Rate My Professor Natalie Callan

Natalie Callan is an Associate Lecturer in Bioscience Education in the School of Medical, Molecular and Forensic Sciences at Murdoch University. Her professional activities focus on undergraduate teaching and curriculum development in biomedical sciences, physiology, and foundational science skills. She contributes to courses such as BSC100 Building Blocks for Science Students, delivering lectures on oral presentations, data interpretation, and feedback. Callan also supervises honours students in the Medical, Molecular and Forensic Sciences discipline. Previously, she was involved in Murdoch University's First Year Advisor (FYA) network, developing initiatives to support student transition and retention.

Callan's research emphasizes innovative pedagogical approaches to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes in science education. In 2023, she co-authored 'Recreating an introductory physiology unit in the Core Concepts form: helping students to think like a physiologist' in Advances in Physiology Education. The paper provides a guide for redesigning introductory vertebrate physiology curricula around Core Concepts of Physiology, with scalable changes to content, assessments, objectives, and activities. Student experiences and staff reflections highlighted improved physiological thinking. In 2026, she contributed to 'Bespoke, Relevant, and Inclusive Self-Paced, Online Modules to Build Tertiary Mathematics Engagement and Confidence,' developing targeted online modules for mathematical concepts in disciplinary contexts, offering paced practice and feedback for diverse cohorts. Earlier works include 'University First Year Advisors: A network approach for first year student transition and retention. A Practice Report' (2012), detailing a discipline-specific FYA network, and 'Three-tiered support: Individual, school and institution-wide initiatives through a first year advisor network' (2013), describing multi-level support structures. She also co-presented on 'RightNow: Modifying software to systematise and collate data from first year advisor-student interactions.' These contributions underscore her impact on science education and student success strategies at Murdoch University.