Teaching Goals

P O S T E D B Y C I K G U K A M A L O N T U E S D A Y, J A N U A R Y 5 , 2 0 1 0

I am enthusiastic about interacting with students, and take pleasure in watching them grow in
understanding in my classroom, but my primary goal is to convey the sense of joy and
satisfaction that comes from taking intellectual ownership of the learning process by exploring
and discovering new ideas.

As a teacher of physics the challenge I face is a physics subjects are often criticized for being
boring.

How should we convey this in our teaching and learning processes?

How to engage and excite students about the wonders of the natural world around them?
And perhaps the first question is what is the added value of attending a class, as opposed to
simply reading the textbook?

In teaching a physics subject, it is unrealistic to expect students to be automatically motivated

and enthusiastic. Motivating examples need to be realistic, convincing, and relevant. Our society
is becoming ever more reliant on their ability to be conversant with physical principles and their
technological applications. They are increasingly being called upon to understand not just what is
possible, but how and why. A half-hearted toy example only sends the message to students that
what they are about to learn is of purely theoretical interest. The individual threads of knowledge
that we convey in our teaching need to be anchored by prior knowledge and experiences and
learning, and woven into a tapestry of understanding.

Every great teacher I have ever known believes with unshakable firmness that his or her subject
is the most exciting, engaging, and fascinating in the world. Most have true respect for the vast
diversity of fields and ideas, but get them on their own subjects and their eyes widen, their pulses
quicken, and their audience cannot help but ride the tide of enthusiasm for the moment and,
occasionally, for life. Students that catch this tide transform into self-motivated learners, creating
their own knowledge through avid exploration. When I can raise this tide for every student - make
every student a self-motivated learner - I will have mastered teaching.