I went to a panel discussion yesterday on teaching critical thinking skills. It was more of a panel presentation than a panel discussion– the panelist-to-allotted-time ratio was too high to allow much discussion– but it was interesting to see how different disciplines approach the task of teaching students to think critically, and support arguments with… Continue reading How Do You Teach Critical Thinking?
Category: Academia
Lab Grading Macros
A partial list of phrases I would like bound to a macro key, to save myself typing them over and over again as I mark up student lab reports (not all of these apply to the current crop of students): Not only were you able to [verb] the [noun], you did [verb] the [noun]. Say… Continue reading Lab Grading Macros
Moses Viney
This week was Founder’s Day at Union, one of the three big academic-procession events of the year (the others being Convocation in the fall, and Commencement in June), and this year’s event had a clear theme about race and equality, with the keynote speech being given by James McPherson on Union’s connection to the abolitionist… Continue reading Moses Viney
Wire Like a Physicist
One of last year’s physics majors is spending the year in rural Uganda working at a clinic/ school there. He’s keeping a blog, which is intermittently updated by western standards, but remarkably up-to-date given where he is. This week, he blogged about putting his physics education to use: I have been doing a lot of… Continue reading Wire Like a Physicist
Nationalism and Science
Via email, Mike Steeves points me to an Ars Technica article about a Thomson Reuters report on the “decline in American science”: The US is beginning to lose its scientific dominance. That’s the message from Thomson Reuters, the people behind EndNote and impact factors. According to a report in their publication ScienceWatch, the US’ science… Continue reading Nationalism and Science
All Courses Are Not Created Equal
The Dean Dad is annoyed with the New York Times, for an article about how the recession is affecting the humanities. The whole piece is worth a read, but he singles out a quote from the former president of my alma mater: Some large state universities routinely turn away students who want to sign up… Continue reading All Courses Are Not Created Equal
What Do You Do Well?
ScienceWoman offers a good discussion question: You are in a room with a bunch of other female faculty/post-docs/grad students from your university. You know a few of them, but most of them are unfamiliar to you. The convener of the meeting asks each of you to introduce yourself by answering the following question: “What is… Continue reading What Do You Do Well?
Photons Are Particles
Over at Dot Physics, Rhett is taking another whack at photons. If you recall, the last time he did this wasn’t too successful, and this round fares no better: So back to the photon. In my original post I made the claim that the photoelectric effect is not a great experiment to show photons. Maybe… Continue reading Photons Are Particles
Academic Poll Results: Exam Reporting
the results from yesterday’s poll on reporting exam scores were pretty strongly divided. 47% favored giving histograms, or some very detailed breakdown, while 33% were in favor of statistical measures only (mean, standard deviation, extrema, that sort of thing). 19% were in favor of giving no collective information at all. My own usual practice is… Continue reading Academic Poll Results: Exam Reporting
Academic Poll Results: Formula Sheets
Tallying up the results of yesterday’s poll about formula sheets (as of 8:00 Tuesday morning, 39 total comments), people were overwhelmingly in favor of formula sheets. 72% of respondents reported being allowed to use formula sheets as students, and 69% were in favor of allowing formula sheets as faculty. A substantial number of the “no”… Continue reading Academic Poll Results: Formula Sheets