Teaching philosophy:

​I am fascinated by teaching because of a simple reason. Teaching helps us rethink and revisit fundamental theorems and ideas that a scientific field is founded on. However, being a good teacher is extremely challenging! If teaching is judged by the literal meaning of imparting information or instructing, we engage in an activity with a 50% chance of success, at best. The reason is that we are largely concerned with the action of teaching rather than the purpose of teaching which is enabling a group of students to solve problems. Problem-solving is the fundamental aspect of teaching yet overlooked and underappreciated. I believe that the role of a good teacher is to problematize the teaching. Focusing on problem-solving rather than the knowledge-transfer would help to transform traditional teaching into more advanced and effective methodologies such as project-based learning. I often design project-based courses where students are encouraged to discuss their ideas. An example of my classroom can be found here.

​

Public outreach:

I am also a long-time activist in education particularly for students and young scientists. My latest educational activity is founding a national-level educational program called “seasonal schools of creativity and ideation” in the country of Iran. This extracurricular program, organized into four levels, aims to improve essential skills such as observation, creative thinking, critical thinking, and project management, which are not part of the formal curriculum. In collaboration with many young and motivated scientists, we structured this program in a way that allows students to start with creativity-based games and idea-developing workshops and progress to having ideas worth granting in any discipline.​ A brief repot of these schools can be found here.

​

​