I view the privilege of teaching as an incredible responsibility. I am honoured to be a conduit to knowledge, and play a part in the facilitation of learning. In the following, I will outline the philosophical thinking that has guided my approach to educating.
“I never teach my pupils, I only provide the conditions in which they can learn.”
“I never teach my pupils, I only provide the conditions in which they can learn.”
- Albert Einstein
Students in my classes are guided to learn via experience and self-discovery. Learners benefit more from being given the tools to acquire knowledge than from being given knowledge. The amount of knowledge one can bestow is limited by the forum in which it is delivered, but amount of use one can get out of a tool is limitless. By offering students the tools to learn, and the experience of testing these tools in a supportive environment, I feel I am training them to be empowered learners. For instance, students in my research methods class are exposed to the skills required to engage with the scientific method. Students engage in critical discussion about theoretical issues in many sub-disciplines of cognitive science (i.e., knowledge synthesis), and design and run experiments to test the products of these discussions (i.e., hypothesis testing). Students then engage in dissemination of their findings (i.e., writing, presentations), and provide critique of the work of their contemporaries (i.e., peer review). By being exposed to, and critically reflecting upon, each stage of the scientific method, students become well prepared for their own independent research specifically, and become citizens who are effective consumers of science in general.
“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
- Stephen Jay Gould
Barriers—visible and invisible—hinder the educational experience of some, while privileging the experience of others. The journey of recognizing my own privilege has afforded me the insight to identify some of these societal barriers, and enabled me to act to create a more inclusive learning experience for students. The privilege bestowed by society on a Caucasian, straight, cis-identified male is only exacerbated by the power dynamic created in the classroom between a teacher and students. Students come from a variety of backgrounds that are defined by much more than what can be seen in a student bio on a course roster. Encouraging the expression of the knowledge acquired through these lived experiences and diverse personal histories is my mission. However, it is naive to presume I am the mentor/teacher who can render the latent potential from every student I encounter. To that end, students are exposed to a variety of voices; voices in their readings, and voices from the front of the class. Cognitive psychology as a discipline has been disproportionately represented by the works of white males. In my cognitive research methods course, students are presented a gender-balanced readings list, and hear from female, visible, and invisible minority colleagues of mine as guest lecturers. These sessions have not only broadened the scope of the material in the course but also gave voice to a variety of new perspectives, and modelled those voices in the position of authority in the classroom.
“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”
- Ryunosuke Satoro
Building on these values, students learn in an environment that emphasizes collaboration. It is rare to find a professional calling in life where one works truly alone. Rather, more often we operate in contexts where we contribute our own expertise, proficiencies, and lived experience to the advancement of some larger mission. This point is reinforced in an activity conducted early in the term. Students are asked to enter into Google Scholar a key word that interests them, and look at the bibliography of the first paper returned in the search. They are then asked how many of the papers in the list are single-author works—the answer is often zero. This brief exercise really reinforces the point that science is truly collaborative. In line with this philosophy, students are encouraged to engage with course material individually, but then bring the product of this engagement into a collaborative setting where their discoveries and insights can be leveraged to a higher sum. For instance, when teaching Introduction to Psychology, encouraging collaboration was challenging because the class was so large. However, I implemented the strategy whereby a proportion of the questions on the exams would be sampled directly from the bank of questions that were sampled to generate individualized online quizzes. Students could leverage this knowledge and share their individual quiz with classmates to maximize the likelihood that their group would have an exam question in advance. Additionally, students in my cognitive research methods class completed collaborative research projects. This served to provide the students with a snapshot of the scientific process in general, but also what it might look like to do their own independent research. The team projects emphasized what a collaborative effort can do for productivity: by effectively delegating responsibilities within a team, and by playing to each member’s own expertise, in a single term each team accomplished more than many undergraduate thesis students do in an entire year.
