| Teaching is a great adventure. Just when you think you understand how students get "it", they don't because you have changed or they have changed or "it" has changed. I have been involved in a number of different projects concerned with pedagogy. Most of these projects are aimed at undergraduate science education, but many have applications in a variety of other subjects and at various levels. I think I can say without a doubt that there are ways of being more effective in the classroom that anyone can learn. Certainly there are "born" teachers. In my mind, these are the people that can find a way to motivate students to learn things, but most of us do not have that special gift. For us, we need to understand what students know, what they don't know and how most effectively they can learn the material. Inherent in this is for us, as teachers, to understand what material is truely important. In physics and science education this can be a tricky question. One of the most recent things I have been involved in is working up demonstrations that we can take into Elementary school environments. Andy Rundquist and I have been inspired by the work of the Physics Force . This group of HIgh school and college level Physics teachers has put together some very fun and amazing Physics demos. Andy and I are committed to (or should be committed) to developing our own set with our own brand of humor for schools. Here are a few examples of what we have put together so far: . Our first example deals with how sound and waves travel. | |
|
