I am David Ji. I am a graduate of Changzhou Senior High School and I went to Shanghai Jiaotong University, where I majored in microelectronics. I joined the master program of RWTH Aachen in Germany after graduation, where I studied media informatics.

In 2015, I decided to become a teacher. My first job was at Wycombe Abbey International School of Changzhou. I taught ICT and Computing for year groups from KS3 to IAL. During my second year of teaching, I also started to teach IGCSE and IAL physics. I taught math and programming in Monteverde Academy in Shanghai for one semester before I began my work in CZSHS AP center.

The first reason that I went into teaching was I wanted to give my students a good start in programming before they go to college. During my study in SJTU, I saw many of my schoolmates struggling to keep up because they had not learned programming before they went to college. I believe programming is an excellent tool to master for students of all majors. After extending my role to physics teacher, I have added "introducing scientific investigation" to my list of goals for my students. Chinese students are quick learners. They are usually quite diligent. But for various reasons, sometimes they are just taught scientific facts instead of being encouraged to discover scientific facts for themselves. I want to inspire and enlighten them to think like real scientists, to make judgements grounded in experimental results instead of only the principles that they have read in a textbook. I want them to realize that the world of science and engineering is the world in which we live our daily life, not just formulas and calculations in an exam.

At the SCZ AP center, I have the wonderful opportunity to teach the most brilliant minds in the city. Thanks to the openness of AP curriculum, I can put my teaching philosophy into action. Since 2018, I have also enjoyed working with students participating in the annual National STEAM League competition. In 2019, our team earned 2nd and 3rd prize in the national competition, and won a few trophies in the US final.  In the future, I will seek to better integrate extra-curricular STEM activities and in-class physics/CS lessons to further enhance our students' scientific literacy and broaden their vision.