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2007

Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?, at Fudan University (Shanghai, China), Monday, March 26, 2007:
talk_1313.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 Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?
Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?, at Committee on University Resources Annual Symposium, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), Saturday, March 17, 2007:
talk_1305.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 Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?
Wrapping light around a hair, at AP298r NSEC Course, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), Wednesday, March 14, 2007:
talk_1304.pdf
Can light be guided by a fiber whose diameter is much smaller than the wavelength of the light? Can we mold the flow of light on the micrometer scale so it wraps, say, around a hair? Until recently the answer to these questions was ‘no’. We developed a technique for drawing long, free-standing silica wires with diameters down to 50 nm that have a surface smoothness at the atomic level and a high uniformity of diameter. Light can be launched into these silica nanowires by optical evanescent coupling and the wires allow low-loss single-mode operation. They can be bent sharply, making it... Read more about Wrapping light around a hair
Reducing the gender gap in introductory physics, at American Physical Society March meeting (Denver, CO), Monday, March 5, 2007:
talk_1302.pdf
We investigated whether the gender gap in conceptual understanding in an introductory university physics course can be reduced by teaching with interactive engagement methods that promote in-class interaction, reduce competition, foster collaboration, and emphasize conceptual understanding. To this end, we analyzed data from the introductory calculus-based physics course for non-majors at Harvard University taught traditionally or using different degrees of interactive engagement. Our results show that teaching with certain interactive strategies not only yields significantly increased... Read more about Reducing the gender gap in introductory physics
Promise and pitfalls of reformed instruction for female students, part II, at Physics Teacher Education Coalition 2007 Conference, American Physical Society PTEC (Boulder, CO), Saturday, March 3, 2007:
talk_1301.pdf
In this workshop, we will examine how reformed instruction can both help and potentially hinder female students, depending on exactly how it is implemented. In the first segment of the workshop, the workshop leaders will review pertinent research on the origins of the underrepresentation of women in the physical sciences and factors promoting the success of female students in science and mathematics classrooms. In the second portion of this workshop, participants will discuss how to structure learning in their classrooms based on insights from existing research, and will also identify... Read more about Promise and pitfalls of reformed instruction for female students, part II
Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?, at 2007 Joint Annual Conference of the National Society of Black Physicists and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists (Boston, MA), Friday, February 23, 2007:
talk_1294.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 Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?
How the mind tricks us: visualizations and visual illusions, at International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, Westin Copley Plaza (Boston, MA), Friday, February 16, 2007:
talk_1274.pdf
Neurobiology and cognitive psychology have made great progress in understanding how the mind processes information – in particular visual information. The knowledge we can gain from these fields has important implications for the presentation of visual information and student learning
Efficient coupling between guided optical modes in ZnO nanowire-waveguides and tapered silica fibers, at Photonics West 2007 (San Jose, CA), Thursday, January 25, 2007:
talk_1295.pdf
We combine top-down and bottom-up processes for the fabrication of photonic nanowires to efficiently inject and extract light from waveguide modes of ZnO nanowires lying on low refractive index silica aerogel substrates. Our approach relies on the emission of propagating modes of the light field from a tapered silica fiber and the efficient coupling of the emitted field into the high-index ZnO nanowires. We show that this approach provides a robust and surprisingly efficient technique to study the waveguiding properties of semiconductor nanowires. The experimental results are confirmed and... Read more about Efficient coupling between guided optical modes in ZnO nanowire-waveguides and tapered silica fibers

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