Josh Luckens interviews Dr. Igor Minevich, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Minevich explains why the Teaching and Learning Collaborative’s New Faculty Orientation and Instructional Coaching program “changed the way I feel about teaching,” inspiring him to “lead the classroom like a partnership” and “teach from the heart.”

He discusses why he shifted away from lecture-based instruction to a “multi-way dialogue” in which his whole class is “co-creating learning.” He offers strategies for getting students “excited about the mystery of how something works…actually discovering things they're learning for themselves, with me guiding.”

Minevich shares his belief that “mathematics is really about the discovery of truth, of how the universe works, why things are the way they are. What we're learning in math is actually truth, something deep and profound and beautiful that can be used in all sorts of ways."

Minevich shares the joy it brings him to see his whole class actively “engaged in learning together,” taking ownership of their growth as mathematicians. He says that teaching has become “a whole different experience” for him as he steps back and empowers his students to actively make meaning in the classroom.

Editors: Sarah Walkowiak and Melanie Mikkelson

(November, 2023)