teaching

Before pursuing my PhD, I was a classical guitarist. Two of the most memorable experiences as a guitarist were: (1) unknowingly taking a gig to play background music for a catholic convention in which hundreds of nuns showed up, and (2) traveling across Cuba playing concerts and elementary schools.

While the former was just a bizarre once in a lifetime experience, the latter was eye opening. At each city, the students would take out their guitars, tres cubanos, and cuatros, and shred. We’d play for them, and they’d play for us. And often, they were better than us. These kids didn’t need to speak our language to show us what they knew. Their fingers did the talking.

Music is honest like that. You can either play the piece or you can’t. You either sound good or you don’t. I always appreciated that objectivity, and it’s something I carry into my approach to higher education.

Sound before sight. Experience, then label. If I can’t understand a theory, I look for its simplest application. Once I grasp that, the rest starts to make sense. This is how I learn best. And I bring that same mindset into the classroom.

Whether I’m teaching a unit on AI ethics, SQL joins, or prompt engineering, I don’t want students to just read about it, I want them to do it. I want them to ask questions, argue with the logic, and play with the edges. I believe that fun and learning are not opposites. Competition and collaboration can both encourage deep engagement. That’s why I build games into my teaching.

Game based learning has been shown to boost student motivation, lower the barrier to entry for complex or abstract topics and foster exploration through experiential learning These characteristics make GBL particularly well-suited to help students engage meaningfully and put an experience (memory / story) with a new concept. Games are naturally competitive and cooperative. Students want to do well for the sake of the game if not for the sake of the learning.

I’ve used game-based learning to teach middle schoolers about the ethical and data privacy concerns of emerging AI technologies. I designed a social deduction video game where students interact with AI “doppelgängers” impersonating them. Players must use clues, conversation, and critical thinking to determine who is real and who is not. This game doesn’t just introduce them to AI concepts, it creates a memorable experience they can anchor those concepts to.

Another great way to teach is through demonstration. My wife’s favorite movie is School of Rock. In the movie the main character, Dewey Finn, jokes “Those who can’t do, teach. Those who can’t teach, teach at the gym.” I disagree. The best way to teach is the classic I do, we do, you do system. And, by Jack Black’s logic, if you can’t do it, you can’t teach.