, “I never turned the page.” We compromised and he ended up with a “D” in the course (poor but passing).

Another student complained, “But if I’m experiencing your class, then I’m missing another experience.” True, but if that other experience was doing the laundry, that could wait. Students had to set priorities.

2. Bionews and Bioviews: A weekly, one-page, course newsletter that included relevant gossip and biological information. The column on the upper right of the page announced, “What’s Going On?” This column stated what was happening in the course during the forthcoming week.

3. Bio-Creativity Project: This project was an attempt to foster creativity among students. They were asked to create something original about “life.” The prize for good work was a photo of me riding a mule on campus. Few students did a project. Then I decided to offer 10 points added to the final grade if a project showed originality and effort. Many students then completed projects, including poems, short stories, photographs, posters, models and a variety of creative items. My favorite student project was a water color drawing of a pig in heaven with the announcement from its mouth, “Dissect frogs!”

4. Special Topics Sections in Bio 123: Students who earned a B or better in Bio 121 were eligible to enroll in a special topics section for two extra credits along with Bio 123. This supplementary course focused on specific areas in biology, such as molecular genetics, cell biology, ecology and even exobiology.

Students who received a poor but passing grade in Bio 121 could enroll in an “Enrichment Section” in Bio 123. These sections were taught by experienced teaching assistants and met additional times each week to offer extra help.

5. Special Presentations: There were many different lecture series presented as optional enrichments to the main course. The “Frontiers of Science” lectures were presented by different researchers in the Syracuse area. Cookies and refreshments were funded by donations from different science departments on campus.

Another lecture series was the “Pathways to Knowledge” series. This series involved presentations by Ph.D. students. This series provided the Ph.D. students with the opportunity to present their research to a non-threatening audience and practice their forthcoming dissertation defense. This series also allowed my biology course students to gain some insights about graduate study for a Ph.D.

Usually, not many students would attend such optional events. Hundreds of my students and others attended these lectures. The motivation was freshly baked cookies and “benefit-of-the-doubt credit.” I kept track of attendance and if students attended these lectures, they would receive “benefit-of-the-doubt credit.” This was used to make final grade decisions and boost final grades in the course.

I even offered midnight lectures to enrich the course content. As I grew older, the midnight lecture was shifted to 8 p.m., since I couldn’t stay awake that late.

I also gave review sessions before the three major exams in the course. I reviewed past exams and made them available in the library to give students some idea about the nature of my major exams.

6. Special Research Projects: During Bio 123, students were required to be part of a full-semester team research project of their own design. The students worked in teams of four to six students and reports were evaluated at the end of the semester. Thus, every Bio 123 student had team involvement and a real research experience.

7. Fetal Pig Dissection: Doing dissections in class was controversial, but I wanted my students to get firsthand experience in mammalian anatomy and physiology. Students purchased a preserved fetal pig in a shoebox and a dissecting kit from the Syracuse University Bookstore and carried out a dissection. Conscientious objectors were allowed an alternative assignment, using a pictorial dissection guidebook.

8. Exams and Grading: I gave three major, multiple-choice exams during the semester. The exams were given on Monday evenings and students could take as much time as necessary to complete an exam. The panic-provoking, old phrase, “Time is up. Pencils down!” did not apply.

Because of the large class size, my major exams were multiple choice. However, I didn’t want students to think biology was multiple choice. So, teaching assistants were required to give essay exams and focus on discussions in recitation sessions.

The night before major exams, students were encouraged to call me at home on the “bio-phone” from 8 to 11 p.m. to answer last-minute questions or to get psychological reassurance.

The grading in the course was based upon a point system. 90% of the points earned an A; 80% resulted in a B, etc. Below 50% of the points resulted in an F, to indicate that the student didn’t obtain the minimal knowledge required and should take the course again.

