Teaching Philosophy |
I believe that sharing my own enthusiasm and curiosity for science helps all types of students learn science. I engage students in the sciences through evidence-based pedagogy to enhance their knowledge, understanding, and critical thinking skills. In my courses, students learn through experiential learning, flipped classroom discussions, reading and critically analyzing the primary scientific literature, orally communicating science, and engaging in real authentic research experiences. Through these pedagogical strategies, students learn both science skills and important transferable skills such as teamwork, problem solving, and communication. Finally, I believe that creating effective student-teacher relationships helps fuel a supportive and inclusive learning environment where students can feel free to explore, question, and express opinions.
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BIOSCI 310 - General Ecology
This course introduces students to the concepts and methods used in the study of ecology. I also provide an introduction into how ecology and evolution intersect. I designed this course to teach students how to critically analyze ecological and evolutionary research as well as help them understand how new knowledge is formed in ecology through a combination of individual and group class work.
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ENY 4905 - The Nature of Science
As a lead instructor, I designed this course as a Classroom-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) course (Lopatto et al. 2008). The purpose of these courses are to teach the nature of science to undergraduate students and encourage those students with an interest in science to stay in STEM. I co-instructed this course with four others, including my PI. For this iteration, we recruited students that had already completed at least one semester of research and had an independent project, so that they were ready for the next step in their science training. This class was designed to provide advanced undergraduate researchers a “capstone” experience to learn how to effectively communicate the role and importance of their existing research projects for multiple audiences. Additionally, we delivered some lessons on other nature of science topics. We published our findings on our students' learning gains in Ecology and Evolution.
ENY 2890 - Insect Research and Scientific Engagement
I was the lead designer and instructor for this iteration of CURE where we recruited first and second year STEM students. I led the development, implementation, and evaluation of the course and ensured that all instructors were prepared for the course. I led instructor meetings during the semester which included discussions on lesson planning, specific grading tasks, students concerns, and research organization. In class, I implemented the flipped classroom approach where students were assigned different types of media (e.g. videos, readings, podcasts, etc) to complete before class. Discussion and group work were done during class time. Students carried out evolutionary ecology and sexual selection research. Students collected morphometric data on two projects: the effects of novel hosts on the mouthpart plasticity and reproductive trade-offs in Narnia femorata. Both projects resulted in publications from the Miller lab.
ENY 3005L - Principles of Entomology Lab
These laboratory sections are designed to support lecture learning for the introductory entomology course. Students that take Principles of Entomology Laboratory experience an introduction to many fields of entomology such as medical/veterinary entomology, systematics, insect conservation, insect ecology, insect physiology, and more. I teach students how to identify insects, collect and curate an insect collection, dissect and identify the external and internal anatomy of an insect, perform and report on an insect related experiment, etc.
I taught both the in-person lab and the online lab and learned how to design an effective online learning experience for students that are unable to experience a live laboratory.
I taught both the in-person lab and the online lab and learned how to design an effective online learning experience for students that are unable to experience a live laboratory.
Secondary School Teacher - Advanced Placement Biology, Biology, 7th grade Life Sciences, and Integrated Science
I was the instructor of record for seven different courses (2-3 per year) as a K-12 educator. I designed and implemented curriculum for all courses as well as instructed and assessed students on major life science topics such as evolution and ecology, microbiology, cell biology, and genetics, often brand new concepts to students. I customized and scaffolded my lesson plans to meet the needs of a range of learners from honors to special needs. I was often the first instructor to introduce these key life science concepts to students, so I infused my own excitement as well as evidence-based techniques into my lesson plans to help students who were brand new to biology learn.