Arthur F Thurnau Professor of Chemistry; Associate Chair, Educational Development and Practice
About
"Discipline-centered teaching and learning" is the interdisciplinary area in which all faculty members participate, regardless of their preparation for it. Discipline-centered teaching and learning is a synthesis of two things: (1) a deep understanding of the subject matter, both content and the process of science, that comes with a comprehensive doctoral education, and (2) an application of the principles of teaching and learning that are derived from the learning sciences (i.e., from the fields of Education, Psychology, etc.). Expertise in the discipline creates a proper foundation from which a faculty member can do everything from designing effective instruction for a class of 400 first-year students to managing the doctoral education of graduate students in a research group.
As a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry, I have divided my work between a number of areas: (1) exemplifying discipline-centered teaching and learning in the design, implementation, documentation, and evaluation in organic chemistry education; (2) as a mechanism for preparing future faculty, broadening the concept of a "research group" (which is the mechanism by which faculty members get big-idea research done) to the idea of forming "teaching groups;" and (3) the internationalization and globalization of science education.
As the department's Associate Chair for Educational Development and Practice, I direct and oversee four programmatic areas: (1) CSIE|UM, our future faculty program, which involves chemistry's undergraduate and graduate students, and post-doctoral associates, who wish to add a more formal experience in teaching and learning to their chemistry education. By partnering with faculty members who want to get involved in educational development, these students provide the needed time and energy - as they do in the laboratory - to see ideas about teaching and learning moved into practice; (2) CALC|UM, our parallel program for students who are interested in careers in industry, government, and other parts of the private and public sectors; (3) our BS/MS and freestanding MS degree programs; and (4) liaison with the U-M administration to assist faculty colleagues in developing international agreements for cooperative research, student exchange, etc.
CSIE|UM program (Chemical Sciences at the Interface of Education)
CALC|UM program (Chemistry Aligned with Life & Career)
Masters programs in Chemistry
Michigan Associates (International Program)
Other Duties
- Associate Chair, Educational Development and Practice
- Director, University of Michigan REU Site in Chemistry
- Director (CSIE|UM): Chemical Sciences at the Interface of Education
- Director (CALC|UM): Chemical Sciences at the Interface of Education
- Editor, "The Hexagon" (Quarterly Publication of Alpha Chi sigma)
Awards
- U-M Science Learning Center - Faculty Champion 2019 (Inaugural awardee)
- University of Michigan Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor 2018
- University of Michigan Provost's Teaching Innovation Prize 2016
- Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year 2016
- ACS Fellow, 2015
- L. Carroll King Lecturer, Northwestern University 2013
- Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching 2012-14
- Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching (Finalist ) 2011
- University of Michigan Provost's Teaching Innovation Prize 2011
- CASE/Carnegie U.S. Professor of The Year 2009
- LSA Dean's Excellence in Teaching Award 2008
- Fulbright Senior Specialist 2007
- James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry 2006
- CASE/Carnegie State of Michigan Professor of the Year 2004
- Society for College Science Teachers (SCST)/Kendall-Hunt Outstanding Undergraduate Science Teacher Award (OUSTA) 2004
- NSTA Outstanding Undergraduate Science Teacher Award 2003
- Arthur F. Thurnau Professor 2001
- Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science 2001
- Amoco Undergraduate Teaching Award 1999
- Pew Scholar-The Carnegie Foundation 1998
- Undergraduate Computational Science Award (Ames Laboratory-UCES) 1996
- Center for Research on Learning and Teaching Faculty Associate 1995
- University of Michigan "Golden Apple" Award 1994
- LSA Dean's Excellence in Teaching Award 1991-1997
- Sigma Xi Teaching Award 1990
- Phi Lambda Upsilon Teacher of the Year 1988, 1994
- Collegiate Fellows Teaching Award 1988
- Center for Research on Learning and Teaching Postdoctoral Teaching Award 1987
Publications
Chen, P.; Ong, D.; Ng, J.C.; Coppola, B. P. "Explore, Exploit, and Prune in the Classroom: Strategic Resource Management Behaviors Predict Performance" AERA Open, 2021, 7(1), 1-14.
