The Universe Belongs to Everyone

Physics has given us access to a Universe our ancestors could not even dream of. This wealth of knowledge should not be available to only a privileged few.

Current Assignment - Winter 2021: Associate Instructor (Lecturer), Physics 7A, U.C. Davis Department of Physics and Astronomy

September 2023-June 2024:
Computational Lab Teaching Assistant, U.C. Davis Department of Physics and Astronomy
Teaching assistant for new sequence of computational lab courses focused on problems in statistical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and electricity and magnetism. Delivered high-quality feedback on student submissions aimed and helping students improve their understanding of numerical techniques, software design, and the relevant physics.

August 2021-August 2022:
Associate Instructor (Lecturer), U.C. Davis Department of Physics and Astronomy
Assumed primary teaching responsibilities as instructor of record for introductory physics class of ~360 students. Prepared and delivered lectures, wrote and administered quizzes, worked with Lead Teaching Assistant to develop and implement strategies for student success in discussion laboratory setting.

October 2020-June 2021:
Associate Instructor (Lead Teaching Assistant), U.C. Davis Department of Physics and Astronomy
Assumed primary responsibility for preparing teaching assistants to teach discussion labs. Developed assessments and managed grading.

October 2018-October 2020
Teaching Assistant, U.C. Davis Department of Physics and Astronomy
Assumed primary responsibility for student learning in a hybrid discussion/lab setting. Taught all courses in the introductory physics sequence for life science students, with particular focus on the first class in the series.

March 2020-June 2020
Educational content creator, U.C. Davis Department of Physics and Astronomy
Developed and produced video content for introductory physics courses for use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Videos are available on YouTube.

August 2016-April 2018
Lab TA, Pepperdine University
Provided guidance during lab time to students taking introductory calculus-based physics and feedback on student lab reports.

August 2015-April 2018
Math and Physics Tutor, Pepperdine University
Tutor for introductory physics and math up to and including multivariable calculus. Piloted an online math tutoring room.

Last Updated: September 2020
My status at last update: Third year graduate student

I wish I had a count of the number of times someone has told me that physics was one of their least favorite courses. As a teacher, it is my goal that every one of my students finds their time in my class interesting and valuable, no matter what their background or future educational plans. Physics has a reputation for being challenging, even among students who are used to the kind of thinking associated with the natural sciences. It is my firm belief that this is not a unique property of physics, but rather a result of poor pedagogical practices that obscure the unparalleled beauty of the physical word behind pedantic examples and mathematical formalisms. At this point in my career, my primary teaching focus is on introductory physics for life science students, so that is the primary perspective I am writing from. 

Teach Physics, not Math

Physics is the most mathematical of the natural science disciplines. However physics is not math. Instead, physics is a set of principles that describes the behavior of the natural world, and these principles are most precisely expressed mathematically. It is true that no physics course can be considered complete without the introduction of some mathematical formalism. However this mathematical description is just that: a description. It is not the only relevant way of thinking about a particular phenomena, and should generally not be the way that beginning students are introduced to a topic. When teaching introductory physics to students not planning to continue in the field, it makes little sense to spend large amounts of time and energy focusing on formal, mathematical problem solving skills, since most students will forget those skill shortly after they are done with the course. Instead, this kind of introductory physics should focus on providing students with the tools to reason about the world physically in every day circumstances. These mental tools do not require sophisticated mathematics. For example, understanding the basic principles of conservation of energy does not require the student to understand what kind of energy is involved, much less how to represent that energy mathematically. Students should be encouraged to try to apply these principles to situations in their everyday life, with the goal of developing intuition about the way the physical world behaves. Students who progress further in physics should be introduced to more rigorous mathematical descriptions, but only once the basics are firmly established.

Preserve the Wonder

Physics may be hard, but physics is also mind numbingly amazing. Unfortunately, this often gets obscured by introductory courses that focus too much on hyper-idealized problems where the principles of physics can be applied precisely (which is to say, mathematically). . This gives students the impression that physics is all about the mundane, when in reality physics underpins our understanding of some of the most fascinating phenomena nature has to offer. Furthermore, Our scientific understandings underpin much of the modern world. Unfortunately, this is generally not well communicated to beginning students. As someone who studies astrophysics, I have never met a person who is not fascinated by the Cosmos, so long as they are not presented in an overly-detailed way. Even if students cannot precisely apply physics to these more sophisticated examples, introducing them is worthwhile. Most importantly, they tend to be exciting to students, and this excitement can help drive student learning. Furthermore, it serves the overarching learning goal of providing students with the ability reason about the world physically.

Recognize the unique background of every student

I wish it were possible for me to get to know each of my students well. Doing so would allow me to tailor my teaching style to communicate with each of them most effectively. Practically speaking, the realities of higher education make this nearly impossible in most classes. However I am committed to recognizing, at all times, the essential humanity of each of my students, and the ways in which their diversity of experience inevitably leads to a diversity of learning styles.  Some of these differences are related to the material itself. Each student brings a different level of intuition, knowledge, and ability about core math and physics concepts into a classroom, a fact which inevitably affects their performance in the class. Furthermore, there are external factors at play in ever student’s life that affects their experience in any classroom, including the physics classroom. Students will perceive me, their classmates, the learning environment, and even the material differently depending on their unique background. Furthermore, the realities of a student’s personal life can have profound impacts on their ability to process, retain, and apply new information. As an instructor, I believe it is important for me to recognize these facts, and make reasonable accommodations where appropriate. 

Rethink traditional assessments and grading

Quizzes and exams have a long history in western education, but they suffer from a number of significant flaws. Demanding that students be able to reproduce knowledge in a highly controlled, low resource environment, often leads to students prioritizing cramming large amounts of knowledge into their head for a short period of time and then discarding it, rather than sitting with and thinking deeply about the implications of that knowledge. Furthermore, it tends to advantage some students over others for reasons that have nothing to do with actual knowledge of the material, and causes students undue stress. While there are some professions where rote knowledge is a necessary component, most students will not end up in these professions, and those that do will have plenty of opportunities to practice this skill in their training. Because of this, it is my belief that assessment in higher education needs to be fundamentally redesigned. Part of my job as a teacher is to assess my student’s learning progress. This is a two-way street, allowing me to both provide students with feedback to guide their learning, and collect data that allows me to adjust my teaching. Higher education, in my opinion, should be focused on providing students with the tools to be lifelong learners, and traditional grading practices do very little to promote this. An example of an alternative assessment strategy would be asking students to write a page about a real-life phenomena and how physics can be applied to understand it. This solidifies a students understanding of the concepts, while encouraging them to apply it to the real world, directly in line with the way the student is likely to encounter physics outside the classroom. These kinds of assessments take a similar amount of time to grade as traditional assessments, and are likely to be less anxiety provoking for the students. These kinds of assessment strategies are still not particularly mainstream in academia, but have been gaining traction. It is my hope that these trends continue, and that these new assessments are grounded in the most current research about student learning.

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are entirely my own (with input from all those who have impacted my life) and do not represent the beliefs of any other individuals or organizations I am associated with. Furthermore, these beliefs represent the state of my thinking at a particular point in time, and are in no way meant to be my last word on the subject. I am committed to lifelong learning, and I have no qualms about being “wrong” so long as I am regularly revisiting an issue. If you have a problem with something I’ve said, and are willing to have a discussion about it, don’t hesitate to get in touch.