I am academic teacher and I am teaching courses in theoretical chemistry, statistical analysis of experimental data in chemistry, and molecular modeling (including algorithm programing and use of massively parallel computers) for M.Sc. course students at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdansk, Poland. All classes are strictly related to the research on theoretical modeling of protein folding and dynamics and chemical reactions that I am doing. I have an over 20-year history of teaching various courses (beginning with general chemistry lab classes) at the University of Gdansk; the full list of courses that I am teaching or taught in the past is included in my CV.
I am conducting lectures and part of recitation and lab classes. My goal is not merely to convey knowledge to the students and give them ready-to-use recipes to solve simple problems but to make the understand the matter and apply the knowledge they acquired to solve problems more complex than, e.g., the computation of a vibrational frequency of a diatomic molecule given the masses of the atoms and the force constant. During the recitation classes and interim tests I challenge the students constantly by changing the formulation of problems and input data to prevent them from developing a fixed scheme (e.g., that simple problems pertaining to the Boltzmann law are always about computing the change of the density of air with altitude provided that the temperature is constant).
I never require the students to learn formulas or theorems by heart but allow them to bring notes, textbooks, etc., to tests and exams they are taking during the courses I am teaching. In my opinion such an attitude of mine teaches them to look into sources for the information required to solve a problem. For the same reason, I don't stick to one textbook when preparing my classes. At the beginning of a course, I give the students a list of recommended textbooks and web pages; I also publish the course material on my web page. In my courses I stress the balance between theory and practical aspects of a subject. I pay much attention to convince the students that theoretical chemistry, though based on equations and numbers rather than on test-tubes and reagents, enables us to understand what is actually happening in a test-tube and that their effort invested in learning that subject will pay off even if they will not become theoretical chemists.
I tune the method of teaching to the type of course and expected outcome. The purpose of my theoretical chemistry and statistical analysis, and molecular modeling courses is to teach science and, therefore, I present the theory illustrated with selected examples during the lectures, while recitation and lab classes are devoted to solving concrete problems. Teaching programing in Fortran is, in my opinion, similar to teaching a foreign language. My goal here is to teach the students to ``speak'' (ideally, to ``think'') Fortran rather than to ``know'' Fortran. The hardest part in teaching parallel programing is to make the students understand that the same program is running on all machines involved in a parallel job. From my experience even fluent programmers new to parallel programing have difficulties to realize that.
I encourage the students to ask questions during a lecture and to point to errors and lack of clarity in the slides or in what I am saying. I also tell them to be critical about the content of textbooks and point to errors therein. I teach them not to regard textbooks as the Holy Scripture.
I am open to implementing new teaching technologies. When Hewlett-Packard announced the call for "Technology for Teaching" proposals last year, my older colleague Prof. Janusz Kowalik (Professor Emeritus of Washington University at Seattle and now a Visiting Professors and the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics, and Informatics, University of Gdansk), together with me, wrote a proposal for the University of Gdansk for a Classroom Solution grant, with myself serving as the PI. The University received the grant and acquired a modern computer lab (at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics, and Informatics) with 21 networked tablets which enable the teacher to interact directly with each of the students.