Teaching

Teaching Statement

As an educator, my goal is to help my students learn using research-tested strategies. My lessons provide opportunities for hands-on learning, with emphasis in 3D thinking, diagnostic identification, writing scientific articles and applying statistics to real-world paleontology problems. My goal for every class is to meet the student where they are and help improve understanding and appreciation for paleontology, geology, and science in general. As such my lessons center  “taking chances, making mistakes, and getting messy” in the lab and the field, to learn how to make low-risk mistakes and learn and grow from them. I use evidence-based formative assessments as a low-stakes way to build learning, and give my students the chance to take (fun!) risks.

I have taken the Teaching for Equity course, and learned how to build cultural competencies, scaffolding, flipped classroom, and universal design principles into my lessons. I am also a Graduate Pedagogy Fellow with the Teaching and Learning Center at UCSC, and designed and taught a graduate-level pedagogy course in the Fall of 2024. In all my courses I have organized the lab and field components, and have extensive experience in teaching in a non-classroom setting.