Teaching Philosophy

Teaching Philosophy

As a teacher and mentor I want to instill in my students a curiosity and appreciation for the natural world. I also want to help them both learn how to learn and how to think critically for themselves. These outcomes benefit them whether or not they plan to pursue further studies in biology because biology and science permeate every facet of modern life, and because these skills are necessary for students to be informed citizens that can positively contribute to society. To this end I have three major goals for my teaching.

Teaching Accessibly and Dynamically

In my experience students often perceive biology courses to be complex and full of incomprehensible terminology. Therefore one of my primary goals is to distill complex concepts down and make them accessible to students at all levels. Additionally, I strive to teach dynamically, presenting material through various mediums and allowing students to interact with it in many different ways (e.g. lecture, discussion, group work, videos, off-campus trips, online resources). Through my teaching experience I have come to realize that students bring with them different experiences and backgrounds, as well as different strengths and weaknesses, and that no one method will reach everyone. Having a variety of tools at my disposal allows me to respond to the unique needs of each class each semester. When I teach I also bring real world examples into the material so that students gain a better understanding of how science and biology impacts and influences their lives. By encouraging the curiosity of my students, helping them see the relevance of biology, and helping them realize how approachable the material is, students are more likely to stay motivated throughout the semester.

Teaching Students How to Learn and How to Think Critically

In their academic lives students are often served information on a platter. However in "real life" there are rarely lectures giving answers to important problems. Therefore one of my goals as an instructor is to help students learn how to learn: essentially to help them learn how to find and evaluate information. This also leads to critical thinking. In an introductory biology course this might include helping students make the transition from high school to college life by encouraging them to think about learning and their own preferred learning style. It would also include helping them learn how to find reliable websites, and how to read relevant and appropriate primary literature. For graduate courses this might include assigning students a practice data set and a broad question, and asking them to figure out how they would analyze the data to answer it. I often given open ended assignments (e.g. assignments where there are no real right or wrong answers) so that students have to evaluate information or results they obtain to determine if it's useful or convincing. Through this kind of work students have to consider diverse opinions and information from a broad array of resources. Such critical thinking skills take time and effort to develop, and in my courses I try to give my students opportunities to increase and practice their skills. Independent learning and critical thinking skills help students in every aspect of their lives, whether or not they continue their studies in biology.

Teaching as a Process of Improvement

Another goal I have as a teacher is to continually strive to improve my teaching effectiveness. I realize that teaching, like research, is never-ending journey and that there is always room for improvement. One strategy I have used to improve my teaching is to learn from the experience of others. On way I have done this is through attendance of regional teaching conferences, such as the Lilly East Conference on College and University Teaching. I have also completed the University Teaching and Learning Program through the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Maryland. This program is dedicated to helping graduate students to become better, more scholarly teachers. Through this program I have completed courses on University Teaching and Learning, received mentoring on my teaching effectiveness from faculty members, and attended many on-campus workshops. Similarly, I am participating in the Postdoctoral program on Teaching in Learning at the University at Buffalo. This program focuses on helping postdocs transition into faculty positions by discussing issues such as how to develop a syllabus and how to effectively design assessments. In addition to feedback from outside sources, I frequently ask my students for their thoughts. Most recently I have done this through a set of short, anonymous evaluations distributed every three to four weeks during the semester. Since I realize that each group of students is unique, this process of continual feedback throughout the course helped make my teaching as effective as possible for my current students, in addition to my future students.