In many ways, teaching is similar to cooking. Different food materials require different temperatures, tools, and durations to cook properly. Similarly, students with different backgrounds and learning goals often need different instructing techniques and attention levels to optimize their learning experience. Correspondingly, a good instructor should be both strict and flexible. Being strict means maintaining the expectation that students should understand fundamental concepts and be able to apply them to solve problems. It also means no negotiation about deadlines and class logistics once they are set. Being flexible means having extra office hours, extra-credit questions, and guest lectures for those who need more instruction or want to learn more. The combination of being strict and flexible give students two avenues to earn a good grade, either by meeting all the requirements or by meeting not all but most of the requirements in combination of demonstrating in depth understanding of individual class topics that s/he is interested in. I hope to practice my teaching philosophy by designing and teaching classes about climate change, Earth’s history, and applied statistics. I have taken similar classes at the undergraduate and graduate level, and have the experience to design and teach most of them. For introductory classes, my teaching focuses on concepts and theories, and connecting them to contemporary topics of interest. Students are expected to read textbooks, reports, and papers, and complete short quizzes to prepare for class. During class, a fraction of time is used to discuss the readings and quizzes, while the rest is used to discuss examples of applications of concepts and theories to solve problems. Learning progress is checked approximately every month through exams, which are designed to test problem-solving skills, not the pure memory.
For advanced classes, my lectures are centered around themes, including Earth’s radiation budget, Earth’s water budget, stationary and eddy flow, etc. Lectures are delivered through a discussion format. Students are allowed to interrupt, and ask for clarification or general questions at any time during the lecture. Students are also expected to provide critiques to published paper. Data analysis and research project are key components to a student’s grade. The goal is to train students on how to identify a research question and how to apply computational tools to explore the question.