Name: Max Zinman

Essential Question: How does teaching while learning affect how one learns?

Prompt: Final reflection on Senior Project.

Throughout my Senior Project, I was able to learn a lot about the answer to my essential question, and I did find some answers to it. I found that teaching others and observing how they learn and what is effective for them helped to make me more aware of my own learning processes, and as such I was more able to adjust them to provide the best learning experience possible for myself. When I taught things I was learning to others, doing so reinforced my own understanding of the information and I was able to learn by explaining. Learning with the mindset that I would teach the information to others made me more motivated to learn it and learn it well, since I wouldn’t be the only one depending on my ability to learn the info; I had to learn it to help the people I was teaching, and helping others is a powerful motivator. I think my essential question, written at the top of this post, was a very good framing device for this project. It was something that I was very interested in looking into, but it also allowed me to do two things that I really, really enjoyed: have a first real teaching experience, and take a very in depth look at an academic subject I’m really interested in. I don’t think any other essential question would have allowed me to get as much out of the experience.

I definitely met my goals for Senior Project. And while, yes, I was able to answer my essential question, for me that was more of a requirement than a goal. The assignment was to devise an experience through which I could answer a question, and I did. My goals, however, were more tied to the experience itself. First, I wanted to get an idea of what it’s like to be a teacher, and I definitely did. Being Preethi’s assistant was a wonderful experience, and going into breakout rooms to answer questions and explain ideas through prompting questions rather than blunt exposition was really informative and valuable for me, since I want to be a teacher when I grow up. Second, I wanted to learn about lasers and write at least an acceptable paper about what I learned, and I definitely did that. I learned more than I could have dreamed of about lasers, about how they’re made, what they are and can be used for, and their limitations in modern society both due to the way they are made and how they interact with a given target. I was also able to produce a comprehensive paper explaining what I’d learned, and for once I had a really good time doing it since there were no stakes attached to it. The only goal I didn’t meet was getting better at talking to people I don’t know. While it’s true that I didn’t know most of the students in the 10th grade physics classes I helped teach, and I got a lot better at talking to them, that was because I got to know them. If I hadn’t, I would still be as nervous talking to them as I was during the first few classes, so I definitely still have to work on that.

I grew a lot in how I learn, and how I will learn in the future. I learned that true understanding is demonstrated by being able to effectively explain an idea to others, and I learned that the best way to get to that point is to follow a deliberate and constructive learning process, where one idea feeds into the next, and so on and so on. This way, you have all the context for the main idea you might need to explain a given topic to someone at almost any level of understanding. I’m also a lot more confident in my teaching abilities, which was to be expected with the experience in teaching that I got. I’ve learned several important things, such as making sure to focus on teaching through asking questions and prompting critical thinking whenever possible, but also that sometimes there are things that need to just be explained, and to be as patient as possible since understanding comes differently to everybody. I obviously still have LEAGUES to go before I would even consider myself a “good” teacher, but now I’m also more confident that this is what I want to do. It was really fulfilling to help the students learn, and I really enjoyed answering any and all questions they had, even when completely unrelated to physics when they’re waiting for class to start.

If I could do Senior Project again, the only thing I would do differently is do it at a different time, so that I could have a real classroom experience of teaching. As much as I got out of the online classes (which is a lot), I think I could have gotten even more from in-person teaching and interacting with students.