A spring TA offer that adds a spring to my step

Hopefully the regular readers of this blog have deduced that I am driven to invoke enthusiasm about physics (and science in general) in anyone I come into contact with. One factor motivating me is the fact that people generally have misconceptions about science and scientists that push them away from learning wonderful things about the world. Recently, I found a link to a subsite of SEED magazine that overviews the current state of science. The site, among many other things, highlights this public perception of science.

I also happily discovered that one of my fleeting ideas involving mixing coffee and science has actually been well established for a while! Maybe you’re like me and you like the idea of discussing interesting aspects of science in a coffee shop setting. If you are, and you haven’t heard of science cafés, behold!

Science cafés are live events that involve a face-to-face conversation with a scientist about current science topics. They are open to everyone, and take place in casual settings like pubs and coffeehouses.

At a café you can… learn about the latest issues in science, chat with a scientist in plain language, meet new friends, speak your mind and, talk with your mouth full.

And to make things even better, there are even a few in Canada. One of which, based in Toronto, I hope to check out sometime in the near future. When I do, you’ll hear about it.

Let me also remind you of my dissatisfaction with conventional teaching methods (in physics), which I think can potentially do more harm than good at the introductory level. After all this buildup I can now tell you what the title of this post has been alluding to and hopefully you will understand my excitement. I just attended the first TA meeting to prepare me for the new pilot physics lab course at the University of Toronto. The physics department has caught on to what physics education researchers have been saying for a while: conventional lectures add little or nothing to a student’s conceptual understanding about basic physics concepts. One tested improvement on physics education is called Peer Instruction which takes advantage of the fact that students predominantly learn best by interacting with each other. The U of T physics department is applying this method to one of the introductory physics courses. The curriculum emphasizes a hands-on approach to learning. Students work in small groups on conceptual problems which force them to discover things for themselves. The TAs act as guides who pose leading questions rather than giving solutions away (which sounds right up my alley!).

Even the architecture of the rooms has been completely rethought (I’ll post pictures when I have a chance). They are shiny new rooms with hexagonal workstations able to seat a group of students. The workstations are each equipped with desktop computers and conveniently placed electrical sockets (for laptops, lab apparatus, etc…). The walls adjacent to the workstations are covered with panes of translucent glass which, other than looking stylish, act as “whiteboards” on which to work. One of the professors described the motivation behind the architecture as follows:

If you walk into a fast-food joint, there is an obviously placed counter underneath billboards that show the menu items and combos. There is a cash register at one end and meal trays on the other. Upon seeing this configuration, it is obvious that a customer should walk up to the counter, place their order, pay, and then sit down and eat. By contrast, a fancy restaurant contains groups of tables and a cash register near the door. Again, the architecture communicates that in order to get food, one should sit down, wait for someone to take your order, then pay when you are ready to leave.

In the same way, a lecture hall gives the following message to a student: sit down, the teacher will be the center of your attention, and don’t talk to each other. These new rooms fight that message by encouraging the opposite: group work and peer instruction.

Apparently they’ve conducted a pilot program for this course. I asked about the effect it has had on the students’ learning and overall impression of physics. The professor commented that the grades on the midterm have greatly improved from previous years. But what I find more exciting is his comment that he now sees students who, after being forced to leave the classroom, seek out unlocked classrooms to further discuss with each other what they’ve just learned! And these aren’t physics majors. These are students from varied programs of study!

… and I get to be a Teaching Assistant…
or should that be Learning Assistant now…

Who are you and what do you want from me?

Hello all. Posting is slow again this week. I blame life. (Don’t worry I have a good one in the works that I hope you’ll like).

In the mean time, my readership seems to be steadily growing and I’ve been looking for an excuse to try out this new poll feature in wordpress. So I’d appreciate if you could answer this poll I’ve set up to help me get a better idea of who my readers are and what your background is in physics. You see, I have no idea if my explanations are addressing the right audience. If you feel like telling me more in the comments, I’d love to hear what your interests are in physics and maybe what you’re hoping to see (or see more of) on Morning Coffee Physics.

Cheers!

Blogging for Charity

From the relatively few number of readers I seem to have, this post is probably a drop in the ocean. But hey, it’s something. If you haven’t heard of the DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge, then, well… you have now! Every year DonorsChoose asks bloggers around the net to get their readers to donate towards improving public schools of their choice from a list. This is actually a U.S. effort, but why should that stop me from advertising it?

Besides, I’m not really advertising for my own blog. I’m going to point you all to one of my favorite blogs: Cosmic Variance. They have prepared their own challenge as Sean describes here:

It’s a simple and compelling model: individual classrooms isolate a pressing need, and donors can choose which projects to support. We’ve picked out a number of great projects that will help students learn about science in fun, hands-on ways, and we’re going to be adding a few more soon.

We’ve set a fundraising goal of $10,000 over the next month. That sounds like a lot, but it is enormously less than the capacity of our readers; we get about 5,000 hits per day, so that’s a pitiful $2/visitor. But most visitors, we understand, are wimps. So if we get $20/person from the 10% of visitors who are not wimps, we hit the goal. But it’s okay to go over! If we fall short, you should all feel embarrassed.

So, go now! Give a few bucks to help improve scientific literacy in the world!

Old blog. New coordinates.

Hello there, newcomers and faithful fans.

I’ve finished moving my old blog at blogspot to… well… here! If you don’t know what this blog is all about (and can’t guess from the title), it’s about physics! Physics concepts, random tidbits, interesting events, etc.

…but why coffee, you ask?

I like coffee. I like physics.  Why not somehow unify the two? You can also check the “about this blog” link at the top. I will be fleshing it out in days to come.

I’ve got a lot of new post ideas, so stay tuned…

Until then… here! Have a physics related comic strip. Or better yet, have two.