Teaching Philosophy

I believe that a truly productive learning experience is one where students are encourage to take a proactive role in the learning process and think critically, and apply their knowledge by problem solving. Therefore, my teaching philosophy is centered around an interactive experience in the classroom that stimulates active learning and proactive thinking. I believe the act of thinking proactively and problem solving will help retain knowledge better and cultivate critical, scientific thinking in students. I frequently pose questions involving new concepts, encourage students to engage in collaborative learning with their peers to problem solve, and walk through the process step-by-step with them while breaking it down in a digestible manner using economic intuition. I will also incorporate relevant real-world examples to illustrate economic concepts, and demonstrate their implications for policy and institutions, which I hope will help my students become better citizens. The effectiveness of my teaching philosophy is demonstrated by the positive student evaluations, and I am constantly learning from my students about what works and using their feedback to improve my teaching.

Teaching Experience

Instructor of Record at University of California, Davis

Teaching Assistant at University of California, Davis

Student Evaluations

Here are some excerpts from student comments in teaching evaluations. For a complete history of student teaching evaluations from my time teaching at UC Davis please click here.

“Christina was amazing! Great at presenting complex information in an easy manner.”

“Christina was a wonderful TA! She evaluated our understanding of the course material and our needs from discussion at the end of every discussion section and adapted as such to give us the best experience possible. I attended almost all of the sections and they proved to be very helpful for the homework and for the exams.”

“They were helpful and always available when students needed.”

“Christina was great! She explained problems very well in discussion and was eager for feedback as to better help us. They made incredible handouts that were very helpful.”

“… I appreciate that there was always room during class to ask questions.”

“… She is active in replying the email and answering questions in class. For another, her homework focus on motivating students’ economic logic. She encourages students to use their economic knowledge in their life, not limited to ecomonic questions. …”