Teaching Innovation Fellowship

Overview

During the 2025-2026 academic year, I had the honor of becoming a member of the Math Teaching Innovation Fellows. The goal of the fellowship was to implement pedagogical innovations in the lecture and discussion section of a course in the Calculus sequence, in order to improve student engagement and learning outcomes. For both the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 semesters, I was the instructor of record for a single small-section (35 students in fall, 34 in spring) class of Multivariable Calculus. I was responsible for delivering two 75-minute lectures and running one 50-minute recitation/discussion section each week.

My approach to achieve the goals of the fellowship involved three key objectives: 

1. Collecting consistent feedback from my students about their understanding of the material.

2. Having students work together on problems every class meeting.

3. Challenging students with difficult problems that require critical thinking and synthesis of the material.

Every lecture ended with a Think-Pair-Share activity. Students worked on the problems individually at first, then discussed them with their neighbors, and then we discussed the solutions as a class. The Think-Pair-Share also always included a question asking students about their understanding of the lecture and any questions they have.

The discussion sections consisted of small-group activities that challenged students with difficult problems that required them to work collaboratively. The activities often incorporated technology to visualize multivariable functions and carry out laborious calculations.

Selected Comments from Student Experience of Teaching (SET) Surveys:

Fall 2025

"I liked the think– pair– shares at the end because it summarized what we learned at the end of class." 

"The lectures were incredibly helpful! Making available the the 'completed' slides to HuskyCT was very much appreciated. Think–pair–shares were a good way to reflect on and focus in on what topics of the material presented in class would need further review. The "polling" for the correct answer for the given "Think–pair–share" felt a good way to encourage engagement by the entire class." 

"Discussion assignments (and in particular the visualization of course materials in applications such as GeoGebra) were helpful to learning—though at times difficult to fully complete (which was not necessarily intended)." 

"Discussion was helpful and was used as a way of applying what we had learned in lecture throughout the week more in depth than in–class assignments or even some homeworks." 

Spring 2026

"Yes, [the think-pair-shares and activities] assisted in my understanding of the material and aided in my active comprehension, not just taking notes without understanding the actual meaning of what I was writing down."

"I think [the think-pair-shares and activities] were extremely helpful and conducive of how I learned in this class."

"Yes, the activities in discussion certainly helped to deepen my understanding of the lecture material."

"I really appreciated the TPS. It gave me a perspective on what kind of questions I could expect on the exams or weekly quizzes."

Sample Materials