"Colleen Countryman (Ph.D., North Carolina State University) is widely recognized as a “joyous rockstar” in the classroom, who teaches physics at all levels with scrupulous attention to student need. She also teaches interdisciplinary ICC courses, such as Physics of Music. Her philosophy is that “students learn best when they are having fun,” and her instructional strategies are creative and interactive. Her research focuses on the development of educational technologies for physics classes, and she has involved numerous students in her work, co-authoring with several and launching many careers. She has engaged in extensive and meaningful service, including playing a leading role in admissions work."
Read the entire tenure announcement here.
I teach all levels of physics with the guiding philosophy that "to learn physics, you must do physics!" I utilize Ithaca College's SCALE-UP Performance-Based Physics Lab to employ active learning techniques and seamlessly integrate laboratory and lecture in order to increase students' engagement, understanding and sense of belonging in physics.
In short, one of my driving goals is to make physics fun!
My PHYS 101 class was highlighted in the Ithaca College Innovative Learning series. We take advantage of the fact that physics is all around us, so we can do engaging and robust physics labs from home!