teaching

Mathematics is best learned together and in context. It is important to me that students know:

  • Why they are in my classroom,

  • how they are being evaluated, and

  • why their classroom and/or syllabus is set up the way it is.

Below, you will find some of the courses I have taught and relevant syllabi and evaluations. Note that teaching evaluations have been repeatedly shown to carry a significant amount of bias (see, for example, this study for gender bias, and this study which considers racial/ethnic bias). I encourage you to view these with a critical eye.

Teaching @ U(M)

*Inquiry-based Learning; see section below

Teaching @ IUPUI

Many of the classes that I taught at University of Michigan were taught in an inquiry-based learning (IBL) style. This is a classroom where lecture time is kept to a minimum. Instead of listening to lecture, students work on a carefully crafted and scaffolded set of exercises that help them engage with the material they are trying to learn. For a nice overview of this style, see this article by Dr. Hanna Bennett. Some

  • Studies suggest that this style of learning produces better results when compared with traditional classrooms, however

  • students appear to feel like they've learned less in spite of testing better [Study] (this study was pointed out to me by Dr. Jenny Kenkel.)

Resources for IBL classrooms can be found at the U(M) Center for Inquiry-Based Learning. The center is closely connected with many of the outreach activities you see on my outreach page.