Our Teaching Philosophy
- by David Elm
“For every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.”
-Mary Poppins
As I work on my classes, different themes come and go. Different ideas of how to present the material become noticed, assumed, forgotten and then noticed again. Here are some of the ideas I’ve noticed recently. (In no particular order.)
Make it fun: Make certain that you do something interesting with the material.
Bridging the Gap: To teach effectively, you must understand the material, the students and how to bring the two together.
My Golden Rule of Teaching: Teach the sort of class that you would have learned from and enjoyed when you were a student.
Alien Brain: We can assume that someone who teaches physics is at least a little weird. Do not assume that an approach to a problem that works for you in your crazy alien brain will necessarily work for the students.
Challenge the Students: Make things as clear as possible, but don’t be afraid to present material that will not be immediately obvious to some of the students. If some of the students aren’t a little confused some of the time, then the material isn’t ambitious enough.
Avoid traditional lecture style: With the exception of the true auditory learner (usually only about 1 student out of 100) not many students thrive with the traditional lecture style. The students take notes at a furious pace with no chance to reflect and often can’t read or understand those notes when they refer to them later. Instead give them a small idea, let them try it out and get comfortable, build and repeat the process.
Epiphanies: Set up situations where the student will have to have a small epiphany to solve the problem. They will enjoy the moment.