My Philosophy of Mathematics Education

There is often real power to be leveraged when a scientific problem is view through lens of mathematical formalism, and undeniable beauty to be found in the subject’s rich complexities. Mathematics education is about conveying both of these aspects, and in doing so, providing students with an empowering and transformative educational experience. Such an experience not only provides students with applicable skills, but inspires genuine interest in the subject and in a life of critical inquiry.

Courses Taught at Pacific University

Active Learning and Peer-Instruction via Clickers

My pedagogy is rooted in the belief that learning occurs when students:

  1. Actively engage in the educational process, and
  2. Interact positively with content, with classmates, and with their instructor.

I seek to create a classroom environment that fosters  both active engagement and positive interactions by incorporating in-class activities, group projects/labs, and the use of a personal response system (a.k.a.  clickers) into my courses. Specifically, in my Elementary Statistics course, I have embedded clicker questions throughout my lecture slides, providing periodic students with opportunities to discuss concepts and providing both students and me with important real-time feedback on student understanding. My use of clickers is modeled largely after the peer-instruction strategies championed by the Harvard physicist, Eric Mazur. In the future, I intend to incorporate clicker questions into my lectures in other courses as well.