A graduate course in geohydrology resulted in greater learning of calculus than I had experienced previously. It was something of an 'aha' - a lake might be like an organism and act as a physiological system. As a result, we might design a way to sample it and take its pulse - see how it is doing. And those chemical measurements - they could have real meaning beyond a test tube. I can't overstress the potential impact of a research experience on a meaningful problem at a formative state in development.
Scientists approach a problem by asking questions.
The importance of audience I spoke about at a PKal F21 National Assembly three years ago and later described in a column for the AWIS Magazine. My experience was being literally thrown into a new class for non-majors that no one had taught before and for which there were no texts as my first teaching assignment as a faculty member. There was nothing to lean on and perhaps all for the better. I focused on meeting the students where they were and helping them learn something about aquatic systems. I tried every technique I knew and invented new ones, experimenting in nearly every session, trying to be attuned to where they were and what might come next.