Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy has developed over many years as a result of my varied teaching experiences. I began my career in academia as a high school teacher, and have since earned my doctorate in physics education research. While at the UW, I had the opportunity to work with a variety of classrooms: small-section tutorials, large lecture halls, and workshops that were designed to support students from marginalized groups. These experiences have helped form my philosophy around three key ideas:

(1) I use a knowledge-in-pieces framework that helps me identify what good ideas students already have and build on them. This works towards improving self-efficacy, a feeling that you can do something.

(2) I teach with activities that ask students to develop new ideas authentically, which helps to place all students on the same footing: those that are highly proficient at procedures are not necessarily better prepared.

(3) I believe that teaching physics is more than the content—we are preparing future physicists, and incorporating discussions about equity, collaboration, and communication are essential parts of that instruction.

Courses Taught

  • PHYS 115 — Algebra-based E&M; Instructor of Record

    PHYS 116 — Algebra-based Waves and Optics; Tutorial Lecturer

    PHYS 121 — Calculus-based Mechanics; Tutorial Teaching Assistant

    PHYS 122 — Calculus-based Electricity and Magnetism; Tutorial Teaching Assistant

    PHYS 123 — Calculus-based Waves and Optics; Tutorial Teaching Assistant

  • STARS is a program with the College of Engineering at the UW. It is designed to support students that have had limited access to STEM education while honoring the strengths of the non-academic experiences, including strong work-ethic and multicultural perspectives.

    With the STARS program I taught:

    ENG 197 — Lead instructor; workshop to support STARS students co-enrolled in physics and calculus courses as part of their engineering requirement.

    STARS Physics — TA; introductory physics preparation course for first year students.

    STARS Algebra — TA; algebra preparation course for students not yet prepared for precalculus.

  • AP Physics C — Calculus-Based Mechanics

    Physics — Algebra-Based mechanics focused course

    Honors Chemistry

    Robotics

    Middle School Engineering