Teaching to me is a collaborative effort.  Not just between faculty, but between faculty and the students in their classes. Learning doesn't occur in isolation.  If you think about all the things you have learned throughout you life (learning to walk, learning to talk, learning to play a video game, or a musical instrument, etc...) the vast majority of them have occurred with others.  It is for this reason I consider myself a social constructivist.  This theory of learning really takes the philosophy that we are smarter as a group than we are as an individual. 

I embed this into the learning environment in my classroom.  Depending on which class you take from me, you will see various levels of student centered engagement.  In BIO 100 we have designed this course around the social constructivist philosophy, with a large percent of the course centered on the student and expect students to actively engage with the material, rather than the teacher being the center of the classroom. Based in a large part on what research shows is the most effective environments for students to learn, this course teaches the content necessary to engage in the world as an "informed citizen".  

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