Teaching Philo and learning revisited

Through the reading of other teaching philosophies I noticed a few things. One of which was to be precise with what is being said. I noticed in my own that I left some general statements in there and it weakness strength of the statements. Being as precise and thorough as possible, while not being ridiculously long, should be the goal of the writing. One section that I want to add is the learning goals for the students and describing what I want them to get out of it. Rather than just the context of the class, but the skills and learning/analyzing techniques I want them to learn.

There are a few additions and adjustments to the learning definition. I stated an external stimulus is necessary, but that ma not be true. Sometimes learning could come from an internal stimulus, such as understanding something else. Another important idea is the idea of adaptation of knowledge. Adjusting what was already understand or evolving it as it is understood in more detail is important.

What is learning?

Learning is developing an understanding of an idea or concept. I think the best way to clarify this is to say what learning is not. Learning is not memorizing definitions, names, dates etc. Learning is not so much answer the what, when, where question but rather the how and why questions. An important part of learning is being able to explain what you now know, and having the explanation not be loaded with textbook definitions. Something that is known should be able to be communicated to people at different levels rather than simply repeating the words in which the information was presented.

Another way of looking at this is that you do not learn your grocery list. You write it down or memorize it. There is little critical thinking in making the list. Similarly, memorizing definitions is no different than memorizing the grocery list. A key part of the learning is critical thinking or applying the newly acquired knowledge in a different scenario. Learning is being able to relate concepts to one another and find the connections rather than just accepting every bit of information as its own, discrete unit of data.

Teaching Philosophy

The teaching position would likely consist of teaching introductory chemistry courses and analytical chemistry and physical chemistry (thermodynamics and quantum chemistry). These courses have a good deal to do with doing math and properly using equations and math skills.

Teaching Philosophy

Trent Anderson

January 11, 2012

            Tutoring for college chemistry, physics, and math has taught me that students do not enjoy a recipe method. Despite their requests for problems to be linear, students want to understand “why.” This question of “why” is difficult for students to obtain if all problems share a common core method. Students would commonly say “I don’t know how to do this,” which I would correct to “You don’t understand yet.” An instructor’s responsibility is to provide an atmosphere and the guidance necessary for students to be able to solve problems relevant to the teaching. Ideally, the students would have a firm enough understanding of the concepts taught that there would be little difficulty knowing how to apply it in a real world situation, i.e. the lab setting.

            I have a three step approach to develop the student’s understanding such that it does make sense. The first step is to inform the students. The basic, textbook definition is given to the students in a traditional PowerPoint or chalkboard lecture. The students are then told to analyze the information given and try to understand why it is how it is. Many times this is done by relating it to previous material or using the experience that students have previously. The students are given different scenarios in which the concept is used and I would guide them through some of the scenarios, slowing weaning them off of needing my assistance. The third step is to then give more difficult scenarios and the students are required to determine a) if the new information is applicable or not and b) what information would be necessary to solve the scenario.

            The three step approach is quite useful when dealing with the ideal gas law. Charles, Boyles, Gay-Lussac’s laws are introduce and then combined to form the ideal gas law. The ideal gas constant is presented as the combination of all of the constants in the previous three equations. Students are then given balloons and put into groups and told to replicate the results of relationships used to develop the ideal gas law. The gas law is then explained on the molecular level, ideally through student led discussion. This is then followed by some example problems, leading to situations in which the ideal gas law breaks down (high pressure, low temperature). The students then go into groups and try to determine what is necessary to correct the equation.

            Another important goal is for students to learn how to communicate scientific knowledge. As students understand more concepts of chemistry they will be put into groups to solve a real life problem dealing with chemistry. Groups are determined based on the educational background of the students in addition to a learning style test they take. One example of this would be having the students develop a method to remove harmful ions from drinking water. Their task would be to design something that would purify contaminated water to a drinkable level. This requires understanding of the solubility properties of the ions in addition to developing a method that would also work.

            Assessments would be done using primarily essay or working problems. Multiple choice and fill in the blank will not be allowed because it does not accurately demonstrate the students’ communication of science skills. The problems will be similar to what would be covered in class, but require connecting concepts that were not previously demonstrated in class. One example would be asking students to design an experiment to determine the properties of an unknown solution or to design a method to separate the ions in a known solution. And most importantly, critique the method that they chose.

            The best way to rate how my class is going is based on students contacting me outside of lecture. I encourage students to come to me with all sorts of questions. If the questions are about some of the assigned problems then I am happy that the students desire to understand the material. However, when a student asks problems that are beyond the lecture material then I know that they have truly embraced what I want them do obtain from lecture.

Not Intentionally Racist

I have quite a bit of background when it comes to lab assisting, however most of my experience is with primarily white, well off students. I never even thought to take into account the different ethnicity of the students. I had always taken into account the reason for white people taking science courses for the great fame and, primarily, fortune that comes with it. Yet never once did I consider an alternative reason for the few non-white students taking it.

I had prided myself on getting to know names and the superficial reasons as to why someone was taking the course, but never did I think as to the real reason for the course. I think back to the students I was a TA for last semester and how I poorly approached the reasoning as to taking the course, thus making it difficult for myself to present science in a manner that is interesting.