On January
6, 2019, Dr. Bettina Bluemling visited the International Magnesium Institute
(IMI), FAFU. She currently is Senior Lecturer at the
University of Queensland. She has worked as a lecturer/assistant professor in
the Netherlands and UK, as well as a researcher in Germany.
As
a visiting lecturer, she gave postgraduate students talks of Natural Resource
Management. She came to teach this course for three consecutive years. She has close connection with China, and her
research area of expertise focus on China. Her research interests include water
resource management, social organization of bioenergy production, nutrition
management, and agricultural pollution caused by pesticides. Until now, she has
published 24 papers S/SCI journals.
Compared
with the traditional Chinese teaching mode, her courses focus on stimulating
students' active thinking ability, using small questions to encourage students'
profound thinking, and using group discussion to extend students' interest and
understanding of knowledge concepts. By means of using examples from practice,
relevant theory was further explained and illustrated. In her class, students' reaction
changed from Chinese-style shyness to open and active discussion. Students keenly
combined their research with theories from the course to discuss and
communicate with Dr. Bettina. In the end of the course, students did presentations
on environmental problems in agriculture, applying their knowledge from the
course.
Dr. Bettina was impressed
by how quickly students picked up social science concepts and were able to
apply them to their research subject.