New Academic Year: Old challenges and new possibilities
As I am getting ready to start a new academic year, I keep thinking about what I will carry on from the past and what I will try to do differently this year. I also keep thinking about what I learned this year and what I should change in my own teaching. In addition, I have been teaching a special summer course for graduate students from Hangzhou Normal University and this experience provided me with some new ideas as well.
I have been teaching at UBC Faculty of Education for more than a decade now. I have taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses and have developed many of them “from scratch”. At the same time, I have seen my students grow into experienced science and mathematics teachers who inspire their students both in British Columbia and around the world. So what can I do to make them succeed and support them beyond their studies at UBC?
So the biggest thing I will try to work on this year is to inspire my students to incorporate educational technologies (e.g., AI, STEM apps, etc.) in their teaching that students have already access to – the applications that students can easily install on their smartphones. In the last few years, I have collaborated on a number of projects where we explored the potential of smartphones in STEM education. I think I am ready to help my students – future teachers to unleash this potential. I hope, after finishing my courses, my students will be able to incorporate smartphones in a new way in their own teaching. I hope that as a result, our future STEM teachers will be able to create more engaging and meaningful lessons for their students. I also hope that I will be able to learn a lot from my students. I am very excited about it and I am looking forward to a new academic year!
Milner-Bolotin, M., & Milner, V. (2023, July 16-21). Smartphones: Bridging mathematics and science with novel technology Psychology in Mathematics Education 46 International Conference, Haifa, Israel. https://pme46.edu.haifa.ac.il/
Milner-Bolotin, M., & Milner, V. (2023). Breaking the Vicious Circle of Secondary Science Education with Twenty-First-Century Technology: Smartphone Physics Labs. In G. P. Thomas & H. J. Boon (Eds.), Challenges in Science Education: Global Perspectives for the Future (pp. 177-199). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18092-7_9
Milner-Bolotin, M., & Milner, V. (2023, February 2nd). Breaking the vicious circle of physics disengagement: From undergraduate physics teaching to teacher education [Online webinar]. 81st International Scientific Conference of the University of Latvia 2023: Physics. Education, Practice. Seminar for University Physics Education Practitioners, Riga, Latvia.