Teaching Approach

Obviously, apart from the context itself and the expertise in the related fields, there are other essential components of successful teaching like personality, enthusiasm, versatility, appreciation of the importance of outreach, and most important a relation of understanding between the lecturer and the students.

Apart from the previous, I think that it is crucial to provide students with a working knowledge of physical systems and to teach them problem-solving skills for building upon this knowledge. Teaching a person to think analytically is at the core of what a student should take away from any science or mathematics course. For students not majoring in physics/math, it is important to teach them how science affects their daily lives and how to make informed decisions about it based on the information available. For physics/math majors it is crucial to teach them the knowledge pertinent to their course of study and how scientists solve difficult problems using approximation, computational, and other quantitative methods. These important tools are invaluable to future researchers because they aid in the careful design of experiments and in determining the predictions of a model or theory. I would also strive to cover a range of topics in my courses. This would enable me to teach an array of different methods for approaching physical problems and to demonstrate how similar approaches can be applied to problems from disparate fields. Furthermore, being a theoretician, I am well suited to teach physics majors how to construct theories and models, to derive predictions from these models, and to test these predictions against empirical data they have collected from the literature or obtained in the laboratory.

From my experience, I learned the importance of engaging students through examples and of pitching material at a level that assumes intelligence but not necessarily knowledge, blending the known with the unknown in a combination that gives the student the feeling of possibility rather than that of impossibility that formal and impressive methods may impose. I would also enjoy teaching introductory physics courses. Although it is often challenging to teach introductory students, it is a challenge I thoroughly enjoy. Preparing lectures and solution sets forces me to communicate fundamental ideas in simple terms and to think deeply again about some of the most basic principles in physics and math.








During my graduate school period, I had the chance to become familiar with the system of tutorials that some of the British universities offer. This much more personalized system provides the opportunity of outside-of-the-classroom discussion and interaction which are a crucial part of the learning process. Many students who are reserved in class, ask excellent questions in smaller settings and thus, learn much more. I greatly value the instruction and mentorship I received while in college and feel strongly about providing quality education to current and future students.

In regards to teaching international students, I am aware and over the years I have used a number of strategies in order to make classroom management and lesson delivery more effective. For example, I always communicate classroom expectations and policies clearly from the beginning of the course. I always try to speak clearly and be concise in my instructions (verbal or written), provide vocabulary at the beginning of a new topic and allow students to use a dictionary and other equipment that would assist them in the learning process. I always encourage students to make use of office hours and make course materials available in print and on the electronic blackboard. Furthermore, I am trying to incorporate opportunities for collaborative learning. Over the years I have become a supporter of the “inverted classroom” approach, especially for the students that are used to a “lecture” type of teaching style or teachers that are distant and authoritative.