Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy has developed over many years as a result of my varied teaching experiences. I began my career in academia as a high school teacher, and have since earned my doctorate in physics education research. While at the University of Washington, I had the opportunity to work with a variety of classrooms: small-section tutorials, large lecture halls, and workshops that were designed to support students from marginalized groups. At Cornell University, my role has involved curricular redesign, collaborative implementation, and lecturing for the Introductory Physics for Life Science courses. These experiences have helped form my philosophy around three key ideas:

(1) I use a knowledge-in-pieces framework that helps me identify what good ideas students already have and build on them. This works towards improving self-efficacy, a feeling that you can do something.

(2) I teach with activities that ask students to develop new ideas authentically, which helps to place all students on the same footing: those that are highly proficient at procedures are not necessarily better prepared.

(3) I believe that teaching physics is more than the content—we are preparing future physicists, and incorporating discussions about equity, collaboration, and communication are essential parts of that instruction.

Courses Taught

  • Foundations of Physics I — Co-Lead Instructor, Fall 2025

    Foundations of Physics II — Co-Lead Instructor, Spring 2026

  • PHYS 115 — Algebra-based E&M; Co-Lead Instructor

    PHYS 116 — Algebra-based Waves and Optics; Lead Tutorial Lecturer

    PHYS 121 — Calculus-based Mechanics; Tutorial Teaching Assistant

    PHYS 122 — Calculus-based Electricity and Magnetism; Tutorial Teaching Assistant

    PHYS 123 — Calculus-based Waves and Optics; Tutorial Teaching Assistant

  • STARS is a program with the College of Engineering at the UW. It is designed to support students that have had limited access to STEM education while honoring the strengths of the non-academic experiences, including strong work-ethic and multicultural perspectives.

    With the STARS program I taught:

    ENG 197 — Lead instructor; workshop to support STARS students co-enrolled in physics and calculus courses as part of their engineering requirement.

    STARS Physics — TA; introductory physics preparation course for first year students.

    STARS Algebra — TA; algebra preparation course for students not yet prepared for precalculus.

  • AP Physics C — Calculus-Based Mechanics

    Physics — Algebra-Based mechanics focused course

    Honors Chemistry

    Robotics

    Middle School Engineering