Scott S
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at Princeton University
Expertise
Broadly: All areas of the humanities except for economics. Specifically: World History, American History, Modern Chinese History, African-American History and Literature, African Diaspora, Ancient and Modern Philosophy, Psychology, Epistemology, Creative Writing, Poetry, American Politics, and others. Let me know if you have a student in need of a mentor for a non-traditional subject.
Bio
Scott Styles has 26 years of public and private school experience teaching students from elementary school through adults in English, social studies, history, psychology, and philosophy. He is a certified teacher in both English and social studies, grades 5-12, respectively, and holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from Princeton and a master’s degree from the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor. While in graduate school, he was a teaching fellow for Princeton undergraduates studying ethics and public policy, and for Harvard undergraduates studying the meaning and application of justice. From 2008-2013, Mr. Styles served as a judge and mentor for international school students competing in National History Day and the World Scholar’s Cup. In fact, Mr. Styles privately coached the Junior Division World Scholar's Cup Champions from Dulwich College Shanghai in writing, debate, and test-taking. His three-student middle school team defeated 263 other teams from around the world to claim the 2013 World Scholar’s Cup held in Dubai, U.A.E., during the summer of 2013. Mr. Styles has also completed seminars in school administration and has served as a Head of Humanities Faculty, a Director of Community and Diversity, a school-based equal opportunity program coordinator, and a leadership intern under a sitting school principal. Over his career, Mr. Styles has traveled to approximately 40 countries on five continents and has experience speaking Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese, having traveled to Spain, having lived in Japan, and having taught at international schools in China from 2008-2013. In addition, Mr. Styles cherishes memories of traveling to both northern and southern Africa and spending six weeks in South Africa only three years after Nelson Mandela was released from prison. Prior to going overseas, he was a teacher and administrator in the Boston area for 10 years. A selection of the classes Mr. Styles has taught during his career include introduction to 19th-20th world history and literature, modern Western philosophy, ancient philosophy, modern China, ethics and public policy, creative writing, the African Diaspora, African-American history, introduction to social justice, and globalization (in which he first taught students about the basics of digital currencies some 10 years ago). He loves teaching K-12 students and adults, and experiencing the "Aha moments" in class discussions. He also coaches some sports and counts Scrabble, chess, golf, and running among his favorite pastimes.Project ideas
The Problem with Instagram: Designing a New Social Media App for the Next Five Years
For this project, a student would choose Instagram, Tik-Tok, Snapchat or some other social media app and ask the question "How do we maximize its advantages and minimize its shortcomings?" The student should narrow the project to one social media app to provide focus to the project. Dealing with too many apps/ideas usually leads to breadth but no depth. The student should review the current research on the benefits and drawbacks of Instagram (in perhaps 6-8 pages?), then review current proposals to improve it, and then offer their views on whether these proposals are reasonable or not, and why (6-8 pages?). The student would end up with a college-level research paper in the end.