Jasmine ClarkAssistant Teaching Professor

Education

• Ph.D. in Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, 2013
• B.S. in Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, 2005

Teaching Philosophy 

I believe that teaching is a very complex field to pursue. There are many different approaches to teach the same subject as well as several ways to test information retention or understanding. Based on previous teaching experiences, I believe that the best way to teach is to build confidence in the ability to learn the information, and that teaching a student to think critically is more important than teaching them to being able memorize information. Critical thinking skills, especially in the sciences, are essential and can have a broader impact for students in their future careers, years after they have left the classroom. I believe that a combination of the traditional lectures, discussion sessions, incorporation of problem-based learning (PBL), and laboratory exercises is a good way to cater to the different learning styles of a large group of students. I also believe that especially in science teaching, although the laboratory portion of the course is usually considered supplemental to the lecture, it plays an integral role in learning scientific concepts and methodologies that cannot be fully demonstrated in a lecture-style format.