In my view an essential element of the land-grant mission is to integrate teaching and research to develop critical thinking and inspire passion for our discipline in undergraduate and graduate students. I believe this can be achieved by the way we approach our instructional role both within and outside the formal classroom. I can summarize that philosophy in two mottos: “provide a rich learning environment” and “do no harm.”
Provide A Rich Learning Environment
My objective as a teacher is to enhance student learning by presenting subject matters in a relevant, systematic, and stimulating way, and by encouraging integration of that knowledge through discussion and experiential opportunities. Since higher levels of learning depend on sound and comprehensive prerequisite knowledge, I focus on the basics in my instruction. In my discipline of quantitative genetics, this means developing students’ skills in applied mathematics and statistics and ensuring their understanding of their significance. I encourage my students to apply their knowledge to problem solving, while allowing room for inevitable missteps along the way. I firmly believe those missteps are cardinal to their independent learning, stimulating them to become critical and analytical thinkers. Analysis should not occur in a vacuum. I therefore promote team-based exercises in which students collectively synthesize their past learning to address real-world scenarios in original ways. Such exercises also support their developing life-skills in teamwork and in oral and written communications. They also encourage students’ capacity to judge information that their classmates, other instructors and I present, to defend their own opinions, and to benefit from the critical feedback they receive. My sincere hope is that through this holistic learning environment I instill a passion for lifelong learning.
Do No Harm
On the surface, this may seem an odd motto, but I believe it is an essential one. I have learned immensely from outstanding students with whom I have had the pleasure to work over my lifetime. At times, the best thing I could do was simply to stay out of their way. I was there to encourage and support, to be available, to serve as a sounding board and advocate, but I have learned to otherwise maintain a low profile. In subscribing to this philosophy, I believe I avoid tempering such talented students’ self-motivation and aptitude as independent thinkers.