Summer 2025: Math 20D, intro to differential equations

Course Website: https://sites.google.com/view/math20d/

Student Course Evaluation: link

Teaching Sample: link  (Bonus lecture given after the final)

Teaching reflection: link

My Teaching Philosophy and Evaluations: 

Pedagogical Innovation: 

I integrated project-based learning, inquiry-based learning, and concept maps in my teaching.  link

Outside of classroom, I devoted part of my time to education research and pedagogical innovation. Some of my work is reflected in my talk at UCSD Education Innovation Expo: 

Title: Emergence-Driven Concept Maps: AI-Powered Knowledge Acquisition for Personalized Learning

We built a Knowledge Acquisition System (KAS) as an innovative educational platform employing an emergence-driven approach to enhance personalized learning. Emergence, within this context, refers to the identification of non-obvious yet structurally significant connections within knowledge networks. These connections dramatically improve learners' conceptual understanding by revealing previously hidden or unappreciated relationships between concepts.

Central to KAS is an original emergence metric, mathematically defined through network theory, which quantifies the inductive power of specific concept clusters based on their connections to the broader knowledge network. Specifically, this metric selects nodes (concepts) or groups of nodes that maximize the number of structurally significant connections—particularly emphasizing long-range, cross-disciplinary, and non-linear relationships. Our structured approach provides learners with tailored pathways, enabling efficient acquisition and integration of new knowledge.

Pilot implementations with advanced mathematics students at UC San Diego confirmed KAS's potential to assist curriculum preparation and notably enhance students' comprehension and engagement.

Attendees will gain insights into:

How the emergent subgraphs enhance cognitive structure formation and uncover high‑leverage conceptual junctions that trigger “aha” moments.

Methods by which algorithms can detect and prioritize long-range conceptual links that foster “aha” moments and deep integration of knowledge.

Practical techniques for transforming traditional educational content into AI-guided learning pathways tailored to individual learners.

Teaching Papers in preparation: 

Johnny Jingze Li, “Designing your own AI: Project-based Artificial Intelligence Education” (in preparation)

Johnny Jingze Li, “Concept maps aided structured learning and learning guidance” (in preparation)

Kalyan Basu, Johnny Jingze Li, AlShinaifi, Faisal, Zeyad Almoaigel, “A Mathematical and Algorithmic Framework for Efficient Concept Acquisition by Learners” (in preparation)

My  teaching activities outside of UCSD:

In summer 2020 and 2021, I served as instructor for Project Nous, holding STEM seminars in the liberal arts style, with self-designed curriculum, for students in southwest China (Kaili, Guizhou and Hanyuan, Sichuan). My seminar focus on understanding some important concepts in science and technology in an intuitive way, through Socratic conversations, and appreciate the intrinsic beauty of them. 

I also had the honor to serve as the intructor for "Understanding Calculus", a class offered at summer 2022, TRIO Program at UCSD Extension,  targeted towards low-income, first generation students who aspire to attend college immediately after high school graduation.

I'm in pursuit of teaching that fulfills students potential to the maximum, and brings a worldview that everything is connected.