Teaching Philosophy
As a methodologist, I have learned the importance of teaching students how to think, rather than just teaching them how to do statistics. For example, students often bring me output and say “I covered this in a class, but I don’t know if I did the right analysis or what these results mean.” In some cases, these students learned the material, but forgot it as soon as the class ended - the “core-dump phenomenon” (Grolnick & Ryan, 1987, p. 891). In other cases, they remember how to do the analysis, but they never thought about why they were doing it. Therefore, whether I am teaching a course, serving on a dissertation committee, or mentoring students, my primary objective is the same: to promote long-term, conceptual understanding of the material. Specifically, I want my students to be able to articulate clear research questions, determine the practical implications of research findings, clearly communicate with different audiences, and evaluate “facts” that they read or hear. Drawing on research about strategies that facilitate student learning, I accomplish my objectives by: (1) involving students in their own learning; (2) encouraging metacognition; and (3) promoting students’ intrinsic motivation for learning.
Grolnick, W.S., & Ryan, R.M. (1987). Autonomy in children's learning: An experimental and individual difference investigation. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 890-898.
Grolnick, W.S., & Ryan, R.M. (1987). Autonomy in children's learning: An experimental and individual difference investigation. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 890-898.
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