“We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves” (Galileo Galilei).

I would like to start by stating that one of the motivations for my teaching is thinking. I believe I could support my intellectual habit with a teaching career. Everyone agrees that giving students the proper tools for thinking will help them develop into effective citizens. It explains why training and learning thinking skills are becoming more important. My main goal as a social science teacher is to help my students improve their critical thinking skills. My interest as an instructor is largely due to the same factors that attracted me to interdisciplinary research—a desire to comprehend the philosophical and analytical linkages between social phenomena and scientific precision. My teaching philosophy is grounded in the belief that education is a transformative process that empowers individuals to achieve their goals, realize their potential, and contribute to the betterment of society. I believe that effective teaching requires a combination of content mastery, pedagogical skills, and a deep commitment to student learning and development. My approach to classroom teaching builds on five principles: Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation. Also, I try to distinguish between normative and positive thoughts regarding the economic topics taught in my classes. For instance, the positive analyses of economists should likely be guided by normative beliefs rather than a positivistic view of the relationship between efficiency and equity. This helps students understand the importance and role of economic arguments as well as how to construct stronger ones.

In order to learn about students’ current concepts, interests, and prior knowledge, I think it is important to engage them in discussion and explore their thinking. The engagement stage is the first stage of the learning process. The engagement should provide students with the drive or “need to know” that will keep them engaged throughout the course. Hence, the Engage is where I spend time at the beginning of my class to engage the students, get them excited, make them curious about what they’re about to learn today, and students of stimulate their attention before getting into the specifics of the entire lesson. It’s really about making my lesson personal to them, either through some sort of experience I am going to have together as a class or through some event that actually takes place in their real life. For instance, I might want to educate them about the Oligopoly on a particular day. I need them to master a challenging concept in microeconomics. I need them to comprehend that there is a small number of large sellers or producers and the concept of markets where profit-maximizing competitors set their strategies by paying close attention to how their rivals are likely to react. And it’s not just this static thing that’s in the educating world. It’s in their everyday lives. So, the way that I do that is I bring in something that I know they are all interested in. For example, I talk about Cell phone carriers. How many cell phone carriers are there in Canada? How much do they pay for advertising each year? We bring in all these ideas just so that we can get a good, interesting foundation before we delve into the more complex concept stuff.

Active learning is a pedagogical approach in which educators use problem-solving and other in-class activities to engage students in the learning process. I believe that the time when students get to make discoveries, try out their own ideas, and really get to explore the concepts before cementing them later. The students have the opportunity to ask and answer their own questions. This is a loosely guided time of discovery where students can explore, make mistakes, and gain insight.  Exploration activities allow students time to test ideas and draw conclusions based on what they find out. Classrooms today are diverse places, and students come with a wide variety of resources, past experiences, and skills. One of the advantages of the Exploration phase is that it provides students with a shared experience. To promote student exploration, I create questions that will foster discussion among the students. For example, how demand changes when some of it’s absorbed by other firms? What does your demand curve look like, given what the other firm does? Arguably, economics is developing into an experimental science, and our teaching should appropriately reflect this development. All leading economics journals now regularly feature articles on experimental economics. The Exploration stage gives students time to think and search about a concept and develop their own ideas.

Another stage in my class is the Explanation stage which gives students the opportunity to explain their understanding of concepts. As Albert Einstein famously said, “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.” I believe that the most important element of the Explanation stage is that students talk to one another about their current understanding of the topic. Putting concepts into their own words provides students with the chance to reflect on their own learning as they craft explanations. Students must determine for themselves what they want to say and how best to communicate their ideas to others. Student explanations also provide wonderful opportunities for me to listen and uncover students’ current ideas. These explanations are a great resource for unpacking student thinking, and the information they provide can help me shape the direction of a lesson. I challenge and encourage students to use their analytic thinking to direct and not just apply economic tools. My goal is to create an environment where every student can be an active participant in achieving as deep of an understanding of the course material as he or she wants, and more importantly, one that fosters the student’s” abilities to apply that understanding beyond the scope of the course.

Elaboration is a time when I can provide challenges for students that extend their knowledge. I add details when I elaborate, transforming a basic understanding into one that is more complex and nuanced. The lesson’s elaboration section expands students’ understanding of a novel, difficult situation. Students can reflect on their learning and consider it in new ways, thanks to the “what if” portion of the lesson. I would ask, how is this related to what you learned during explore? This is an opportunity for students to dig deeper. Eliciting student ideas to shape the Elaboration can infuse the lesson with a new level of engagement. When students can direct this portion, powerful learning is possible. To help students gain valuable skills and a deeper comprehension of economic theory and practice, I use case studies, simulations, and other interactive techniques. I have discovered that all students can and do more fully participate in their own learning processes and utilize the tools and paradigms of economics to improve their critical analysis skills by incorporating normative discussions into the more positivistic framework of economics, highlighting numerous and disparate aspects of economic tools, and eliciting student direction.

The Evaluation stage gives students a chance to self-assessment their knowledge. Additionally, this phase aims to provide me with data I can use to assess how well students are doing in relation to the lesson’s goals. I typically ask some questions at this point.  What do you know now that you didn’t know before this lesson? What has changed in the way you view Oligopoly? I also value experiential learning and work to give students chances to use what they learn to solve problems in the real world.

The objectives and strategies of my instructional style are most definitely not driven by altruism. Leading toward these goals is truly a labor of love for me, one that I enjoy immensely and that I hope always to be pursuing. Finally, I am committed to continuous learning and growth as an educator. I stay up-to-date with the latest research and best practices in teaching and incorporate new approaches and technologies as appropriate. I am also committed to supporting my colleagues’ professional development and contributing to the broader community of economics educators through research, service, and collaboration.