If you teach science at university (or, I suggest, at school too) and have an hour free (ha ha) this recent lecture by Eric Mazur is well worth a listen. I’m willing to bet that it will be an hour well invested. http://www.youtube.com/user/uwaterloo#p/u/41/tn1DLFnbGOo Here’s three points I thought were particularly significant (to the point that […]
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Something to ponder if you’re a girl interested in science
[20 December 2010 – Please read the comment about the title here] I just throw up the following factoids from the Australian Institute of Physics congress. Maybe together they mean something. Let me know… 1. Not many women do physics at university. (That wasn’t from the congress – every physicist knows it) 2. Female students do […]
Continue readingExperimenting
One of my talks last week concerned a piece of work I’d done with my second year experimental physics class this year. Before going to Melbourne, I gave the talk a trial run at the University of Waikato’s ‘celebrating teaching’ day. It provoked a few comments then, and a few more in Melbourne, so I […]
Continue readingLearning outcomes
This week I’ve had three fairly lively discussions about learning outcomes in our university papers. (It’s well blogged already – e.g. here, but I’ll add some things to the mix). The concept is hardly new, but it is only just being given a really wide profile here at Waikato. Although many individual teachers, and many […]
Continue readingThe3is in Three final
The final of The3is in Three was a couple of weeks ago now – so I thought I’d better mention it before it becomes too out of date. As was the case last year, it was a great evening of entertainment, compered wonderfully by Te Radar. There were ten stunning three-minute presentations, covering all areas […]
Continue readingPendulum mayhem
One of the main intentions of our 2nd year Experimental Physics paper at the University of Waikato is to have students learn how to put together a physics experiment that measures something, and to measure that thing in a systematic and robust manner. What that means in practice is dealing with uncertainties. Whereas the average […]
Continue readingThe3is in Three is Back
October is ‘Postgraduate Studies Month’ here at the University of Waikato, and the highlight is ‘The3is in Three’.I talked about it last year – it’s a competition in which PhD students have to explain their research in three minutes using just one powerpoint slide. This year two of my PhD students have done very well. One […]
Continue readingMaths and Physics
I had this lovely piece of written feedback in an email from a student yesterday. I … think your emphasis on the physics rather than the math that describes it … is really good, my problem solving approach has changed from wondering what equations I have at my disposal to what’s actually going on. What […]
Continue readingScholarship exams – answer the question
Last Saturday I did a morning session with high-school students who are preparing to sit the NZQA scholarship exam in physics later this year. This exam is aimed at the top students in any year group – with an aim of rewarding them and recognizing excellence. The questions are certainly hard – and to do […]
Continue readingFor example…
A couple of days ago I overheard a student asking another staff member if they could see an example of some work done by the previous year’s students, to help them with a current assignment. I think most lecturers get asked that fairly frequently, and I’m not quite sure what the best response is. On […]
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