Teaching Philosophy

Many students tend to become disinterested in learning; often, they are tired of the constant homework and testing cycles of the standard classroom. To minimize this, I would like to design my classroom in a manner that is highly interactive and representative of science. I believe students learn best by actively engaging in a process of inquiry where they can build new knowledge based on their prior understandings and will build my classroom around this.

To motivate students to learn, I would design the classroom to challenge the way students think about the world and science. Scientists do their work not only by doing experiments, but also via critical thinking about their results. To simulate this, firstly, students would be expected to build connections between varying large concepts. Secondly, students will be provided with ideas that challenge their worldviews, which both motivates their curiosities and ensures students understand major concepts by having them grapple with difficult problems. This would be implemented via inquiry-based learning. Students will analyze major questions that scientists worked on for years, and attempt to answer them by designing experiments and observing phenomena.

To accommodate this difficulty, students will be allowed to work and discuss concepts in groups. Group interactions allow students to corroborate their ideas and build their communication skills, which is invaluable in science and in all of the world. Students speaking with knowledgeable students and students speaking to less knowledgeable students benefit from this, as well. Therefore, I will make it a goal to design my classroom around group activities that have students positively interact with each other.

Above, I had mentioned that I would design the classroom to allow everyone to feel included; other methods of inclusivity will also be taken. The biggest worry about this in the classroom is around stereotype threat, in that students will fear the negative stereotypes about them and make mistakes due to this. To circumvent this, a variety of positive role models of varying ethnicities and genders would be introduced and discussed in the classroom. Thus, students could be confident in their scientific abilities, as these role models had accomplished much regardless of what setbacks they may face because of their identity. Furthermore, activities would be designed around doing real science, allowing students to recognize that, no matter who they are, they can be scientists.

The classroom culture I would like to create is one of inclusivity and interactivity: all students should be able to work and promote scientific thought. Utilizing the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky, I hope to foster this kind of thought, and I hope to ensure that all students feel included in this through the management of any discrimination. I have only recently learned that students’ interest in science and understanding the world around them is what fulfills me, and I hope to grow that creativity in many students who can become scientists, or at the least, well-informed citizens.

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(Credits to Dr. Greg Dunn for the gorgeous brain scan.)