Although I am a professional astronomer by training I
have become rather passionate about teaching in the last few years. I thoroughly
enjoy interacting with students
and figuring out how to promote deep learning through teaching. I have also
become interested in science
education in general, attended several conferences and workshops. I have done
both research in observational
cosmology and teaching at those places, and have supervised undergraduate
students. I have taught physics at the
introductory level, but astronomy over the entire curriculum and also feel
comfortable teaching more advanced courses in observational astronomy, stellar
structure, galaxies and cosmology. I have taught liberal arts students, science majors and in-service teachers. As
opposed to telling and explaining concepts to their peers I have trained them
to ask special guiding questions to initiate discussions that facilitate the
process of learning. I believe that
learning happens most in environments where the student has to articulate his
or her own ideas, make sense of them, and construct further concepts upon
them. More details are listed in the above links.
