Spring 2026 Celebration of Teaching
Abstracts: Celebration of Teaching 2026
Making Student Thinking Visible: Experiential Learning and Shared Inquiry in the Classroom
Bryan Buechner
In an era where information is cheap and endlessly accessibly, the classroom’s value increasingly lies in structured thinking and shared inquiry. For example, as generative AI tools make it easier for students to summarize and reproduce course content, instructors face a growing challenge: how to design learning environments that reward genuine intellectual engagement rather than surface-level correctness. In my undergraduate marketing and consumer behavior courses, I have experimented with approaches that emphasize experiential learning, structured discussions, and assignments designed to make students’ thinking more visible.
I will share how students regularly engage with applied marketing problems through brand analyses (e.g., Netflix’s A/B testing strategy), simulated marketing decisions (e.g., role-playing as decision makers at Whole Foods or Peloton), and real-world client projects with partners such as Kroger and MadTree Brewing. These activities are paired with structured discussion formats—“conversation clubs” and "business meetings"—that encourage students to interpret evidence, question assumptions, and build ideas collaboratively.
I have also redesigned assignments and rubrics to reward curiosity, perspective taking, and the integration of course concepts with real-world examples rather than simply rewarding surface-level correctness. Students produce written reflections, annotated readings, and executive-style analyses that capture how their thinking evolves as they engage with complex marketing problems.
This presentation is a reflection on pedagogical practices, ideally providing new insights for faculty across disciplines. Drawing on student work and classroom experiences, I will discuss how experiential exercises, structured dialogue, and reflective assignments can help foster intellectual curiosity, collaborative learning, and thoughtful engagement in today's undergraduate classrooms.
Evaluation of a 3D Printed Finger Dislocation Model for Athletic Training Education
Tina Davlin-Pater, Nathalie Towchik and Crista Rosborough
Athletic trainers commonly perform finger joint relocation techniques. Reduction requires precise technique and tactile feedback, which is difficult to simulate in a classroom setting without the assistance of specialized task trainers. The available task trainers are expensive and lack published data on their usability and effectiveness. Recently, directions were published on how to 3D print and assemble a low-cost task trainer. The purpose of this study is to examine the potential use of this task trainer for the education of athletic training students. Fifty-six athletic trainers (AT) and 33 athletic training students participated in this study. All participants took part in a workshop that included instruction and hands-on practice with the 3D hand task trainer. Student participants were assessed on performing the appropriate steps in a dorsal and volar PIP joint relocation. All participants completed a post-workshop survey rating the task trainer. Overall, AT participants agreed that the task trainer appropriately mimicked the tension and motion required to reduce a real PIP joint reduction. Most participants liked the design of the task trainer. Athletic training students performed well on the joint reduction steps. The 3D printed hand model appears to be an effective tool to simulate PIP joint dislocations. The current model can be used to teach students how to reduce common finger injuries as well as build their competence and confidence with this skill.
Implementation of a Validated Professional Behavior Scale in Undergraduate Exercise Science Practicums
Patrick Filanowski
Professional behaviors are consistently identified by practicum supervisors as essential for success among undergraduate students. Despite their importance, most supervisors lack validated tools to formally assess or guide the development of these behaviors during experiential learning. In 2025, a validated professional behavior scale for undergraduate Exercise Science practicums, the ESS-PBA instrument, was published. This project examined the implementation of the ESS-PBA instrument within Exercise Science practicums at Xavier University.
Practicum supervisors (N = 61) overseeing undergraduate Exercise Science students between Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 participated in the project. As part of mid-term evaluations, supervisors completed the ESS-PBA instrument. Following implementation, supervisors completed an acceptability survey assessing the perceived importance of evaluating professional behaviors and how they assess these behaviors in order to provided guided feedback to students. Supervisors also ranked 12 professional behaviors from the ESS-PBA instrument from most to least important and responded to an open-ended question regarding the use of other professionalism assessment tools.
Supervisors strongly agreed (92%) that providing constructive feedback on students’ professional behaviors was important. However, most supervisors reported not using other structured tools to assess professional behaviors (73%). Practicum supervisors at Xavier University ranked “Dependable and Responsible” (3.91) as the most important professional behavior, while “Giver and Taker” (11.44) was ranked least important.
Implementation of the ESS-PBA instrument in Exercise Science practicums was feasible and well accepted. Structured assessment supports standardized evaluation, targeted feedback, and provides program-level quality improvement, helping address a key gap in high-impact experiential learning for undergraduate Exercise Science students.
Building Research Skills Through STEAM@XU: Studying GFP Stability in a One Week Biochemistry Project for High School Students
Ellie Gagliani
Last summer (2025), I mentored six high school students participating in Xavier’s second STEAM@XU camp, developed by Drs. Kelly Crowe and Hanna Wetzel as part of the Sustaining Excellence initiative. The goal of STEAM@XU is to introduce local high school students to authentic, hands-on research experiences supported by individualized mentorship from Xavier faculty. Through this program, students strengthen their critical thinking skills, build college readiness, and gain exposure to campus life.
