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Catherine H. Crouch

Comparing properties of femtosecond and nanosecond laser-structured silicon, at Materials Research Society Fall Meeting (Boston, MA), Monday, December 2, 2002:
talk_451.pdf
Sharp microcones form on crystalline silicon surfaces upon irradiation with either femtosecond or nanosecond laser pulses in a sulfur hexafluoride environment. While the general shape and aspect ratio of femtosecond and nanosecond laser cones are similar, several features (such as size and position relative to the original surface) suggest that different mechanisms may be involved in the formation of these structures. The microscopic structure and optoelectronic properties of surfaces covered with nanosecond or femtosecond laser cones could therefore differ as well. We compare the optical... Read more about Comparing properties of femtosecond and nanosecond laser-structured silicon
Classroom Demonstrations: Learning Tools or Entertainment?, at Physics colloquium, Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA), Friday, April 19, 2002:
talk_427.pdf
Classroom science demonstrations are intended to serve two important purposes: to increase students’ interest in the material being covered and to improve students’ understanding of the underlying scientific concepts. Student end-of-semester evaluations typically praise demonstrations as one of the most interesting parts of a course, suggesting that demonstrations accomplish the first objective. What about the second? Do demonstrations effectively help students learn the underlying concepts? We examined whether the mode of presentation of demonstrations affects their effectiveness as teaching... Read more about Classroom Demonstrations: Learning Tools or Entertainment?
Classroom Demonstrations: More Than Just Entertainment?, at Physics Colloquium, Worcestert Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA), Monday, November 19, 2001
Classroom demonstrations in science courses are intended to serve two important purposes: to increase students’ interest in the material being covered and to improve students’ understanding of the underlying scientific concepts. Student end-of-semester evaluations typically praise demonstrations as one of the most interesting parts of a course, suggesting that demonstrations accomplish the first objective. What about the second? Do demonstrations effectively help students learn the underlying concepts? We examined whether the manner of presentation of demonstrations affects their... Read more about Classroom Demonstrations: More Than Just Entertainment?
Classroom Demonstrations: More Than Just Entertainment?, at Physics Colloquium, Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI), Thursday, September 27, 2001
Classroom demonstrations in science courses are intended to serve two important purposes: to increase students’ interest in the material being covered and to improve students’ understanding of the underlying scientific concepts. Student end-of-semester evaluations typically praise demonstrations as one of the most interesting parts of a course, suggesting that demonstrations accomplish the first objective. What about the second? Do demonstrations effectively help students learn the underlying concepts? We examined whether the manner of presentation of demonstrations affects their... Read more about Classroom Demonstrations: More Than Just Entertainment?
Classroom Demonstrations: More Than Just Entertainment?, at Physics colloquium, Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI), Thursday, September 27, 2001:
talk_414.pdf
Classroom demonstrations in science courses are intended to serve two important purposes: to increase students’ interest in the material being covered and to improve students’ understanding of the underlying scientific concepts. Student end-of-semester evaluations typically praise demonstrations as one of the most interesting parts of a course, suggesting that demonstrations accomplish the first objective. What about the second? Do demonstrations effectively help students learn the underlying concepts? We examined whether the manner of presentation of demonstrations affects their... Read more about Classroom Demonstrations: More Than Just Entertainment?
Below-band gap absorption in microstructured silicon, at Optical Society of America Annual Meeting (Providence, RI), Tuesday, October 24, 2000:
talk_360.pdf
We report two remarkable properties of silicon surfaces that are microstructured with laser-assisted etching: the absorptance for wavelengths between 0.25 and 2.5 micrometers is 97% or more, and photoelectrons are produced at 1.3 micrometers. We also report chemical and structural analysis of the microstructured material.
Peer Instruction: Turning a Lecture Into a Seminar, at Physics colloquium, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), Wednesday, February 9, 2000:
talk_334.pdf
Education is more than just transfer of information, yet that is mostly what happens in large introductory courses -- instructors present material and students take down as many notes as they can. This format tends to reinforce the idea that learning is about acquiring information rather than gaining new ways of thinking. In undergraduate science, however, learning consists primarily of developing new thinking skills; this mismatch between instruction and learning leads to students misunderstanding what science is, as well as frustration for both students and instructors. The problem has a... Read more about Peer Instruction: Turning a Lecture Into a Seminar
Peer Instruction: Turning a Lecture Into a Seminar, at Colloquium, Department of Physics, Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, NC), Thursday, January 20, 2000:
talk_327.pdf
Education is more than just transfer of information, yet that is mostly what happens in large introductory courses -- instructors present material and students take down as many notes as they can. This format tends to reinforce the idea that learning is about acquiring information rather than gaining new ways of thinking. In undergraduate science, however, learning consists primarily of developing new thinking skills; this mismatch between instruction and learning leads to students misunderstanding what science is, as well as frustration for both students and instructors. The problem has a... Read more about Peer Instruction: Turning a Lecture Into a Seminar
ConcepTests in Introductory Physics: What Do Students Get Out of Them?, at American Association of Physics Teachers Winter 2000 Meeting (Kissimmee, FL), Tuesday, January 18, 2000:
talk_316.pdf
ConcepTests (conceptual questions asked during class) are designed to allow the students to think about material that has just been presented, as well as to help the instructor assess students' understanding. Ideally, roughly half of the class answers a ConcepTest correctly on their own; after next discussing their answers with their fellow students, many more agree on the correct answer. We report on students' ability, long after a ConcepTest is asked in class, to explain the answer to a free-response exam question different from the ConcepTest, but involving the same underlying ideas.... Read more about ConcepTests in Introductory Physics: What Do Students Get Out of Them?
Confusion: Students' Perception vs. Reality, at American Association of Physics Teachers Winter 2000 Meeting (Kissimmee, FL), Tuesday, January 18, 2000:
talk_317.pdf
Should an instructor be discouraged when students say ""I'm confused""? This is a crucial issue for educational reform, because students often report feeling more confused when they are asked to think more for themselves. We report on an analysis of the relationship between perceived confusion and understanding in introductory physics. We asked 200 students during one semester to indicate what, if anything, they found difficult or confusing in their pre-class reading assignment and correlated their responses to answers they provided on questions on corresponding topics. Preliminary results... Read more about Confusion: Students' Perception vs. Reality

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