A number of people have commented on the big New York Times article about the new intro physics classes at MIT: At M.I.T., two introductory courses are still required — classical mechanics and electromagnetism — but today they meet in high-tech classrooms, where about 80 students sit at 13 round tables equipped with networked computers.… Continue reading Pros and Cons of Interactive Classes
Category: Education
What’s in a Name, Anyway?
Over at Dot Physics, Rhett is trying to learn his students’ names: I have students sitting at tables (in this class and in labs). As they are working on something, I go around and write down who is sitting where. Yes, this means that you have to actually ask each student what their names is… Continue reading What’s in a Name, Anyway?
Building a Better Student Evaluation
If you’ve been a student or faculty member at an American college or university in the past twenty years or so, you’ve almost certainly run across student course evaluation surveys. They’re different in detail, but the key idea is always the same: toward the end of the term, students in every course are asked to… Continue reading Building a Better Student Evaluation
Why Teach “Modern Physics?”
The scare quotes in the title are to distinguish “Modern Physics” classes like the one I’m teaching this term from modern physics as a general subject, which, of course, all right-thinking people should study in depth. The question comes from a comment by Coriolis on last week’s post about what “Modern Physics” is as a… Continue reading Why Teach “Modern Physics?”
Textbook Prices: Highway Robbery, or High-Seas Piracy?
There was a mix-up in textbook ordering for this term (entirely my fault), and the books for my modern physics course were not in the bookstore when the term started. I made a spare copy available in the interim, and also half-jokingly suggested buying it from Amazon rather than waiting for the bookstore to get… Continue reading Textbook Prices: Highway Robbery, or High-Seas Piracy?
Half-Baked Course Idea: Great Experiments
A couple years ago, we revised the General Education requirements at the college to require all students to take a “Sophomore Research Seminar” in their second year. These classes are supposed to be writing-intensive, and introduce students to the basics of academic research. The specified course components are pretty heavily slanted toward the humanities– library… Continue reading Half-Baked Course Idea: Great Experiments
Applications of Quantum Mechanics
Over at the theoretical physics beach party, Moshe is talking about teaching quantum mechanics, specifically an elective course for upper-level undergraduates. He’s looking for some suggestions of special topics: The course it titled “Applications of quantum mechanics”, and is covering the second half of the text by David Griffiths, whose textbooks I find to be… Continue reading Applications of Quantum Mechanics
The Fine Line Between Plagiarism and Necessary Repetition
My senior thesis student this year came to my office today to ask a question as he’s starting to work on writing his thesis. I’ve given him copies of the theses of the last couple of students to work in my lab, and asked him to start on a draft of the background sections. He… Continue reading The Fine Line Between Plagiarism and Necessary Repetition
Standards Are the Enemy of Achievement
The US Chamber of Commerce has a education website, which provides “grades” for states based on various measures of their educational performance. One category is “Academic Achievement,” based on the percentages of students scoring at or above grade level on the NAEP test. Another is “Rigor of Standards,” which is a little fuzzier, but is… Continue reading Standards Are the Enemy of Achievement
Tenure Is Not the Problem
Steve Hsu has a nice post on teaching, following up on the Malcolm Gladwell piece that everyone is talking about. Steve took the time to track down the Brookings Institute report mentioned in the piece, and highlights two graphs: The top figure shows that certification has no impact on teaching effectiveness. The second shows that… Continue reading Tenure Is Not the Problem