Philosophical Statement on Teaching & Learning

We begin our adventures in learning within the womb by hearing sounds, experiencing light, and sensing tactile feeling.  As a newborn, a life of discovery continues as watching “loved” ones, learning of oneself, and exploring the surroundings.  My own recollection of youthful learning came when I was four or five years old.  I remember looking in the window-wells of my family’s home in the Spring, where I found the skeletons of what I learned were toads; fragile but intact.  I proceeded to create a museum in the garage and showed them to my neighborhood friends.  The next year, I again searched the window-wells and found more skeletons.  However, when I went to get my previous year’s skeletons they had fallen apart into piles of bones.  I wondered, why!  My mom pulled out a magnifying glass and “we” looked over the bones.  What I discovered was that in the “fresh” skeletons there were strings (tendons/ligaments) that were still attached; whereas with the year-old skeletons there were none.  What happened?  I then began to learn how to use the local library to explore further.  Optimally, we learn best when we follow our curiosities that are coupled with our emotions in some way.  Capturing our own passion for learning is just the beginning of a never-ending journey in education.  With time, education, and experience we refine our learning processes.

Research helps us to focus our curiosities.  In fact, the entire process of scientific research involves applying steps of learning and reasoning through interpretation and structured observation.  At its core, research provides us a method to teach ourselves!  The challenge to unravel a mystery via research becomes a driving force, igniting one’s life passion.  My parents always taught me to share good things with others and, that discovery through learning, reasoning, and doing are wonderful experiences.  As such, I have always tried to promote an open and friendly environment where students could challenge why some procedure might not “work” as planned.  Sometimes as we discuss, usually at a chalkboard in the hallway, we would walk through the process, explore further, and try something “new”.  Being a mentor and witness to the joy of another involved in the discovery form of the learning process is euphoric!  This is one exciting aspect of research science; reasoning through discovery in a quest to understand.  I am emotionally compelled to foster and share this wonderful life of curiosity-driven learning with others.

Thus, it is a privilege to honor my own former teachers and mentors by returning to the K-12 classrooms to demonstrate and model a potential future to young students; to promote empowerment and inspiration.  I use my presentations not as formal lectures but rather more as providing seeds of knowledge to purposely foster student curiosity.  It is an amazing experience to witness students asking their curiosity-driven questions; and then see their passion grow as they get to experience some of that curiosity in active learning.  However, planting the seed is just the beginning.  That seed must be nurtured, cared for, and provided further elements to succeed.  It is my burning passion to nurture through teaching, learning, and reasoning the search for understanding which leads myself, colleagues and students to reach for new levels of academic growth.

So, what is the best method to promote learning and understanding in our students?  My answer is a blending of whatever styles are necessary to:  provide the basic factual-type information, teach the processing methods for using the information, practice the material as a function of spatial repetition promoting recognition and recall, and ultimately apply the understanding gained to begin a new exploration.  Over the years, I have truly enjoyed blending pedagogies of education that include:  Modeling Concepts, Inquiry-Based Learning, Group Exercises, Team-Based Learning, Online Post-Session Quizzes, Office Hours Study Sessions, etc.  In every course I have directed and/or taught, I have applied various aspects of these methods with positive outcomes in student learning and understanding.  Yet, it is not enough just to follow a plan.  We must also remain flexible and adjust, as needed, to best serve the needs of our learners by having compassion for the challenges that shape each individual life in the classroom.

The diversity of personal experiences in our classes can be vast.  Students come from so many different walks of life and experiences.  Some have been supported while others are struggling to have a roof over their head.  Each sits next to the other without necessarily knowing.  So that delivering the same message, in the same manner can therefore yield different outcomes.  Even though these personal challenges and emotions can be great, as educators we must be creative and find ways to move all with equity and inclusiveness to the highest level of learning and understanding.  Those who hunger for knowledge should have the opportunity to earn the academic advancement they desire.  As such, we must provide and model the material and tools to foster curiosity and embrace learning with understanding.  Lecturing may still be the best way to deliver content but embedding active learning processes within can make the material more memorable and ready to put into use.  Active learning can simply be adding a couple of questions interspersed three to four times within a lecture.  This gives the student immediate feedback on their moment-to-moment learning as well as feedback to the lecturer to ascertain if the students are understanding what is being taught.  I call them “Are you with me?” questions.  It is equally important that the teacher not become “stuck” in one method or pedagogical approach.  Self-driven, focused, life-long, active learning should be our goal but not our sole method.

Ultimately, we must continue to be vigilant and optimize our own learning of new pedagogical and technical tools to keep our lectures current and meaningful to our students.  This might mean we pick components of pedagogies, blend and implement traditional with state-of-the-art methods, guide and foster student mastery of the material with a focus on bringing the student to a consciousness of what is expected in order to give the greatest advancement in understanding.  Equally important, we must do all this while being sensitive to other’s backgrounds, cultures and difficulties.  To succeed, we as teachers must continue our own learning and personal growth to better serve our student and faculty colleagues and all humanity.  A quote from an interview with Bob Keeshan (children’s television personality ‘Captain Kangaroo’) has always rung true in my heart, "Imagination enables us to overcome disappointment."  Curiosity-driven learning is so much more than just delivering content; it is a creative interactive adventure.  Therefore, curiosity sparks imagination; imagination grows creativity; creative curiosity powers enlightened learning.  So that with our “new” enlightenment we will do far more than merely overcome disappointment.  We will change the world so that the learning adventure never ends!