HOME / PRESENTATIONS /

education

Teaching Physics, Conservation Laws First, at University of Akron (Akron, OH), Thursday, February 23, 2017:
talk_2681.pdf
The Principles and Practice of Physics is a groundbreaking new calculus-based introductory physics textbook that uses a unique organization and pedagogy to allow students to develop a true conceptual understanding of physics alongside the quantitative skills needed in the course. The book organizes introductory physics around the conservation principles and provides a unified contemporary view of introductory physics. In this talk we will discuss the unique architecture of the book, the conservation-laws-first approach, and results obtained with this book.
Innovating Education to Educate Innovators: Lessons from Physics Education Research, at 2017 AAAS Annual Meeting (Boston, MA), Friday, February 17, 2017:
talk_2636.pdf
Education research in the sciences began with physicists who sought to improve undergraduate education in that discipline. Physics education research (PER) established standards for evidence that increasingly have been adopted by researchers across the sciences. This presentation will provide an overview of PER, the pedagogical changes that PER has inspired in undergraduate physics courses and programs, and the implications of this work for improving undergraduate education in other disciplines.
Teaching Physics, Conservation Laws First, at Mastering Leadership Community Summit (Tucson, AZ), Thursday, February 16, 2017:
talk_2684.pdf
The Principles and Practice of Physics is a groundbreaking new calculus-based introductory physics textbook that uses a unique organization and pedagogy to allow students to develop a true conceptual understanding of physics alongside the quantitative skills needed in the course. The book organizes introductory physics around the conservation principles and provides a unified contemporary view of introductory physics. In this talk we will discuss the unique architecture of the book, the conservation-laws-first approach, and results obtained with this book.
Getting every student ready for every class, at Webinar (Cambridge, MA), Wednesday, February 15, 2017:
talk_2665.pdf
Over the past decades there has been a concerted push away from passive lecturing to active engagement in the classroom. A successful implementation of the so-called flipped classroom requires students to come to class prepared, either by reading the textbook or watching a pre-recorded video. A variety approaches have been devised to get students to take responsibility for this information transfer, but none manage to get all students to participate, compromising the in-class activities. I will present a new approach to get every student to prepare for every class using a new social learning... Read more about Getting every student ready for every class
Getting every student ready for every class, at ZHAW University of Applied Sciences (Winterthur, Switzerland), Wednesday, January 18, 2017:
talk_2675.pdf
Over the past decades there has been a concerted push away from passive lecturing to active engagement in the classroom. A successful implementation of the so-called flipped classroom requires students to come to class prepared, either by reading the textbook or watching a pre-recorded video. A variety approaches have been devised to get students to take responsibility for this information transfer, but none manage to get all students to participate, compromising the in-class activities. In this interactive workshop, I will present a new approach to get every student to prepare for every... Read more about Getting every student ready for every class
Innovating Education to Educate Innovators, at ZHAW University of Applied Sciences (Winterthur, Switzerland), Tuesday, January 17, 2017:
talk_2674.pdf
Can we teach innovation? Innovation requires whole-brain thinking — right-brain thinking for creativity and imagination, and left-brain thinking for planning and execution. Our current approach to education in science and technology, focuses on the transfer of information, developing mostly right-brain thinking by stressing copying and reproducing existing ideas rather than generating new ones. I will show how shifting the focus in lectures from delivering information to team work and creative thinking greatly improves the learning that takes place in the classroom and promotes independent... Read more about Innovating Education to Educate Innovators
Designing assessment questions, at Teaching Retreat, ETH Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland), Monday, January 16, 2017
In this workshop we will analyze the components of effective assessment questions.
How assessment drives (or stifles) learning, at Teaching Retreat, ETH Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland), Monday, January 16, 2017:
talk_2670.pdf
Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts succeed? One reason is that most, if not all, of our current assessment practices are inauthentic. Just as the lecture focuses on the delivery of information to students, so does assessment often focus on having students regurgitate that same information back to the instructor. Consequently, assessment fails to focus on the skills that are relevant in life in the 21st century. Assessment has been called the "hidden curriculum" as it is an important driver of students' study habits. Unless we rethink our approach to... Read more about How assessment drives (or stifles) learning
Innovating Education to Educate Innovators, at Joint 13th Asia-Pacific Physics Conference (APPC) and 22nd Australian Institute of Physics Congress (AIP) (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), Monday, December 5, 2016:
talk_2660.pdf
Can we teach innovation? Innovation requires whole-brain thinking — right-brain thinking for creativity and imagination, and left-brain thinking for planning and execution. Our current approach to education in science and technology, focuses on the transfer of information, developing mostly right-brain thinking by stressing copying and reproducing existing ideas rather than generating new ones. I will show how shifting the focus in lectures from delivering information to team work and creative thinking greatly improves the learning that takes place in the classroom and promotes independent... Read more about Innovating Education to Educate Innovators
Peer Instruction, at Physics and Astronomy New Faculty Workshop (College Park, MD), Thursday, November 17, 2016:
talk_2667.pdf
Education is more than just transfer of information, yet that is what is mostly done in large introductory courses -- instructors present material (even though this material might be readily available in printed form) and for students the main purpose of lectures is to take down as many notes as they can. Few students have the ability, motivation, and discipline to synthesize all the information delivered to them. Yet synthesis is perhaps the most important -- and most elusive -- aspect of education. I will show how shifting the focus in lectures from delivering information to synthesizing... Read more about Peer Instruction

Pages