Dr. Daniel J Shafer has been teaching science related courses for the past 15 years with Lincoln Public Schools. He started his teaching career as a middle school science teacher at Goodrich Middle School where he successfully developed a unique teaching style that engaged all students through the use of inquiry-based learning and high-level questioning of students. Most recently he has been teaching Biology, Biology D, AP Biology, Microbiology, as well as eLearning courses which include many different subjects, at Lincoln East High School.
During his time in a high school setting, Dr. Shafer has seen the need for an increase in student motivation in each of his biology classes. As cooperating teacher with many preservice teachers from UNL, He has also seen the need for these upcoming teachers to understand how building relationships with students may help to increase their motivation. This need, led him to focus his own research on building relationships with students in biology classes.