Teaching

My Objectives

My teaching philosophy has changed in the past few years, owing to my work for Florida Department of Education, and teaching at UF within the College of Engineering. While I had always believed strong content knowledge was key to successful instruction, I have modified this to; content knowledge delivered through research based instructional strategies is key to successful instruction.

In past years, I sought to deliver instruction to create “curious learners”, or students who seek out knowledge. The goal of science should be to encourage seeking knowledge, as it is in this way we advance our understanding of nature. That said, having taught many levels of students from elementary to graduate level college students, this philosophy breaks down in practice. One major constraint on science education is a push by curriculum designers to distill thousands of years of reasoned thought and critical questioning into one year, or one semester, thus damping any attempts to foster depth of thought in students. Over my twenty plus years in academia, I have sought to bridge this divide, by trying to create teaching strategies allowing students to experience how science is a process designed to understand nature.

Learning science differs from some other ways of learning in that science is a blend of logic and imagination.

While students seeking answers to questions about the natural world may come up with many imaginative hypotheses, reasoned logic comes into play when students must defend and validate their arguments. This notion of “curious learner” melded with “reasoned arguments” is my teaching philosophy, how I deliver this is through research based instructional strategies.

Let’s Talk Constructivsm

It is student-centered. Constructivism emphasizes active learning, where students construct their own understanding through experience and reflection. This allows them to build on prior knowledge and develop critical thinking skills.
It promotes deep understanding. Rather than just memorizing facts, students make connections and develop conceptual frameworks. This leads to better retention and ability to apply knowledge.
It is customized to the learner. Constructivist teachers act as guides, providing support and asking questions to help students construct meaning. This allows students to work at their own pace and in their own style.
It teaches transferable skills. The process of actively exploring, reflecting, problem-solving, and articulating ideas promotes skills that students can apply to novel situations in and out of the classroom.
It encourages social interaction. Collaboration and discussion with peers is often a key part of constructivist learning. This allows students to articulate ideas, get feedback, and be exposed to diverse viewpoints.
It connects to student interests. Constructivist activities are often designed around real-world contexts and students' own interests. This increases motivation and engagement.
It develops metacognition. Students are encouraged to think about their own learning and progress, set goals, and manage their work. This builds self-directed learning skills.

Of course, constructivist teaching also requires flexibility, support for students as they construct meaning, and assessments aligned with constructivist aims. Overall, it provides an engaging approach that can foster deep, transferable learning.

Construtivist Learning Workflow

Modeling Instructional Theory is the framework for the module design process. Modeling Instruction posits that conceptual understanding is built through 4 stages of activities - Elicit - Develop-Deploy and Refine.

The instructor first has to identify the conceptual model and the elements in the conceptual model in order to understand what elements have to be developed in students through the staged activities. The activities are then developed for students. In general, you want to have a Thematic wrapper (like a project based learning or phenomena based event) to anchor the module in the real world.

Module Workflows

To help students understand the process of laboratories and the different skills, objectives and outcomes, we create workflows for the laboratories. These help students see at a glance what types of activities they will be doing, what the assessment and products for the labs are, and the main deliverable for the modules. Modules run 2-4 weeks depending on the number of activities, and there are 4 -5 modules per semester. Labs meet once a week for three hours with a one hour lecture. A typical semester workflow is shown below.

Module set up in Canvas

To the right is the main page for the Polymer Rotation Laboratory experience for the main page. Students can navigate to the lab sections using the links in the page, or they can navigate through the modules section. Giving students different ways and formats to access information is important and the way the course looks and navigates is important to the student learning process. Below is an image of how the polymer module is set up in Canvas. Different Learning Management System (LMS) have different barriers to setting up workflows for students.

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