It has been an incredible privilege to have the opportunity to work with students in the various capacities I have been afforded. To be able to share with students my values pertaining to the process of learning has been an honour. By prioritizing experience, self-discovery, inclusion, and collaboration in the learning environment, not only will I continue to positively impact students, but students will continue to positively impact my approach to teaching.
Students in my classes are guided to learn via experience and self-discovery. Learners benefit more from being given the tools to acquire knowledge than from being given knowledge. The amount of knowledge one can bestow is limited by the forum in which it is delivered, but amount of use one can get out of a tool is limitless. By offering students the tools to learn, and the experience of testing these tools in a supportive environment, I feel I am training them to be empowered learners. For instance, students in my research methods class are exposed to the skills required to engage with the scientific method. Students engage in critical discussion about theoretical issues in many sub-disciplines of cognitive science (i.e., knowledge synthesis), and design and run experiments to test the products of these discussions (i.e., hypothesis testing). Students then engage in dissemination of their findings (i.e., writing, presentations), and provide critique of the work of their contemporaries (i.e., peer review). By being exposed to, and critically reflecting upon, each stage of the scientific method, students become well prepared for their own independent research specifically, and become citizens who are effective consumers of science in general.
“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
- Stephen Jay Gould
Barriers—visible and invisible—hinder the educational experience of some, while privileging the experience of others. The journey of recognizing my own privilege has afforded me the insight to identify some of these societal barriers, and enabled me to act to create a more inclusive learning experience for students. The privilege bestowed by society on a Caucasian, straight, cis-identified male is only exacerbated by the power dynamic created in the classroom between a teacher and students. Students come from a variety of backgrounds that are defined by much more than what can be seen in a student bio on a course roster. Encouraging the expression of the knowledge acquired through these lived experiences and diverse personal histories is my mission. However, it is naive to presume I am the mentor/teacher who can render the latent potential from every student I encounter. To that end, students are exposed to a variety of voices; voices in their readings, and voices from the front of the class. Cognitive psychology as a discipline has been disproportionately represented by the works of white males. In my cognitive research methods course, students are presented a gender-balanced readings list, and hear from female, visible, and invisible minority colleagues of mine as guest lecturers. These sessions have not only broadened the scope of the material in the course but also gave voice to a variety of new perspectives, and modelled those voices in the position of authority in the classroom.
“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”
- Ryunosuke Satoro
Building on these values, students learn in an environment that emphasizes collaboration. It is rare to find a professional calling in life where one works truly alone. Rather, more often we operate in contexts where we contribute our own expertise, proficiencies, and lived experience to the advancement of some larger mission. This point is reinforced in an activity conducted early in the term. Students are asked to enter into Google Scholar a key word that interests them, and look at the bibliography of the first paper returned in the search. They are then asked how many of the papers in the list are single-author works—the answer is often zero. This brief exercise really reinforces the point that science is truly collaborative. In line with this philosophy, students are encouraged to engage with course material individually, but then bring the product of this engagement into a collaborative setting where their discoveries and insights can be leveraged to a higher sum. For instance, when teaching Introduction to Psychology, encouraging collaboration was challenging because the class was so large. However, I implemented the strategy whereby a proportion of the questions on the exams would be sampled directly from the bank of questions that were sampled to generate individualized online quizzes. Students could leverage this knowledge and share their individual quiz with classmates to maximize the likelihood that their group would have an exam question in advance. Additionally, students in my cognitive research methods class completed collaborative research projects. This served to provide the students with a snapshot of the scientific process in general, but also what it might look like to do their own independent research. The team projects emphasized what a collaborative effort can do for productivity: by effectively delegating responsibilities within a team, and by playing to each member’s own expertise, in a single term each team accomplished more than many undergraduate thesis students do in an entire year.
It has been an incredible privilege to have the opportunity to work with students in the various capacities I have been afforded. To be able to share with students my values pertaining to the process of learning has been an honour. By prioritizing experience, self-discovery, inclusion, and collaboration in the learning environment, not only will I continue to positively impact students, but students will continue to positively impact my approach to teaching.
