My WPI Education

Background

I never planned to be a teacher. I came into WPI as a Computer Science (and now Data Science) major. However, I am the product of outreach programs. I would not be at a STEM school if it weren't for programs like The Artemis Project, Girls Who Code, and MOSTEC. After getting to WPI, I knew that I wanted to give back to the communities that gave me so much when I was in high school. I started as a volunteer for the Girls Who Code Program on campus and fell in love with teaching students how to code. I eventually got an offer to officially help teach the students. That marked the beginning of my teaching career at WPI. From there, I became an Engineering Ambassador, where I help spread STEM to K-12 students around the Worcester area. I also became a research assistant for the Educational Psychology and Math Learning Lab on campus, where I was able to explore the intersection of education, technology, and the theories and practices that go into math learning. The more I got involved on campus, the more opportunities I got to teach and to learn how to teach.

Since the start of my WPI career, my plan for changing the world has been to make information and technology more accessible. Data can change lives if interpreted and presented well. I want to utilize the vast amount of data being generated to make a difference in the world, in the community, and in the lives of people like you and me. This goal of mine has manifested itself in so many ways -- working in an educational technology lab to make educational tools more accessible, becoming a student-teacher and teaching engineering to high school students in a fun engaging way, or even just helping my friends learn how to code. All of these experiences have taught me how to think on my feet, to problem-solve, and most of all, engage with the people around me. I am a mentor. I am a leader. I am a life-long learner and a teacher. I am in a place to make a difference. So, while I didn't initially plan to become a teacher, my experience at WPI and Wachusett has made me realize that teaching is something I love and that I can see myself doing for the rest of my life. classroom.

I am pursuing undergraduate degrees in both Computer Science and Data Science. My CS degree focuses on building useful and efficient software applications using algorithms and data structures. Similarly, my data science degree focuses on working with large amounts of data and presenting the data in an organized and intuitive way. In a number of ways, Computer Science/Data Science are very similar to teaching. For CS and DS, you have to break down a problem into manageable steps in order to solve a bigger problem. Similarly, to teach well, you need to be able to break a complex topic into digestible, easy-to-understand chunks. Both disciplines involve having the skills to understand a concept, apply it to a bigger problem, and do it in a way where other people can understand what you did.

WPI's project-based learning makes it impossible for you to have not worked on a team before. In almost every CS and DS class I have taken, there was some group work component. The culmination of these projects was my CS3733 Software Engineering class. I worked on a team of 10 to create a functional software application for Brigham and Women's Hospital. This class taught me the importance of not only technical skills but also the importance of communication and teamwork - all skills that are vital to the success of a classroom. My C/DS courses have given me first-hand experiences that I can impart to my students in my classroom.

In addition to technical classes, I've taken pedagogy courses like School Psychology and Teaching Methods for Science and Math in order to better prepare to teach in a classroom. I've learned the developmental psychology concepts related to student learning and development. I've also learned teaching methods to best teach and to best engage students from all walks of life, backgrounds, and levels.

RELEVANT PEDAGOGY COURSEWORK

PSY2410 School Psychology
ID3100 Teaching Methods for Science and Math
ID3200 Sheltered English Immersion

RELEVANT MATH + SCIENCE COURSEWORK

PH1110 General Physics - Mechanics
PH1120 General Physics - Electricity and Magnetism
MA1021-24 Calculus I-IV
MA2611/12 Applied Statistics I/II
MA2621 Probability

RELEVANT COMPUTER/DATA SCIENCE ("TECHNOLOGY") COURSEWORK

CS3733 Software Engineering
CS3043 Social Implications of Information Processing
CS548 Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining
CS2223 Algorithms
And many more!

WPI Coursework