Zack McLaughlin-Alcock, M.S.

Zach McLaughlin-Alcock Headshot
Assistant Teaching Professor, Mathematics
Rydal, 212

Educational Background

University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education, Philadelphia, PA  May 2013
Master of Science in Education, Focus: Secondary Mathematics

Pennsylvania State University, College of Liberal Arts, University Park PA May 2008
Bachelor of Arts in History

Courses Taught

Introductory Algebra, Intermediate Algebra

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching experience has focused primarily on mathematically underserved populations who regularly lack confidence in their abilities to understand mathematics.  In both pre-GED and introductory college courses my goal is to help students build connections from their own understandings to the more abstract mathematical rules.    Because failure and mistakes are part of any learning experience, it is important to create a classroom where success is understood to be the culmination of a process of student work.  No one learns to walk overnight, or without falling down, why would polynomials be different?

Additional Informal Interests

The presentation of mathematics in public and popular discourse.
The application of, and tensions caused by, the use of “advanced” statistics in sports.