My passion is undergraduate physics education. As a teacher, my first goal is to help students connect with the material I’m teaching and to communicate my joy of the subject to them. I want my students to learn to appreciate academic discipline. More than ever, we need to graduate students who are curious, who can think critically, who have problem-solving strategies for the new questions of our age, who can work and communicate effectively in groups and who have a passion for life-long learning.
Learning happens when students are engaged. To engage students we have to meet them where they are and build bridges that allow them to venture into new territory feeling supported. I think we also must be willing to surrender some of the historical control we have in the classroom to allow for active participation, the occasional chaos of class brainstorming, discussions and debate.
I believe that the academic environment, which includes the classroom, the school, and the connections between the school and the larger community, must establish and continually model norms that value learning and high standards of integrity.