Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy is strongly shaped by two core themes: engagement and investment. I strive to create a learning environment where every student engages – with the course material, with their peers, and with me – as I believe that students learn best when they are engaged. I also work to invest in my students as partners in learning and I believe that we should work together to understand complex topics, especially due to diversity in learning types and backgrounds. The success of this approach relies on students reciprocating that investment, which isn’t always easy to do. Thus, I employ different practices that allow the engagement + investment model to manifest itself. Specifically, I work hard to get students excited about science through sharing stories about my research and my own personal experiences as a student. This allows students to see me as a human and talk openly about challenges they are facing without fear of intimidation or judgment. I work to individually motivate students to excel through a mixed use of one-on-one meetings and regular feedback on course materials, which in turn increases their confidence as they can watch themselves improve throughout a course. Finally, I use a small touch of humor in my classes to break down traditional barriers that may prevent students from fully engaging and investing in their own learning. Ultimately, through the use of these tactics, I want students to understand and realize that I care about their learning and that I am invested in creating successful educational experiences for them. These tactics are largely aligned with the “Persistence Framework” (Graham et al. 2013) which aims to enhance the student experience in STEM and encourages students to identify themselves early on as scientists.
Courses I have taught include the following:
Perspectives in Biology - Global Change Biology (Haverford College)
Invertebrate Cell Biology (Haverford College)
Advanced Lab in Biology a.k.a. "Superlab" (Haverford College)
Advanced Topics in Biology (Haverford College)
Experimental Marine Biology (Temple University)
Zoology (Lock Haven University)
Environmental Molecular Microbiology (Haverford College)