Jessica Grady

In reflecting on my own experiences as a student, the instructors that I valued most were those who were invested in and knowledgeable of the material and whose enthusiasm for the material, the field, and their students' learning was apparent in their lectures and my interactions with them. I try to provide a similar experience to my students in my own teaching and instruction. 

One of my aims when teaching is to encourage students to consider how the material is meaningful for their own lives, beyond their attainment of a course letter grade. My courses center on development, so students may find some of the material useful for their current or future lives. For instance, in developmental psychology we cover topics like how a person's unique temperament or personality can influence the course of his or her life and what a developing fetus can hear, taste, and sense by touch while in the mother's womb. I try to encourage students to think about the ways in which behavioral, biological, social, cognitive, and cultural processes interact to shape our lives as we grow and develop. As an example, in what ways might an infant's social world change as he or she gain motor skills, such as moving from crawling to walking? 

I find the science behind psychology exciting and think it is important for students to understand how research designs and methods can be utilized to answer questions of interest. For example, how can we learn about what a young infant knows, given that he or she cannot yet form words and sentences? Regardless of whether my class is the first or the last psychology course they take, I want students to leave the course with an understanding of the field as a science and the creative methodologies that are sometimes required when studying human behaviors and thoughts.