Teaching Statement
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My academic background centers on ecology, an interdisciplinary field that requires a strong command of environmental science, biology, statistics, geography, and environmental policy. The diversity of methodologies used in my scholarship—extensive fieldwork, statistical modelling, and lab work— is reflected in my teaching experiences and approach. I am well-positioned to teach introductory ecology, environmental science, and applied statistics courses, as well as upper-level ecology classes. For example, I would be excited teach advanced courses including conservation biology, landscape ecology, and network science. I also have experience teaching undergraduate and graduate students, seminars and lecture courses. My goal is to inspire life-long critical thinkers. I accomplish this by grounding my teaching on three interrelated core values:
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Experiential Learning
Engaging students in hands-on experiences and reflection will equip them with the critical thinking skills— and inspiration— necessary to succeed in their individual goals. In the spirit of experiential learning, I designed and instructed a project-based seminar course called Biocultural Sustainability in Madagascar, which I led for four semesters. In this course, students from several different departments worked together on semester-long, multidisciplinary project that addressed a real research challenge. Undergraduate and graduate students worked through research process, from literature review and formulating hypotheses to the basics of data analysis and science communication. To promote the development of stronger teamwork and cross-cultural communication skills, student benefited from classroom technology to ensure that our colleagues in Madagascar participated virtually. During the summer, several students also came with me to the field in Madagascar to conduct related research. The course culminated with a poster presentation where students shared their project with a university-wide audience. My work in designing and implementing this course led me to be nominated for a mentoring award in 2022 and 2023. |
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Empowering Diverse Learners
Ensuring that all students master challenging material is a teaching priority. Teaching statistics to Masters of Environmental Management students posed a challenge; statistics can often seem overwhelming to people without a mathematics background. As the teaching assistant (TA) for Masters-level statistics courses, I managed a team of TAs, held office hours, and graded assignments. I also instructed a coding section where students were empowered to analyze real-world data to learn foundational statistical skills. Students then applied their knowledge through independent project, where I helped them identify project topics that suited their individual career goals. By focusing on interesting problems and the environmental relevance of analyzing data, students expressed more motivation and aptitude. I also reached out individually to students who were struggling to ensure that they had to support necessary to succeed in the course. Further, I monitored a slack channel with the entire class (50-90 students, depending on the semester) to answer questions and foster a supportive environment for all students. Statistics and field sciences are male-dominated fields. I aim to empower women and students from other underrepresented identities in STEM to realize their full potentials. I accomplish this not only through cultivating an equitable classroom environment, but also through mentoring and a variety of other academic activities. For example, I mentor several undergraduate women/ non-binary students in research projects in North Carolina, as well as Malagasy Masters students. I am also a certified sexual harassment and assault prevention trainer, particularly for field settings; I am dedicated to leading workshops that promote safe learning environments. Graduate courses I took, especially Teaching Diverse Learners and Introduction to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism in Biology, equipped me with the skills necessary to empower diverse learners. I also participated in the Preparing Future Faculty and Certificate in College Teaching programs, which further exposed me to a diverse range of instructional philosophies and methodologies and provided me with critical feedback on my own instruction. |
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Fostering Life-Long Learners
To accomplish my goal to be an effective teacher, my focus must be student-centered; how do I promote effective learning? Empowering life-long learners requires inspiring curiosity and uplifting students. I believe that the foundation of these objectives is forming relationships with students. My ability to do this was tested during the COVID-19 pandemic, when educators across the world had to transition to remote learning. During the period of remote learning at Duke University, I was the TA for two undergraduate-level introductory environmental science courses. Both courses primarily included students who were non-majors; facilitating discussion between students was therefore particularly useful for advancing their learning goals. I incorporated technology into discussion sessions, introducing learning games and multimedia to better engage students. The course professor fostered community by incorporating physically-distanced service learning projects; I am excited to emulate her creativity and introduce service learning activities into my future teaching. In TAing the Integrating Environmental Science and Policy course, I also noticed that the ability of students to connect with the subject was hindered by outdated material. After speaking with the professor about this problem, she commissioned me and a fellow TA to develop new curriculum for the unit of human-wildlife conflict. We focused on providing resources and information that are current, highlight diverse perspectives, and center on environmental justice themes. |
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As a life-long learner myself, I am committed to staying up to date on pedagogical literature, collaborating with fellow educators, and actively listening to students so that I can cultivate effective learning environments. Moving forward, I aim to develop my skills in i) facilitating exercises that incorporate service-learning and field experiences, ii) providing innovative instruction to meet the needs of all students, including neurodivergent and disabled students in experiential learning, and iii) incorporating current events and interdisciplinary examples to empower students with tool for how to think, in addition to foundational scientific concepts. I would be excited to teach ecology, environmental science, and applied statistics courses at all levels. In all teaching, I am eager to provide learning experiences that empower future generations of diverse, life-long learners.
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