Yes, it is so important to separate research and teaching, they are completely and utterly different in approach, skills, personality and philosophy. A teacher

Yes, it is so important to separate research and teaching, they are completely and utterly different in approach, skills, personality and philosophy. A teacher should be primarily reading research in teaching, with research in the domain as a secondary hobby. Spending an hour filling 15 rolling blackboards with chalk squiggles has long outlived its usefulness and effectiveness. As a rare example of an inspired researcher and pragmatic theorist of teaching for physics, I would name David Hestenes.