I met with each teaching assistant at the end of the semester for a grading interview. Teaching assistants had to compile a tentative grade for a student and we discussed each student individually and assigned a final grade. The process was time-consuming, but very fair and each student received special, personal attention. We rarely had any complaints about final grades. If everyone in the course earned 90% of the points, that resulted in an A, regardless of how many A’s there were. It wasn’t the student’s fault if the course was too easy. It never happened and we usually had a broad distribution of grades.

Students who earned an A in the course were sent a letter of congratulations and a wallet-sized certificate of accomplishment.

9. Bio-Lunches: The coach of my old man’s intramural basketball team (the Geriatrics) was the director of the residence halls and food services. He gave me free lunch tickets and I had bio-lunches with five or six of my students about twice each week. Students would drop names and phone numbers into a suggestion box and I would call the students to make arrangements. Thus, I was able to personalize the course and get student reactions.

10. Answer Keys: Students were assigned to different rooms on campus for major exams. I wanted students to check their answers immediately after an exam when they could learn from the experience. So, students were handed an answer key as they left the exam room. Then I discovered that there was some cheating. Students would pick up several answer keys as they left the room and then they would return with such comments as, “Oh, I left something in the room,” and drop an answer key on another student’s desk. So, I then required that students would have to appear outside the biology office on the second floor of Sims Hall and I would personally hand out answer keys.

I prepared multiple copies of answer keys and was about to walk down the steps to hand them out. However, the staircase was packed with students and I couldn’t get down the steps. So, I went to the window and threw one answer key out of the window. Someone yelled, “Hey, he’s throwing them out the window!” Students emptied the staircase and I walked downstairs to give out answer keys and answer questions.

Throwing answer keys out of the window after exams then became a regular event. The process occurred for several years. One student made a video called “The Druger Drop.” It has been on You Tube for many years and is still available for viewing.

Then, tragedy struck. I threw the answer keys out of the window and an ambulance suddenly appeared on the scene. I received phone calls saying that someone had been injured. It turned out that there was some recent landscaping and a student stumbled and fell off a large boulder and sprained her ankle.  Since I didn’t want anyone to get hurt by the Druger Drop, I stopped doing this event.

What now?

I then turned to closed circuit television to give out the answers immediately after an exam. At that time, students conducted a TV station called University Union TV (UUTV). I started doing “the Bio-Answer Show.” Each show started with a Saturday-night-type skit that I created, followed by going over the answers to the exam and culminating in the award of Dollar Store prizes to students. All student names were put in a fishbowl and I had a student help me select names at random to receive prizes. Several prizes were donated by local businesses on Marshall Street, such as a hot fudge sundae from Baskin-Robbins or a piece of jewelry from Sam Hammer’s jewelry store or a free haircut by the owner of the Orange Tonsorial, names that old-timers will remember.

Thus, students could sit in the lounge of their resident hall and review exam answers on TV and have some fun. The show was very popular among the UUTV staff and they all wanted to be part of the Bio-Answer Show crew.

This show was presented for several years, but then I was told that some TV cable was accidentally cut during construction and the show couldn’t be transmitted to the residence halls. So, I returned to throwing answer keys out of the window for the next few years, until my retirement in 2009.

There were many other special features of Bio 121-123. I can’t discuss them all or I’d be taking up too much space in 55 Plus magazine.

11. Perceptions by Colleagues: When asked about Druger’s general biology course, faculty colleagues might say, “Oh, he’s an entertainer and a clown. He just does crazy things in his class.” Not true. Every component of my course had an educational purpose. Content was never sacrificed for fun. We focused on meaningful experiences that could have long-term impact on students’ lives.

I have received many emails from former students that indicate that Bio 121-123 had an important influence on their lives and careers. I recently received a confirming email from a former student who became an award-winning teacher.

He wrote, “What I learned from you influenced what I did over the 20 years I spent in the classroom, as well as the years that have followed…Thank you Dr. Druger for the path you shared with me. It helped shape my own life, as well as the lives of the several thousand students I touched.”

What a nice commentary!

I am very gratified to have been able to make a difference in peoples’ lives. That’s what teachers do for a living.