This document outlines Maher Selim's teaching experience and philosophy. It details the courses he has taught, including physics courses at various universities from 2001-2009. It describes his role as a teaching assistant and demonstrator. His teaching philosophy focuses on engaging students through active and exploratory learning methods that relate physics concepts to real-life examples and problems. He aims to develop students' practical and creative thinking skills.

1. Teaching
Dossier
Maher
Selim
Nanometrology
and
Nanotechnology
Laboratory
National
Institute
of
Standards
(NIS),
Giza,
Egypt
Teaching
Responsibilities
Courses
Taught
2008-­‐2009
UWO
Physics
1026
(two
terms)-­‐
Physics
for
Engineering
The
University
of
Western
Ontario
(UWO),
Canada
Teaching assistant and tutoring (300 students section)-­‐weekly tutoring and
supervision of students practices in solving weekly quizzes, helping in exam proctoring &
marking.
2008-­‐2009
UWO
Physics
First
year
laboratories
(two
terms)
Teaching assistant and Demonstrator (45 students section)-­‐weekly
demonstrating, tutoring, marking and supervising of physics first year students practices in
physics
experiments.
2003-­‐2007
Thermometry
calibration
course
(National
Institute
of
Standards
NIS
Egypt)
Teaching assistant and Demonstrator (10 students section)-­‐ demonstrating,
tutoring
and
supervising
of
engineers
practices
in
thermometry
calibration
experiments.
2003-­‐2007
Uncertainty
in
measurement
course
(National
Institute
of
Standards
NIS
Egypt)
Teaching assistant and Demonstrator (10 students section)-­‐ demonstrating,
tutoring
and
supervising
of
engineers
practices
in
Uncertainty
in
measurement
experiments.
2001-­‐2003
Physics
First
year
laboratories
(Helwan
University)
Teaching assistant and Demonstrator (45 students section)-­‐weekly
demonstrating, tutoring, marking and supervising of physics first year students practices in
physics
experiments.

2. TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
The students as humans by nature are very excited explorers, they start
their life by play with everything in the environment to discover the world
around them, beside that they ask the questions about what they see and
what they touch, as well as they experiment their own ideas. In the same
time, as they acquire the knowledge needed for their lives, they enjoy their
learning
through
exploration.
I believe that the undergrad physics is the most exciting and enjoying
subject if it is taught in the way that keep the students having this
unforgettable natural exciting exploring experience. This comes by teach
them the physics through exploring their environment, it is not only the
formulas or the equations but also the concepts gained through mankind
thousands of years’ experience, a history of human success and fall to know
and to use. Therefore, I am always teaching physics in the way that stress
the two main objectives of physics linked to students’ curiosity. The
philosophic objective, which is the love of knowledge and the practical
objective which is how it be used in everyday real life situations and
therefore how the elementary physics knowledge becomes important for
all applied professionals, they cannot do their work efficiently if they do not
know
it
well.
The main objectives of my teaching are to give the students the
professional knowledge they need in their lives, and to train them on
important practical skills like self-­‐learning, creative, critical thinking, and
problem-­‐solving.
And therefore in my teaching, I try to simulate real life, using problems
related to real situations faced by the people in the student's main study
field. And I apply many types of teaching methods like lecturing, problems
and cases studies, as well as discussion groups to stress the active learning
process. I also divide the students to research groups in which they solve
problems
and
report
their
findings.

3. In my evaluation of the students, I stress on testing their skills acquired
through the course beside their acquired knowledge, try to make exams
and
assignments
very
good
tools
for
learning.
Professional Development
Western
Certificate
in
University
Teaching
and
Learning
Summer
2011
The
Theory
and
Practice
of
University
Teaching
GS9500Y
winter
2009
Advanced
Teaching
Program
(ATP)
Fall
2009
The Teaching Assistant Training Program (TATP) August
29
-­‐
31,
2008
Communication
in
the Canadian Classroom Fall
2007
Teaching
Mentor
Program
for
Graduate
Students
Fall
2007
The Teaching Assistant Training Program (TATP) August
31-­‐September
2,
2007
UWO Workshops Attended (as participant)
Spring
Perspectives
on
Teaching
Conference
(UWO)
2008
Keynote
Address:
Getting
Students
to
do
the
Readings
May
14,
2008
Fellowship
in
Teaching
Innovation
Award
Presentation
May
14,
2008
Evaluating
Oral
Participation
in
Class
May
14,
2008
What
To
Do
To
Get
Them
Through:
Supervising
Graduate
Student
Writing
May
14,
2008
Future
Professor
Workshop
Series
(UWO)
Winter
2008
Fostering
Active
Learning
in
the
Classroom
February
1,
2008
The
Teaching
Assistant
/
TA
Supervisor
Relationship
February
8,
2008

4. Developing
a
Course
Outline
February
22,
2008
Integrating
Service-­‐Learning
into
the
University
Experience
March
28,
2008
Winter
Conference
on
Teaching
(UWO)
2008
The
Ethics
of
Teaching
January
26,
2008
Designing
Learning
Activities
for
Students
with
all
Learning
Styles
January
26,
2008
From
class
to
industry:
Does
your
science
degree
prepare
you
for
industry?
January
26,
2008
Future
Professor
Workshop
Series
(UWO)
Fall
2007
Time-­‐Saving
Tricks
-­‐-­‐
Advanced
Functions
in
WebCT
Owl
November
21,
2007
What's
the
Difference
Between
an
A
&
a
B?
Strategies
for
Marking
Essays
November
23,
2007
What
Careers
Does
Your
TA
Assignment
Prepare
You
For?
November
28,
2007
Presentation
on
physics
teaching
“How
to
help
your
students
win
a
Nobel
Prize:
Coaching
creative
thinking
through
teaching”
30th
March
2010
@
Department
of
Physics
and
Astronomy
The
University
of
Western
Ontario
(UWO)
ABSTRACT
In the competitive and challenging global society in which we live, the objective of education
must not only be to give students the professional knowledge they need, but to train them in
creative and critical thinking, self-­‐learning, and problem-­‐solving. In this talk, we will explore the
psychology of intelligent and creative thinking processes, with examples from physics history,
and
examine
educational
research
on
transferring
those
skills
to
students.
Online
version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDi0m1vNfek