Primary Teaching Philosophy

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The primary teaching philosophy I espouse in every class is that students reach the pinnacle of university scholarship when individuals can take what they've learned, step up to the lectern, and teach their peers. The three successive pillars which support this philosophy are using relevant examples to place classical scientific knowledge within a comfortable conceptual framework, encouraging interactive participation in lieu of passive rote memorization, and providing students the opportunity to practice presenting from a position of authority.
Using and inviting examples to demonstrate scientific concepts place esoteric facts within a familiar physical or social context. It is also succinct: I could spend three minutes explaining the principles of latent heat …show more content…

I then ask if the student could not provide something more original or current. They do, surprising me again with their creativity.
Encouraging participation allows students to feel like contributors rather than spectators.
During lectures, I often engage student volunteers. When teaching descriptive statistics I ask for one representative from each gender and hair color to stand and count their condemographic associates still seated in the classroom. Or after explaining autoimmune theory I will have members from the student body role play as heroic, defending B-cells or T-cells battling a viral invasion; I reserve the villainous role of the pathogen for myself. Participatory activities go hand in hand with labs which will either introduce or reinforce concepts learned during lecture depending on scheduling vagrancies. I am a firm believer in establishing a class wide

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