Throughout history, scientific knowledge has proven remarkably successful at allowing humans to interact with their world more effectively. I believe the value and impact of science can and should extend to education, and that scientific knowledge about human learning should guide how we teach. This core value is reflected in both my teaching and my research, as I follow a systematic approach to the design of instruction and use scientific principles of learning and empirical data to inform my teaching whenever possible.
Effective instruction begins with the establishment of clear and measurable instructional objectives. Without such objectives, the effectiveness of teaching cannot be evaluated and the nature of the instruction, practice, and assessment will remain unfocused and misaligned. I try to adopt instructional objectives that will be meaningful to my students, and reflective of skills or knowledge that will serve an important function for them later in their lives or education.
One goal I try to pursue in all of my courses is for students to become critical consumers of information. In the modern “information age,” we all have unprecedented access to a virtually unlimited amount of information and verbal knowledge. Helping students understand that all of this material is the product of human behavior, and that the context in which that behavior occurred influenced the form and content of the information generated, may allow them to evaluate and utilize information in a manner that is most consistent with their personal goals and values. Likewise, I believe it is important to teach students that science has proven so successful in human society because it is expressly designed to be a social process that minimizes the influence personal motivations and biases can have on the construction of scientific knowledge.
When designing a course to support my instructional objectives, I try to be mindful of known principles of effective instruction, such as the careful sequencing of material, frequent and active student responding, and the provision of immediate feedback. Frequent assessment of student learning can also provide an indication of teaching effectiveness, as well as guide future revisions and improvements to the course. How these principles are pursued will vary according to the nature of the class, of course, and I will often seek guidance in the educational literature for methods proven effective for my circumstances. In all cases, I try to provide a fun, interesting, respectful, and active classroom experience.