Where do you find your educational drive?
'I really enjoy conveying my enthusiasm and passion for learning in general and physics in particular. I really enjoy seeing that students also share in that enthusiasm. Physics isn't easy, so it's extra fun when you succeed!'
Which moment has always stayed with you?
'As an undergraduate student, I studied abroad for a semester at the University of California, Berkeley. The lecturer for the cosmology course was fantastic. I was on the edge of my seat every lesson because it was super interesting and because she knew how to convey it perfectly. It was in very small things. For example, the titles of parts of her lectures were not simple statements, but intriguing questions. That gave me the feeling of a mini-cliffhanger and motivated me enormously.'
What was your biggest learning moment as a lecturer?
'What I find most challenging is teaching primary school students. A few times a year I give guest lectures at primary schools and sometimes also in museums or at science festivals. In addition, as part of the Radboud Science Award, I am developing a lesson plan for primary school students about black holes. Mathematics is the language of physics, but in primary school mathematics is of course quite limited and then you really have to think differently about how you explain something. I learn a lot from this. In addition, those students are still wonderfully uninhibited and you get endless questions (also many that are completely irrelevant, but fun).'
What have you learned from your students?
'That there are so many different ways to learn and understand something. I think it's great to see that diversity. It also often helps me to look at my own teaching in a different way, and sometimes even at how I think about a certain concept.'
What are you proud of as a lecturer?
'One of the most important questions for me personally on the course evaluation is to what extent the students have learned a lot in the course. I am therefore immensely proud when students strongly agree with the phrase "I gained new knowledge and/or expertise". That's what I do it for!'