Teaching Philosophy |
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My own experiences in the classroom have been largely determined by a
fundamental interaction between an instructor and myself: does the
instructor excite my interest in their subject? Building that kind of
relationship is hard to do in a large lecture-hall setting. In my own
academic career, I have most recently been a member of the 'hands-on'
tutorial system of the University of Oxford. While tutoring biochemistry
for St. John's College first-year chemistry students, I have been able
to participate in the ultimate small-group experience where the
undergraduates have a single mentor at your disposal for a given
topic, in addition to lectures. Whereas lectures can present a large
body of information efficiently, a tutorial bolsters the confidence of
the student and simultaneously makes the information (as the instructor)
accessible in ways unavailable in the larger setting. In this setting all
of the students are treated equally as well as vocally: everyone has to go to
the Board, even me. This removes any sense of embarrassment. Lecturers
(myself included) have a tendency to be akin to bus-drivers: both have
a schedule to keep, and keeping an ever-tardy lecture-based coach on
schedule with a syllabus can require a firm hand. Thus, supplementing
the lecture format with tutorial sessions leads to another way for
students to learn, as they are put in the driver's seat instead.
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Teaching Interests |
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My own research and teaching interests reflect this urgent sense of
multi-disciplinary science. In the realm of biological chemistry,
hybridization of technologies and fields are leading to new avenues of
learning. For example, contemporary bioinorganic chemistry is composed
of researchers who are concerned with multi-faceted topics requiring
the manipulation of synthetic, computational and coordination chemistry,
spectroscopy, surface science, protein chemistry, molecular and cellular
biology, and information science. Laboratories, as practical classrooms,
must reflect this diversity, as well as challenge equally diverse
students to explore the many faceted realm of modern chemistry. As such,
I like to pursue these interests in the fields of Bioinorganic Chemistry,
Introductory Biophysical Chemistry, and Biochemistry classes.
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