Teaching Philosophy

• Mini-lectures on difficult topics.

• Students solve problems in class, I walk around, provide guidance.

• Collaborative tutorials to expose misunderstandings.

• Immediate help and feedback as needed.

• Clicker questions, explanation if any answers are wrong.

• Get to know students individually.

Students obliged to read each chapter in advance.

• Compelled by initial homework and an initial quiz at the start of class.

• Class exercises build from there, reveal and clarify misconceptions

Standardized test at the start and end of each semester.

• Measure average normalized gain, results typical for flipped classrooms.

• Gains 2-3 times higher than lecture-only class.

• Student dropout rates 10-15% (vs. ~ 50% with lecture approach).

• Incredibly rewarding, helping many more students succeed.

Mentoring

Suggest promising engineering or CS students consider switching to physics.

Guidance on universities, educational & career paths, seeking research opportunities.

Several engineering students headed to UC Berkeley changed to a physics major, some went on to a physics PhD.