Peter Alan Todd

Peter Alan Todd

Vice Chair

In my lectures and tutorials, I try to provide a stimulating but relaxed atmosphere where students can take risks and make mistakes. A stress-free and fun classroom that has plenty of activities and interaction is fertile ground for creative thought. Innovation, ingenuity, and originality are all highly prized attributes in contemporary society, and university is probably the last chance students will have to develop their creativity in an educational context. I hope to use this opportunity to cultivate curiosity and imagination in students so they can readily adapt to an increasingly dynamic world.

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Biodata

Peter Todd in an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences where he runs the Experimental Marine Ecology Laboratory. He studies a range of tropical coastal ecosystems and his findings contribute towards both fundamental knowledge as well as informing conservation priorities. His research is interdisciplinary—synthesising elements of biology, geography, and engineering to answer ecological questions. He is particularly interested in the impacts of human activity and urbanisation on the marine environment.  

 Peter is the Director of the Bachelor in Environmental Sciences programme and the Coordinator of the Minor in Aquatic Ecology. He is also a Programme Committee member for the Masters of Environmental Management. He joined the Teaching Academy in 2014 and became Vice Chair in 2020.   

Teaching Awards / Accolades

  • Faculty Teaching Excellence Award (2010/2011, 2011/2012, 2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2015/2016)
  • Annual Teaching Excellence Award AY2014/15
  • Faculty Teaching Excellence Honour Roll (AY2016/17-2018/19)
  • Faculty Teaching Excellence Award (2019/2020)

Pedagogical Publications:

  1. Todd, P.A. and Yeo, D. (2012). Are we assessing our students too continuously? CDTL Brief. Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning, National University of Singapore, 15 (3): 11-15
  2. Todd, P.A. (2011). Bringing statistics into biology classes. CDTL Brief. Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning, National University of Singapore, 15 (2): 5-9
  3. Todd, P.A. (2009) Using an electronic classroom response system to facilitate quizzes, activities and games (QAG) in a large class scenario. CDTL Link. Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning, National University of Singapore, 13: 14-17.
  4. Todd, P.A. (2009) Testing for camouflage using virtual crab prey and human ‘predators’. Journal of Biological Education,43: 81-84. [2009 Impact Factor = 0.360]
  5. Todd, P.A. (2007a) Experience (s) in creating distance learning texts. Bioscience Education, 10-3
  6. Todd, P.A. (2007b) Using quizzes, activities and games (QAG) to engage and motivate biology students. Experiments in Pedagogy: Selected papers from PDP-T Programme. Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning, National University of Singapore, 2: 61-69.
  7. Todd, P.A., Yeo D.C.J., Chou L.M and Tan H.H. (2006) Field course fundamentals: To generalise, specialise or compromise? CDTL Link. Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning, National University of Singapore, 10: 1-3.