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1998

Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?, at Physics Colloquium, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), Monday, February 9, 1998
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 Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?
Ultrafast laser induced microexplosions: explosive dynamics and sub-micrometer structures, at Photonics West 1998 (San Jose, CA), Monday, January 26, 1998
Tightly focused femtosecond laser pulses can be nonlinearly absorbed inside transparent materials, creating a highly excited electron – ion plasma. These conditions exist only in a small volume at the laser focus. This tight confinement and extreme conditions lead to an explosive expansion — a microexplosion. In solid materials, a microexplosion can result in permanent structural changes. We find that the damage produced by femtosecond pulses in this way is surprisingly small, with only a 200-nm diameter. Material left at the center of the microexplosion is either amorphous and less dense or... Read more about Ultrafast laser induced microexplosions: explosive dynamics and sub-micrometer structures
Gauging What Students Understand -- In Class, at American Association of Physics Teachers Winter Meeting (New Orleans, LA), Monday, January 5, 1998
In Peer Instruction, the instructor of a large lecture class periodically poses questions to the students; the students think about these questions individually and then discuss them in small groups. A student described this method as ""turning a large lecture into a seminar."" For Peer Instruction to be successful, the instructor needs a way to gauge the students' understanding of a particular question. Instructors around the country have used a show of hands, flash cards, and electronic techniques to learn students¹ answers. We will present our latest findings on the implementation of Peer... Read more about Gauging What Students Understand -- In Class

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