Joshua Castro, M.S.

Professor of Biology

As a science educator, one of the main goals I strive for is to ignite a passion in students to want to learn more about science – more so then when they first walked into the course. How many readers can remember the number of teachers that stuck out and influenced your life positively? If it’s more than 10, then you’re an extreme outlier because surveys suggest that the maximum number is 5. For me it’s 3. In a never ending quest to become a better educator, I strive to possess those characteristics that are common to most, if not all, influential teachers – because I think that students should be scientifically literate in order to make informed decisions as public citizens. A major characteristic of great teachers, which I consistently put into practice, is to simply place student learning first. This allows me to focus less on what I am teaching, and instead emphasize what my students are learning. My goal is for students to walk away from my courses with a greater understanding of biological and environmental systems in the context of real places, real people, real problems, and real data. To meet my goal, I implement various outcomes-based, learning-centered, assessment, and inclusion strategies.



Contact

West Campus
Allied Health Sciences Building - Room 307
jcastro22@valenciacollege.edu

Hours

By appointment, or announced during class each semester.