My goals
To foster creative, curious life-long learners
To help students navigate and succeed in academic environments
To support students as they become engaged members of their discipline/profession, and active participants in our democratic society
My approach
Regardless of the content, my classes almost always contain the following elements:
- Time for reflection about previous experiences that might help the learners connect to the class content
- Opportunities to make observations and ask questions
- Group discussion, either in smaller groups or pairs, or as an entire class
- Question asking to encourage deeper reflection and activate curiosity
- Applied or hands on activities that reinforce or build on class concepts
Curiosity
I have found through my work that the most lasting learning comes when I can activate a sense of genuine curiosity in learners. Though it is not always possible given my often limited time with students, I try to build in opportunities for students to follow paths that interest them. This often leads me to ask many questions of my students, to integrate their own observations and thinking into the conversation. By encouraging exploration of underlying structures, I aim to peak student curiosity and desire to find out more.
The importance of information literacy
In order for our democracy to function, we need engaged and informed citizens who can reason through difficult problems, integrate often contradictory conditions, and exist in diverse communities. I play a small part in supporting active citizenship, though we may never discuss it explicitly in my classes. The same skills that help students make sense of complex and contradictory information from the academic literature will help them choose which issues are important from a sea of competing priorities. The motivation to fix a problem using the best information available translates into addressing societal problems that previously seemed untouchable. Developing a strong sense of how and why new knowledge is created, and who creates it, can help students build their immunity to spurious and manipulative information. While I may not see the process through to the end given my limited contact with students, the potential for impact nonetheless informs the choices I make in the classroom.
All images from a backpacking trip I took along the Hoh River Trail, Olympic National Park (WA) in 2018
