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The double challenge: IMI students learn about social sciences in English
Source: | Author:IMI | Published time: 2019-01-08 | 2383 Views | Share:

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.