Teaching

Summary of Teaching Philosophy

I believe that education should empower students to be independent, thoughtful, and able to critically evaluate the information they encounter in society. In the service of this goal, my teaching philosophy builds on four main ideas. Firstly, teaching must be a respectful, ongoing dialogue with students. Secondly, the nature of this dialogue is adaptive, incorporating current research and inclusive of diverse backgrounds. Thirdly, this dialogue gives students ownership of their learning and thinking. And finally, learning activities should be realistic.

Teaching Experience and Expertise

I have a broad training in biology and teaching experience in a variety of topics and levels. On an organismal level, I specialize in plants, specifically bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts) and microorganisms. On a conceptual level, I am an evolutionary biologist and ecologist. In my research I use techniques from field ecology, microbiology, plant tissue culture, genetics, and bioinformatics. I have experience teaching and designing conceptual courses, laboratory practicals, and computational practicals. Teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic has also given me a lot of experience in designing online education and the creativity and media skills needed to create modules that can work for either in-person or remote learning.

In my teaching position at the Maastricht Science Programme, I coordinated the compulsory introductory biology course (covering genetics, evolution, ecology and molecular, cellular, and organismal biology), and practicals in scientific illustration, botany, plant physiology (with a focus on microbial interactions) and computational methods for analyzing microbiome data. I also led group research projects twice a year and supervised bachelor thesis and honors research projects on topics including: bryophyte diversity, bryophyte heavy metal tolerance, plant microbiomes, and science outreach. I also have experience teaching in courses on microbiology, molecular biology, biogeochemistry, evolution, ecology, and philosophy of science.

I coordinated the following courses at the Maastricht Science Programme:

BIO2003 General Botany
PRA2011 Exploring the World of Plants (laboratory practical)
PRA2019 Natural Science Illustration (technical drawing practical)
PRA3023 Plant Physiology and Microbiomes (laboratory practical)
PRA3503 Microbiome Analysis (data analysis practical)
BIO1001 Introduction to Biology

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