Rob Knop talks about a great teaching moment: A student who refused to just smile and nod: I was very grateful for that student. You see, when professors ask, “do you understand that?”, it’s not a test. It’s not the professor trying to catch the students up in admitting to being confused, it’s not the… Continue reading Stop Nodding!
Month: June 2006
Ask a ScienceBlogger: Time and Money
Weirdly, this week’s Ask a ScienceBlogger question may be the hardest one to answer yet: Assuming that time and money were not obstacles, what area of scientific research, outside of your own discipline, would you most like to explore? Why? Most of the responses have taken this as an “If you had it to do… Continue reading Ask a ScienceBlogger: Time and Money
Math Isn’t That Hard
Inside Higher Ed has a story this morning about Smith College moving toward requiring math. Smith, a women’s college in Massacusetts, has had an “open curriculum” (i.e., no requirements at all) for many years, which has allowed lots of students to graduate without ever taking a course requiring math or mathematical reasoning. They haven’t introduced… Continue reading Math Isn’t That Hard
Martian Balloons
There’s a piece in the New York Times this morning about a German project to send a balloon-borne rover to Mars that’s got a little something for everyone. It’s a Mars mission, which never gets old, but it’s also a privately financed project, and thus a nice demonstration of the power of private enterprise, for… Continue reading Martian Balloons
Great Moments in Student Course Evaluations
One of my least favorite end-of-term rituals for faculty is the dreaded student course evaluations. These have two components: the numerical bubble-sheet evaluations, which provide the pseudo-quantitatvie evaluation used to compare courses, and written responses to a half-dozen very general questions. The latter are at least potentially more useful, particularly when the standard questions are… Continue reading Great Moments in Student Course Evaluations
Graduation Thoughts
Miscellaneous thoughts prompted by yesterday’s Commencement: – Like most of the graduations I’ve been to, Union’s academic procession is led by a pipe and drum band. Why is that? What is it about academia and bagpipes? – Also like most of the graduatiions I’ve been to, Union’s graduation is held early on Sunday morning, with… Continue reading Graduation Thoughts
World Cup Update
Between graduation yesterday and a trip to Williamstown Saturday (to see the Clark brothers exhibit, which was very cool), I didn’t actually get to watch much soccer over the weekend. I caught most of the second half of the ancestral homeland’s humiliating loss to Ecuador, and most of England’s one-nil victory over Paraguay (though not… Continue reading World Cup Update
Last of the Firsts
Today was Commencement at Union, and a cold and miserable morning for it. Normally, the faculty are grateful for our spots on the Library collonnade, where we’re out of the sun, and able to enjoy a slight breeze, but today, it was about twenty degrees colder than normal, and the breeze was more of a… Continue reading Last of the Firsts
Switching Into Research Mode: Priceless
By the numbers: Exams graded: 16 Mean exam grade: 64% Mean final grade for Physics 121: B- Papers assigned: 17 Papers received and graded: 16 Mean final grade for Physics 311: B+ Students receiving grades of Incomplete: 1 Large bottles of Scottish ale drunk while watching “Dr. Who”: 1 And another academic year is in… Continue reading Switching Into Research Mode: Priceless
Falling Rock Zone
Large meteorite hits northern Norway: A large meteorite struck in northern Norway this week, landing with an impact an astronomer compared to the atomic bomb used at Hiroshima. The meteorite appeared as a ball of fire just after 2 a.m. Wednesday, visible across several hundred miles in the sunlit summer sky above the Arctic Circle,… Continue reading Falling Rock Zone