Teaching and Learning Philosophy
I believe that a college education (as well as learning generally) should be about growing emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually through the attainment of critical thinking skills, experience, confidence, and the ability to contribute responsibly to one’s community. In following these priorities, I do not approach the classroom with the goal of getting my students to memorize complicated formulas or to be able to conquer calculus and enter the world of number-crunchers upon graduation. I recognize that most of my students will not become economics majors, but that the “economic way of thinking” can benefit them nonetheless. Therefore, instead of recruitment, my goal is for students to walk out of the class having gained at least four things:
1. To learn how to think carefully and critically;
2. To have analyzed a variety of topics so that they can better understand and participate in the world around them;
3. To know where to turn to if they need an economic point of view and how to evaluate those sources; and
4. To gain confidence in their own abilities after having tackled complicated problems both analytically and mathematically.
ECO336 has been a perfect class to which to apply this philosophy. It is a good mix between economic concepts, analytical concepts, and social concepts. Spillover benefits from this class is that they might gain some research tools along the way as well as experience volunteering.