How long have you been at Hofstra?
Since 2003

Academic specialty:
Teaching, Literacy and Academic Leadership, STEM education, constructivist pedagogy.

Major publications/accomplishments:
Teacher of the Year at Hofstra University in 2008
3 books:

• Brooks, J.G. (2011). Big science for growing minds: Constructivist classrooms for young thinkers. Teachers College Press: New York
• Brooks, J.G. (2002). Schooling for life: Reclaiming the essence of learning. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
• Brooks, J.G. and Brooks, M.G. (1999,1993). In search of understanding The case for constructivist classrooms, Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Many articles on the teaching/learning dynamic.

Interesting hobbies?
I founded the Maritime Explorium, a lighthouse learning center that celebrates the unique maritime history of Long Island and educates the citizenry to endeavor towards a thriving, ecologically sound maritime future.

Why did you go into your field?
As a child I wanted to learn about, well just about everything, but I hated going to school. I knew schools could be better places than they were and I always wanted to try  to do that.

Favorite campus activity:
I love walking around campus and seeing the seasonally changing gardens and trees and ground covers. Connecting with nature is an important part of my feeling alive. I believe that if we all connected with nature more, we would prepare ourselves better to protect it.

Favorite class to teach:
I don’t know what to say about my favorite class. But, I do know what my favorite learning setting is – one in which people are trying to solve real problems. Learning only occurs when there is need or an interest in knowing.

Why do you like to teach?   
Teaching is an endeavor in which ideas and people, old and new, are at the center. What’s not to like?

Why do you like to teach?   
Teaching is an endeavor in which ideas and people, old and new, are at the center. What’s not to like?

Favorite campus eatery: 
The little café in Hagedorn Hall.  Rosa makes everything transaction a sale of kindness.

Favorite campus spot: 
The STEM Studio in Hagedorn Hall.

What do you hope your students learn from you? 
I hope that they learn teaching is important, requires an ever-deepening content knowledge, and ever-expanding understanding of how people learn.

What general advice about college would you give students? 
Know what questions you have and what you want to learn.

What general advice about life would you give students? 
Live mindfully.

Best Hofstra memory: 
...my most surprising moment at Hofstra was when I picked up the phone at home one weekend and Dean Maureen Murphy told me that I had won the Distinguished Teacher Award..

Favorite (short) Hofstra story:
A student in my class one semester had a baby just as the semester was ending.  I gave her some books for the baby, some classics that had been given to me when my first child was born. She came back to Hofstra for another degree and I met her in the hall one day about six years later. She had two young sons with her. She introduced me, and they both said: “She’s the lady who gave us our first books!”

What do you take the most “Pride” in?
I am proud of our students who take a stand, find their courage, and work against a mainstream educational system that seeks to standardize human life and learning.

What have you found as your “Purpose”?
I seek to offer a science education program at Hofstra that represents science as a highly humanistic endeavor, springing from creativity and guided by ethical principles.