By Ilana Williams

Step one: Pick a topic that would be fun to teach. 

Step two: find a supportive faculty member.

Step three: develop 15 weeks of content including lesson plans, exams and a syllabus.

Complete this process to join the University of Maryland’s one-credit Student Initiated Courses program, where students teach their classmates with the help of a faculty adviser. STIC started with one class and a few believers. Now, there are six departments enrolled in the program — and that number may grow. 

This semester’s STIC offerings include courses in departments such as math, information studies and computer science. Facilitators have the chance to teach about topics they enjoy. 

“I kind of always fantasized about telling people about the stuff I talk about because I think it’s really cool,” said Elliot Kienzle, a senior math and physics major. “It’s just like trying to imagine how I’d convey my own excitement and how cool this is to other people, and then I learn about STIC, and it’s this great opportunity to do that exact thing.”

Kienzle teaches Geometry in Physics. This is his first semester teaching a course. When he graduates, he is aiming for an academic career, he said. 

“It’s really rewarding,” Kienzle said. “Getting good teaching experience but also aiming to talk about stuff that I love with people who are also excited about it.” 

The STIC program was founded in 2017 by Ishaan Parikh, a computer science major who graduated in 2019. Parikh wanted to teach his own class. After it succeeded in an informal setting, he worked with the university to design the program, said Marie Brodsky, a sophomore math major and the executive director of STIC. 

The computer science department was the first to get on board with the program. 

“They saw the vision of it at the beginning because the first person who started it was in their department,” Brodsky said. “They like the idea of having students in the department help teach other students since it’s such a large program. It’s a cool new way to do a transfer of knowledge.” 

Kienzle’s faculty adviser Tamas Darvas, an associate professor in the math department, said Kienzle made differential geometry seem interesting. 

“I may have been a little bit skeptical at the beginning, but then he expanded a little bit on his teaching of the class and I was quickly turned,” Darvas said. “I don’t think I would have been exposed to seeing these things in the classroom.” 

Darvas said he tries to incorporate what he learned in Kienzle’s class into his own class. 

“The best thing is that we get a breath of fresh air about how we can teach mathematics better,” Darvas said. “Sometimes I feel like we’re all boxed in our ideas about how mathematics should be taught and we don’t consult with newer generations.”

Although Brodsky still considers STIC to be a developing program, there has been positive feedback from facilitators and students taking courses. 

“It’s really fun for the facilitators to do it because it’s always a topic of their choice that they care about,” Brodsky said. “For the students, they say it’s really relatable to be taught by a peer. They’re learning from a perspective of someone their own age.” 

Brodsky is also the facilitator for Teaching Math to a Young Audience. 

“I’m really impressed by the work that they do,” Brodsky said. “I ask them to be creative and then they turn in these projects that are really funny and interesting. They’re clearly putting thought and effort into it and it’s great because you know people are committed to the class.” 

Last year STIC was online, and many facilitators recorded their lectures, Brodsky said. This year, students taking STIC classes and student facilitators can have better interactions. 

“I’m actually a really big fan of them,” Evan Guenterberg, a sophomore computer science major, said. “They’re a very good way to share someone’s passion in an educated setting.” 

Guenterberg is taking History of Computer Science and  Programming in Rust. 

“Computer science classes don’t really focus on the history. We just work with the programming languages and technological paradigms. So it’s really nice to be able to see what we have now and where it came from,” Guenterberg said. 

Some departments, such as sociology, neuroscience and women and gender studies, have shown interest in having a STIC program in the upcoming semester, Brodsky said. These departments have never participated before. 

Siddharth Taneja, a senior triple major in math, physics and computer science, was a teacher’s assistant for Quantum Physics and Quantum Physics ll, and he enjoyed the experience. But he wanted to try something new.

One of the reasons why Taneja decided to teach Introduction to Category Theory is because he wanted to expose students to a topic that isn’t commonly taught. 

“I really wanted to be able to teach it to other people because I know I had trouble when I first learned it,” Taneja said. “Teaching has really helped me clarify and express the knowledge and explain the subject to someone who hasn’t seen it before.”  

Each semester, more STICs get added, but few departments have introduced the program.

Guenterberg said he is surprised that different departments are not embracing STICs more. 

“STICs should be more common than they are,” Guenterberg said. “I’m surprised at how few STICs are offered.” 

Still, the program is growing, and there are a lot of opportunities to improve, Brodsky said.

“For someone who’s really excited about the topic and wants to share information, it’s an amazing experience,” Brodsky said.

Featured photo: Marie Brodsky facilitating MATH299Y: Teaching Math to a Young Audience. Photo courtesy Marie Brodsky.