10.
The redeeming value of Cable TV is in C-SPAN. And C-SPAN is more than just politics. Folks at C-SPAN do not just follow our elected officials representing us in Congress. There are call in talk shows, features covering important gatherings of the academia and even insider video tours of the White House and other historicallly important buildings.
My favorite however, is the weekend show BookTV , an amazing place to find book reviews. I have enjoyed watching many shows of "After Words", a meet-the-author interview program. Some of these shows feature important works that the mainstream channels or networks would not normally attempt.
One such show was an interview with Michael Belfiore, author of "Department of Mad Scientists", a book on DARPA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Now if you, like me, have been led to believe that Steve Jobs and his "iPod people" are the only idea makers around, this is the show to watch. DARPA did not just transform our life with internet and GPS. It is working on more and much more. Like "bullets" that fly themselves. A car that drives itself. A truly bionic arm. I know, it is mostly for the military. But as Belfiore explained on the show, there are quite a few ideas brewing in there which could end up impacting civilian life in a major way.
(Yes, I love lists.That means there is more to come.)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
The best things in life are free ...during the ninety day trial period
Google returned about 1.5 million hits for the search phrase "Physics Sucks". That is about twice as many hits for "Math Sucks" and a hundred thousand more than what I got for "Chemistry Sucks". (My intention, by the way, was not to use a vulgar search term. Instead, it is probably the most likely phrase a frustrated college student might use in association with a painful course, required or elective.)
I believe that, in addition to the student being a Science junkie, sustained effort is required to tame the Physics beast. Then it can be very rewarding. But my experience tells me it is next to impossible to ask the current generation of entitled and distracted college students to put in an honest minimum of three hours of work every week. Therefore, it makes sense to compare enrollment, retention and course completion rates for Physics on a yardstick different from that for humanities, math and even other Science courses.
But is there a way to establish a tradition of a Physics course that draws in students promising high quality teaching delivered for comparatively low cost to students? The built-in promise is "Hang in there; we, the faculty at a two year college also throw in small class sizes and caring, highly qualified instructors for no additional cost. it will be well worth your effort." When the course runs like a well oiled machine, class after class of students have come in and finally succeeded in Physics after failing at four year institutions, then it is time to jack up course tuition! If I sound like a greedy entrepreneur, I am just following the good old American know how of the technology era: websites that give compelling, quality content free for a trial peiod, draw in millions of users and then promptly build a paywall.
Ah, if only the departments at public institutions had the leeway to set different tiers of tuition...
(To be continued)
I believe that, in addition to the student being a Science junkie, sustained effort is required to tame the Physics beast. Then it can be very rewarding. But my experience tells me it is next to impossible to ask the current generation of entitled and distracted college students to put in an honest minimum of three hours of work every week. Therefore, it makes sense to compare enrollment, retention and course completion rates for Physics on a yardstick different from that for humanities, math and even other Science courses.
But is there a way to establish a tradition of a Physics course that draws in students promising high quality teaching delivered for comparatively low cost to students? The built-in promise is "Hang in there; we, the faculty at a two year college also throw in small class sizes and caring, highly qualified instructors for no additional cost. it will be well worth your effort." When the course runs like a well oiled machine, class after class of students have come in and finally succeeded in Physics after failing at four year institutions, then it is time to jack up course tuition! If I sound like a greedy entrepreneur, I am just following the good old American know how of the technology era: websites that give compelling, quality content free for a trial peiod, draw in millions of users and then promptly build a paywall.
Ah, if only the departments at public institutions had the leeway to set different tiers of tuition...
(To be continued)
Sunday, June 6, 2010
My top ten list for Physics teaching
10. Wired magazine's "Top Ten Amazing Physics Videos". Students loved the Large Hadron Collider rap video from this link which I showed as the grand finale to my College Physics course.
9. What do catcher's mitts, automobile airbags and Spiderman's webbing have in common? They all can be understood by doing rate of change of momentum calculations. Dr.Jim Kakalios, Physics Professor at University of Minnesota shows how!
8. School for Champions is a gentle introduction to high school Physics for students who have never encountered Physics at the secondary school level.
7. Thank God for technology. Professor Walter Lewin of MIT has become an internet legend through his old school, superstar lecture style videos reaching millions of Physics students worldwide.
6. Harvard Physics Professor Eric Mazur declares war on old school style Physics lectures . It is absolutely wicked fun to watch his "confessions".
5. Since my alma mater can not be far behind in streaming videos, master Physics educator Prof. V. Balakrishnan holds students in rapt attention on Classical Physics. I wish he had been my Physics teacher much much earlier in my career than the graduate course he taught me.
4. It is more reliable than Wikipedia and very accessible for student research on Physics. I often turn to Hyperphysics for a quick search myself.
3. There are Physics simulations on the internet and then there is PhET, University of Colorado at Boulder's pride and joy.
2. David J. Griffith's "Classical Electrodynamics", an engaging text which I used in my beginning years of graduate school still brings a lump in my throat when I read these lines "The implication is tantalizing. Perhaps light is an electromagnetic wave."
1. I include "Feynman's Lectures" not just as a nod to popular sentiment and timeless appeal. Every day, when I boil water for tea first thing in the morning, I can not but replay in my mind his two paragraphs on molecular motions leading to evaporation.
You will notice that the top two items on the list are not visual elements. Good old solid pieces of writing. And they do not need hyperlinks.
9. What do catcher's mitts, automobile airbags and Spiderman's webbing have in common? They all can be understood by doing rate of change of momentum calculations. Dr.Jim Kakalios, Physics Professor at University of Minnesota shows how!
8. School for Champions is a gentle introduction to high school Physics for students who have never encountered Physics at the secondary school level.
7. Thank God for technology. Professor Walter Lewin of MIT has become an internet legend through his old school, superstar lecture style videos reaching millions of Physics students worldwide.
6. Harvard Physics Professor Eric Mazur declares war on old school style Physics lectures . It is absolutely wicked fun to watch his "confessions".
5. Since my alma mater can not be far behind in streaming videos, master Physics educator Prof. V. Balakrishnan holds students in rapt attention on Classical Physics. I wish he had been my Physics teacher much much earlier in my career than the graduate course he taught me.
4. It is more reliable than Wikipedia and very accessible for student research on Physics. I often turn to Hyperphysics for a quick search myself.
3. There are Physics simulations on the internet and then there is PhET, University of Colorado at Boulder's pride and joy.
2. David J. Griffith's "Classical Electrodynamics", an engaging text which I used in my beginning years of graduate school still brings a lump in my throat when I read these lines "The implication is tantalizing. Perhaps light is an electromagnetic wave."
1. I include "Feynman's Lectures" not just as a nod to popular sentiment and timeless appeal. Every day, when I boil water for tea first thing in the morning, I can not but replay in my mind his two paragraphs on molecular motions leading to evaporation.
You will notice that the top two items on the list are not visual elements. Good old solid pieces of writing. And they do not need hyperlinks.
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