Competency 1 focuses on exploring pedagogical techniques for teaching a specific discipline, with my focus being astronomy and astrophysics. This competency emphasizes understanding how students learn within a particular field and developing effective teaching strategies tailored to a given discipline and audience.
In Spring 2025, I took ISE 870: Teaching College Science to fulfill the course work requirement for this certification. ISE 870 is a course taught at Michigan State University that focuses on teaching strategies specifically for science disciplines at the college level. I have included the syllabus for ISE 870 to highlight the topics discussed and activities completed during this class.
In this course we explored various science-based methods for teaching and lesson planning including modeling, inquiry-based learning, backwards design, etc. During the classroom sessions, we would have in-depth discussions on benefits and drawbacks of these pedagogical techniques and how they can be applied specifically to teaching science subjects. It was very helpful to have a classroom full of aspiring science educators, as we were able to discuss how these strategies could be applied with specificity. A significant portion of the class was spent practicing these science based teaching strategies in small groups or with our partners, often preparing mock lessons and activities using these strategies outside of class. In addition to the teaching pedagogy, we tackled other discussion topics relevant in higher education like the difficulty in teaching large classes and how to engage students with different levels of preexisting knowledge on the subject matter. This course really helped me to think critically about ways to structure my lessons and activities to best support student learning.
The last few weeks of this course was aimed at developing the final project. For this project, we each had a partner in our same science discipline and together we worked to design a course. My partner and I focused on designing an introductory astronomy course for first year students in the astronomy major which would focus on hands-on learning and discussion based activities. We created a mock syllabus for the course and used backwards design to create a week by week plan for the course that would be our planned objectives. Additionally, we created a planned out a specific lesson for this course which we planned to be a spectroscopy lab, and laid out the learning goals, activities, and assessments for this lesson. I have chosen to highlight the final presentation that my partner and I gave for this project which neatly summarizes our course and the specific lesson we designed.
ISE 870 was a beneficial class and gave me that space to truly reflect and analyze different pedagogical practices. The group based discussion gave me the opportunity to hear different perspectives on teaching strategies and learn from my peers who had experience using them in their classrooms. Reflecting more broadly on the concept of "Discipline-Related Teaching Strategies," I recognize the need for flexibility in my teaching approach. I have come to appreciate the importance of tailoring my methods to specific topics I am teaching and the specific needs and backgrounds of my students. As an educator, I should always be open to feedback and willing to adjust my strategies to better support my students' learning. It can be easy to fall into a routine of using the using the same lectures and activities continuously, but exploring and new approaches is essential for growth. Not every technique will work for every class, so being able to adapt and willing to change is key to being an effective educator.