Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Sumithra Surendralal
I have not taught my own class, but I have been a teaching assistant in the physics
department at Penn State for close to 14 semesters. I have handled recitations and
labs for both algebra-based and calculus-based courses on mechanics,
electromagnetic theory, and optics for non-physics majors. Though my classroom
teaching has been limited to my role as a teaching assistant, in crafting this
statement of my teaching philosophy, I have also drawn on my other experiences
both as a learner and teacher. These include leading community science outreach
events, teaching peers, mentoring younger graduate students, as well as mentoring
a group of highly-motivated undergraduate students when I helped coordinate a
Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program supported by the National
Science Foundation (NSF).
The courses I would like to teach in the future include both traditional
undergraduate physics courses, as well as hybrid courses drawing on my research
expertise - biophysics and computational neuroscience. In designing these courses,
be it for a large introductory class for non-majors, or a small specialized honors
class for physics majors, I have the following broad framework in mind Firstly, I would like all aspects of a course be it lectures, homework, or projects to
primarily serve students as triggers for further learning on their own. For example,
in setting an assignment on the concept of friction, I would consider a single
question Find the coefficient of kinetic friction of your bicycle tire to be a useful
tool of learning for them, and student assessment for me, than a set of standard
calculations on friction that you would find on the SAT or GRE. This would also allow
students to spend more time focusing on an aspect of the problem they enjoy the
most for some it may be the experimental design (rolling a bicycle down a hill), for
others it may be the detailed mathematical calculations, and for yet another group
it might be a question of where else they could apply these ideas. For a group of
non-majors, I would assign a set of hints and guiding questions to supplement the
exercise, while for an honors course I would let the students battle with the thinking
process much more on their own.
The boundaries between disciplines are increasingly becoming more fluid and this
should be reflected not just in the research problems we pick, but also in the
courses we consider staple to a program. Today, a good scientist would greatly
benefit from learning how to code efficiently and handle big data. A course on
introduction to design is relevant to any experimentalist. Science policy is
something young students of science should pay attention to. There is no reason
that conversations students should expect to have in the world, not be extensions of
ones they have in the classroom. I hope to have introduce these elements in some
form or another in my courses.