Introduces a new model and an new analytical method for the relationship between the use of learning resources and academic achievement using the theoretical framework self-regulated learning (SRL).
Coppola, B. P. "The New Normal: An Instructional Development Infrastructure in an R1 Setting" In, Li, J.J.; Shek, C.H.; Chan, E.P.K., Eds. Creativity and Innovation in Higher Education City University Press: Hong Kong, 2021; pp 2-9.
Summary discussion of how scholarly development for future faculty can be broadened to include the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).
Coppola, B. P. "The Cultivation of Talent: Selection versus Identification" In, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Ziyuan College, Ed. Innovation Leads to the Future: Selected Compilation of the 2019 Top Talent Training International Forum Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press: Shanghai, 2020; pp 54-68 (Chinese); pp 155-174 (English).
In the West, we have moved from seeing "talent" as an intrinsic and stable trait that can be selected for (tested in the young and extrapolated), and instead we have moved to a model of identifying and cultivating potential. There is still a strong tradition in the East for testing and ranking along narrow dimensions and assuming that this extrapolates. I argue here for change.
Coppola, B. P.; Pontrello, J. K. “Student-Generated Instructional Materials” In J. J. Mintzes & E. M. Walter (Eds), Active Learning in College Science: The Case for Evidence Based Practice. N.Y.: Springer, 2019 (Ch 24).
An introduction to the topic, plus an essay on the case against evidence-based practices as they are currently conceived.
Coppola, B. P.; Plough, I. C.; Sun, H. “Purple Dragons and Yellow Toadstools: A Versatile Exercise for Introducing Students to Negotiated Consensus” Science and Engineering Ethics 2019, 29, 1261-1269.
Best Title Ever. A useful and easily adapted exercise for getting people to come to consensus before they getting into their more contentious or high stakes discussions.
Boothe, J. R.; Barnard, R. E.; Peterson, L. J.; Coppola, B. P. “The Relationship Between Subject Matter Knowledge and Teaching Effectiveness of Undergraduate Chemistry Peer Facilitators” Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2018, 19, 297-304.
An in-depth study, using video data, that explores whether errors that are corrected in a training course for peer-instructors are (or are not) propagated into their teaching, and whether teaching errors (when observed) can be tracked back to what was going on in the training course.
Barnard, R. A.; Boothe, J. R.; Salvatore, J.; Emerson, K.; Boone, A.; Sandler, C.; Coppola, B. P. “Course-based Support for Peer-Led Study Group Facilitators in Large Instructional Team” Journal of College Science Teaching 2018,47, 21-29.
A paper describing the development and implementation of a subject matter training course for peer instructional leaders.
For a complete listing of publications, please visit Coppola Home Page.
B. P. Coppola Structure and Reactivity: An Introduction to Organic Chemistry, Book A: Structure and Bonding 1st Ed. Macmillan Learning: Plymouth, MI; 2022.
B. P. Coppola Structure and Reactivity: An Introduction to Organic Chemistry, Book B: Introduction to Reactivity 1st Ed. Macmillan Learning: Plymouth, MI; 2022.
B. P. Coppola Structure and Reactivity: An Introduction to Organic Chemistry, Book C: Carbonyl Reactions, Transformations, and Synthesis 1st Ed. Macmillan Learning: Plymouth, MI; 2022.
B. P. Coppola Structure and Reactivity: An Introduction to Organic Chemistry, Book D: Special Topics 1st Ed. Macmillan Learning: Plymouth, MI; 2022.
Career Overview, Interview, and Biography
In, Hefer Bembenutty Contemporary Pioneers in Teaching and Learning Volume 2 Information Age Publishing: Charlotte, NC, 2022; pp 207-233.
In, Liberato Cardinelli "The Passion to Teach: A Dialogue with Brian P Coppola" Education Policy, Management, and Quality 2017, 9(1), 33-55.
In, Mary T. Huber Balancing Acts: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Academic Careers Washington, DC: American Association of Higher Education and The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 2004; Coppola case study appears as Chapters 3 & 4.
