Through teaching, I aspire to develop students into scientific thinkers. Accordingly, I have adopted a developmental perspective in my teaching, in which I flexibly adjust my methods to students’ current understanding of a topic, challenging them to grow their knowledge. I have a three-fold strategy to reach this goal: 1) I use problem-based learning, which requires students to learn course material en route to solving open-ended problems; 2) I challenge students to set realistic goals in their learning and emphasize my confidence in their ability to reach those goals; and 3) I use inclusive teaching strategies to make my classroom a safe and fair environment for everyone to learn.
Problem-based learning is an active learning technique which challenges students to integrate their prior knowledge with new learning, often seeing material in a different light. While teaching Introduction to Cognitive Psychology at the University of Iowa, I asked students to design an experiment to answer a theoretical question. In this exercise, students gain a deeper understanding of the theory in question and its importance in the literature, as well as develop critical thinking skills through practice in experimental design. Thus, students must integrate knowledge across multiple topics (e.g., experimental design and theoretical concepts) and transfer that knowledge to the current problem. Once they have shared their designs and critiqued fellow students’ designs, I share the experiment that researchers actually ran to answer the question, highlighting the similarities and differences in what the researchers and students thought was the best experimental design. Over the course of the semester, I have seen students become more confident in both their theoretical knowledge and their ability to design an experiment to answer a specific question.
I provide learning goals for students at the beginning of class for two reasons: to help them organize their notes in preparation for the exam and to provide challenging but attainable goals for students in each class. Giving students challenging but attainable goals shows them that I am confident that they can achieve these goals and master the material. Additionally, providing students with learning goals for each class shows them that they are in control of their success in the class and with the material. While I provide learning goals for students at the beginning of each class, I also aim to meet individually with students each semester to help them form their own realistic goals for the semester. I ask students to look critically at the syllabus and topics for the semester and think about what topics would be most useful in their future classes and careers, increasing the relevance of the class material to their futures. Then while meeting with students, I ask them which topics they are most interested in learning and why, and discuss how they can set goals for themselves that reflect learning those topics to the best of their ability. For example, one of my students in Research Methods and Data Analysis I needed to learn how to complete a regression analysis for their research in a faculty lab. I helped them create the attainable goal of first thoroughly understanding correlations, then building on that knowledge to understand regression analyses. Creating their own goals requires students to think metacognitively about the material and how they will learn it. They can then evaluate their progress towards their goals throughout the semester and adjust their study strategies to get closer to their goals.
Inclusive teaching strategies benefit all students, especially students from underrepresented minorities and students with physical or mental disabilities. I have been trained in Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which takes the learning accommodations that are essential for some students and makes them available to all students by providing multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression to students. Thus, UDL makes learning accessible for all students by engaging them in the material in different ways, presenting the material in multiple formats, and giving students options for expressing their knowledge. When I taught Research Methods and Data Analysis I virtually, students were given multiple options for participation, for example students could unmute themselves, post in the chat, or annotate my slides to answer questions. I saw a significant improvement in participation rates when giving multiple methods for participation compared to when students were required to unmute themselves to participate. Most significantly, students who felt uncomfortable sharing their thoughts with the class could message me privately to participate, and I could then share their contributions anonymously.
The Psychological and Brain Sciences Department at the University of Iowa has recently implemented a belongingness intervention, studied by Kevin Binning, in core psychology courses to close the achievement gap between students in the majority and students from underrepresented minorities. The belongingness intervention aims to show students that it is common to initially struggle in the class and still be successful in it through written stories from prior students. This intervention has been shown to be successful in closing the gap. While I have not had the opportunity to use this intervention yet myself, I plan to use it in the first week of my future classes so that students recognize that they belong in this class, and they can succeed in it. Thus, the classroom will become a safe space to take risks in learning, such as responding to a question when one might not be entirely confident in the answer.
My developmental perspective involves utilizing problem-based learning, personalized learning goals, and inclusive teaching strategies to turn students into scientists. To further my pedagogical knowledge, I have completed two teaching courses, I have participated in four workshops on teaching strategies, and I am an active member of the informal Teaching Group in the Psychological and Brain Sciences department at the University of Iowa. In this group, we discuss current issues in our classrooms and recent teaching-oriented articles for solutions to those issues. I have refined my teaching skills during my experiences as a teaching assistant for Introduction to Cognitive Psychology and Research Methods and Data Analysis I at the University of Iowa both virtually and in-person.