Teaching
The core of my teaching philosophy is that learning happens when students feel that it is relevant to their lives or the lives they want to change. For students to become interested in the subject matter, they need to feel that the information is applicable to their lives. It is also essential to expose students to new information that can potentially enhance their life experience by expanding their way of thinking about the world. Therefore, my commitment to stimulating students' interest in the subject matter and promoting deep learning is reflected in the learning goals I set for my students and the pedagogical methods I use in class. My goals and approaches also emphasize student choice, multidisciplinary learning, and societal impact.To stimulate students' interest, I emphasize the practical relevance of course material for real-world situations. Considering diverse backgrounds, I use tangible examples to make complex concepts relatable and applicable. This personalized approach fosters interest and engagement. For example, in a tissue engineering lab lesson, I related wound healing to their experiment with fibroblasts and collagen gel. This vivid example motivated students to understand skin tissue engineering and biomechanics beyond protocol-based experiments. Ultimately, my aim is for students to have a guiding question that they can answer by the end of the lesson.
Multidisciplinary and deep learning are crucial aspects of my approach. I emphasize the integration of concepts, lectures, and assignments to help students grasp the interconnectedness of knowledge. By encouraging them to explore problems from different disciplinary perspectives, I promote a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Students are challenged to formulate research hypotheses and develop solutions that consider various factors, preparing them for real-world problem-solving scenarios. Emphasizing profound issues such as variable inclusion and analytical discrepancies fosters deep learning. Designing exercises this way promotes better integration and retention of study materials.
Along with these learning goals, I also subscribe to a research-based approach to improve teaching and societal impact. Students will be given assignments that look into the current state of art technology developments, especially commercially available products. This helps them understand real-world problems and stay up-to-date with technological advances. To reinforce positive emotions in the process of learning, I create opportunities for students to demonstrate what they have learned through group projects and presentations. The collaborative learning approach can direct students through a synergy of emotional and cognitive factors and cultivate ownership of knowledge. Ultimately, students should be able to identify an unsolved problem or room for improvement in a topic of their choice, which will better prepare them for future studies or areas that work on similar problems.
In summary, my background and experiences have equipped me to continuously improve pedagogical strategies in neuroscience and biomedical engineering. I aim to create a safe, open, and warm learning environment that accommodates diverse learning needs while empowering students to identify and solve problems that align with their interests and goals.