Since 2015, Wendy has taught numerous undergraduate courses at Dartmouth, including General Chemistry I (CHEM 5), Organic Chemistry II (CHEM 52) lectures and labs, and a First-Year Seminar that she developed a few years ago. Wendy is deeply passionate about chemistry and about helping others find enjoyment in their chemistry learning experience. Over the past 10 years of teaching chemistry courses at various levels, she has interacted with students at different stages, with different personalities, and with different career goals, which has shaped her teaching philosophy today.
“My teaching philosophy revolves centrally around making chemistry accessible and engaging, and around supporting the development of logic and critical reasoning skills that will serve all students in their careers and life in general,” said Wendy. “I am invested in ensuring that every person finds the support they need in their learning journey, no matter what their background, learning style, or interests.”
To achieve her goal, Wendy has been constantly evolving her teaching methods, not only to improve through iterative refinement but also to find an inclusive, engaging, and accommodating approach that promotes class participation and dialogue from ideally everyone in the class. This is never an easy task, especially for introductory general chemistry courses like CHEM 5, where students with various backgrounds seek to learn chemistry while exploring how to be effective learners at the college level. “In that scenario, I think it is really important to support students in honing their general learning skills, and to help them understand that an effective learning process involves some amount of (supported) struggle with the material, self-reflection, and iteration on study practices.”
Recognizing that guiding students to learn and love chemistry requires sustained efforts beyond a single person, Wendy helped to initiate the Chemistry Department’s pilot Chem 5 Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) program. As the Director of the PAL program, her role involves mentoring the program’s peer leaders to help them deliver high-quality course support in their student sessions in an effective and relatable way. Outside the classroom, Wendy loves to see students make connections between what they learn in class and other parts of their lives, perhaps sometimes through a cup of delicious nitro ice cream!