For my one-week research project, I guided students through the expression and purification of the recombinant jellyfish protein green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the bacterium Escherichia coli. Along the way, students practiced widely used biochemical techniques and learned foundational principles of protein expression and purification. As a culminating experiment, they conducted a protein thermal shift assay to investigate how variables of their choice, such as pH and salt concentration, affected GFP stability. On the final day of STEAM@XU, students presented research posters summarizing their findings to friends, family, and the Xavier community. Survey data and student testimonials indicated an overwhelmingly positive experience, with several students expressing interest in attending Xavier in the future.
2025 Conway Fellowship Project Promoting equality in education through green chemistry and virtual intercultural communication
Supaporn Kradtap
Education inequality limits access to high quality science learning and international experiences, widening opportunity gaps for students from low-income backgrounds. To address this worldwide challenge, a classroom ready module integrating green chemistry and internationalization at home was implemented in high school chemistry lab classes. The module features hands on experiments adapted from undergraduate research that highlight green chemistry principles through safer reagents, low-cost materials, and sustainable design. Students collaborate virtually with peers in another country to share experimental results and exchange cultural perspectives on sustainability. By emphasizing affordability and safety, the program reduces financial and resource barriers while enhancing rigorous scientific learning. Opportunities for interdisciplinary and cooperative teaching are also made possible by drawing on the expertise of teachers from other subject areas to enrich science education through classroom activities that include topics such as language, geography, and culture. During the summer and fall 2025 Conway Fellowship period, 8 high school chemistry teachers, 12 non-chemistry teachers and staff, and more than 160 students from 6 high schools in Taiwan, Guatemala, Thailand, and Mexico participated in this program. Reflections from both students and teachers emphasize the positive impact of this learning experience. The ultimate aim is to expand this model globally through an online platform that offers resources, guidelines, and examples for implementing low cost, safe green chemistry experiments, as well as structured intercultural virtual exchange activities. This is a small but ambitious step to promote STEM education equality, extending the Universal Apostolic Preferences and Jesuit values beyond Xavier boundary.
Protein Structures in 3D
Michelle Schmahl and Stephen Mills
Proteins are fundamentally three-dimensional structures, yet traditional instructional tools often fall short in conveying their spatial complexity. Textbook images and lecture slides flatten these molecules, and while interactive visualization software such as ChimeraX, Mol*, and PyMOL can offer a richer perspective, they can be difficult for students to use and are not ideal for large lecture settings. More immersive technologies, including virtual reality and 3D printing, provide even stronger dimensional insight, but are impractical for larger lecture classroom use.
Stereoscopic viewers offer a simple, low-cost alternative for helping students visualize protein structure in three dimensions during class. Viewers from Not Flat Photos (notflatphotos.com) were obtained, and stereoscopic protein images were generated using Chimera. During the protein lecture segment, standard images will appear on PowerPoint slides, while corresponding stereoscopic images and viewers will be distributed to students. Guided prompts will direct students to specific features in each image. It is predicted that viewing proteins stereoscopically will deepen students’ spatial understanding of protein architecture, a central question this study aims to investigate.
The impact of stereoscopic viewing on student learning will be assessed through selected items adapted from the Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) survey developed by Stephen Carroll. These questions were delivered through Qualtrics to students in CHEM 150 and CHEM 440 at the end of the semester, alongside regular course evaluations.
Applying "Application of the Senses" to a Course About the Senses
Beau Stephens
The purpose of this project (sponsored by the Ignatian Mentoring Program) is to enhance students' level of engagement with course content in PSYC 429, Psychology of Sensation and Perception. The course introduces students to the biological components of human sensory systems, and the various physiological and psychological mechanisms that influence the interpretation of sensory signals. This semester, I incorporated a journaling component into the course, in which students complete paper-and-pen reflections in response to specific sensation and perception activities they experience outside the classroom. The activities encourage students to take notice of their sensory experiences and relate them to scientific knowledge of how those sensory systems function. Students learn to contemplate sensory experiences and imagery in ways that enliven their conceptual knowledge, similar to how Ignatius instructs the contemplation of sensory images (“application of the senses”) to enliven specific spiritual and Biblical scenes throughout the Spiritual Exercises. Some of the journaling exercises also subtly encourage students to integrate the scientific content of the course with Ignatian values such as reflection, discernment, solidarity, and kinship. In this presentation, I will provide a progress report on the project, including examples of the journaling exercises that have been conducted so far, and excerpts from students’ journal entries that demonstrate various facets of their reflective experiences.