Teaching philosophy
My teaching philosophy starts at ensuring future success for students: I want each student to leave my class with an expansive toolset allowing them to be effective communicators and independent thinkers; and develop a casual mastery of problem solving techniques dictated by the scientific method to address their current and future problems. While learning physics, it is easy for students to become more concerned about getting to the correct answers rather than developing skill sets. My goal is to provide students with an intuitive understanding of problems they have yet to experience both inside and outside the classroom. Through effective pedagogy, I have helped students and my peers grow their self confidence and success in presenting their knowledge in an efficient manner.
Equity and diversity in the classroom are important, both for me on a personal level and the future growth of STEM careers. My fair, down-to-earth teaching style ensures a supportive and inclusive environment for students of all backgrounds to empower themselves with the skills and knowledge they desire. Being particularly mindful of underrepresented students in STEM that potentially needed extra support, I have always reached out to all my students offering additional mentorship for their careers and education, as well as flexibility in class deadlines with their personal schedules. Several students have requested this support, allowing me to develop tools to become an ally in the classroom. I will continue to ensure a psychologically safe environment for all students and colleagues by using the training I received as a Respectful Workspace advisor from the omsbuds office at European Southern Observatory.
Teaching and Mentoring Experience
During my graduate studies at the University of Victoria, I taught the introductory lab component for the core astronomy program courses to over 100 chemistry, engineering, physics, and astronomy major students across 11 semesters. While teaching these labs, I developed Python software to remove menial tasks and shift the focus on evaluating the techniques and software. I frequently provided optional Python-oriented versions of the labs for keen students to expand their programming skills. All of these resources were integrated into the lab manuals, such that the labs will improve the students computing skills. Near the beginning of my teaching experience, I obtained a teaching fundamentals certificate from a trained Teaching Assistant Consultant (TAC), gaining skills on how to ensure my classroom supports all types of learning styles. I also requested the TAC to evaluate my teaching during one of my classes. From both students and the TAC evaluation, I consistently received high rankings and positive feedback on my engagement of the class with open-ended questions, my support of student questions by helping them solve problems themselves, and fairness in marking. The positive and friendly environments that I developed in the classroom allowed me to mentor students on career advice as they applied for both summer jobs as well as graduate programs. During my postdoctoral experience, I continue to mentor and train undergraduate and graduate students in topics of astronomy, numerical analysis, and software development by offering month-long research projects, delivering lectures with self-developed hands-on programming exercises, and supervising masters students at the Universidad de Chile.
In addition to teaching, I supported my peers in their presentation skills. I frequently ran mock defenses for fellow graduate students, where I acted as one of their committee members by reading parts of their thesis and providing realistic questions during the practice defense presentations. In addition, I kept detailed notes on the timing and effectiveness of their defense presentation to provide constructive feedback on balancing the timing and their delivery. My peers found these mock defenses helped calm their nerves, improve their presentation skills, and prepare them for unexpected questions from their examining committee. Furthermore, I provided constructive feedback during our weekly graduate student presentations, where I was recognized for supplying the most useful feedback for two years.
Engaging and tailored learning
Support for future success begins at providing detailed, constructive feedback for improving students’ future work. My grading rubric for my classes was designed to evaluate the student’s ability to synthesize information, accurately assess the strengths and limitations of their method with emphasis on error analysis, and communicating effectively the context of their results to the big picture. At the beginning of the semester, I circulated the rubric and discussed its details, highlighting the goals that were meant to be achieved by the student. With the clear and structured rubric staying fixed across the semester, the grading remained fair and provided opportunity for the students to develop their writing skills. My lengthy, detailed feedback on each lab report focused on reinforcing the key ideas that were misunderstood, while suggesting improvements tailored to each student’s individual needs. My students frequently commented that their writing skills in other classes had improved as a result of my feedback.
Each of my labs began with a 5-10 minute presentation, discussing common pitfalls from the previous lab, providing a brief background on the goal of the week’s lab, and ending with open ended questions on how the students would design an experiment to test the theories presented. I focused most of the discussion on the error analysis techniques, in particular understanding the sources of both systematic and random errors in their methods. I required students to discuss in their reports how these sources of error could be reduced, and encouraged students to develop different methods during the lab to overcome these sources of error and providing additional marks in their report for their novel ideas.
Within the classroom, I encouraged students to work closely with their peers. This friendly environment challenged more capable students throughout the semester to assist and teach their fellow peers, providing new insights and ways of approaching problems. To encourage independent thought when students had questions for me, I frequently answered by rephrasing their question from a different perspective, or would ask an open-ended question on their logic. My teaching evaluations over the years suggests this method of interaction provided students with a sense of achievement and increased self-confidence on reaching the final solution themselves.
Using optional 5-minute breaks between task each week, I hosted Q & A sessions about a topic of astronomy, or shared more modern result of the classical techniques being used in the lab to ensure the lab remained connected beyond the scope of their work. Students used this opportunity to learn new things they were not gaining in the classroom, providing a tailored learning experience for each student to stay engaged with the material.
Beyond the classroom
Beyond the academic environment, I am a Canadian Curling Association certified coach for both casual and competitive curlers. During my training and teaching experience, I have instructed over 300 new curlers within 30 minutes before playing their first game to ensure they return to the sport. For novice curlers, I evaluated their skills and provided practice drills to reinforce and improve their game. During my competitive coaching certification, I developed practice plans, integrating drills to improve my players’ skills with team-building exercises. The methods and experiences I have had in teaching curling are seamlessly transferred into my classroom, where I ensure students are engaged and interested by short yet effective presentations, evaluating and providing pointed feedback catered for individual needs, and supporting a diverse and fair environment where classmates can learn, work, and support each other together.
I engaged in physics and astronomy outreach on a weekly basis within a casual setting. As part of several golf and curling leagues, I interacted with the public with diverse knowledge and experiences who frequently had questions about new discoveries, space, my research, or why physics and astronomy research is important. I quickly developed tools for effectively explaining the complex ideas through analogies and example in engaging discussions throughout the games.