Based upon my work in K-12 schools in the 1900's and my work
in post-secondary teacher education over the past six years
I believe the best teaching and learning take place in a classroom
environment that encourages each student to push the boundaries
of his or her current understanding by taking part in personally
meaningful learning experiences. I strive to strike a balance
between making sure all of my students walk away from a course
with a set of common understandings (e.g. through lectures,
required reading, group discussions, etc.) and allowing them
to pursue questions of their own interest (e.g. through individual
and group inquiry/research projects) To achieve this balance
I incorporate elements of both a student-and teacher centered
pedagogy into my classroom instructional practices.
I strive to connect my teaching to my scholarship, and service
work through some unifying themes. First, as a caring intellectual
I am always committed to doing the best job I possibly can no
matter what the task. Second, I have increasingly taken the
insights from the scholarship I do in the field of social studies
and science education and connected it to my own teaching practices
and my service work. For example, one area that my scholarship
has increasingly focused on is the topic of students' epistemology
(i.e. their understanding of what knowledge is and how knowledge
is acquired). My scholarship in this area has helped me improve
my teaching by getting me to focus more on helping my students
to reflect on their own knowledge acquisition processes. It
has also helped in my service work by getting me to really appreciate
the various epistemological stances my colleagues from around
the university take when they submit teaching and research proposals
to the Faculty Development Board upon which I serve.
