Is there a sense in which IPLS courses like Phys 131 and 132 here at UMass, are courses with diversity as a central component? A recent meeting of my Teaching for Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity Fellowship which had Including Aspects of Identity in Course Design as the theme, got me thinking about this question.
Continue reading Introductory Physics for Life Sciences (IPLS) as a Diversity Course?
I just gave the second midterm in my P132 course covering physical/wave optics and electrostatics with a few questions on the previous material of quantum mechanics and geometric optics. One of the comments I often see when I ask students to reflect on their preparation is along the lines of, “I did all the extra practice problems but still did poorly on the exam.” When I ask these students one-on-one about their study habits, it seems that often, while they do try every problem, their procedure when they get stuck is inefficient.
Continue reading Getting students to solve problems effectively
As I am going through teaching P132 – Introductory Physics II: What is an electron? What is light? I have noticed a good instructional goal that I did not consider back at the beginning of the semester when I was first planning out the course: developing an appreciation that nonsensical mathematical results can still possess physical meaning. In P132, there are several topics where the formulae can give nonsense answers. Two more straight-forward examples include Snell’s Law n1 sin θ1 = n2 sin θ2 and quantization conditions requiring integers.
Continue reading An observation regarding instructional goals in P132
Well a new semester has begun at UMass-Amherst, and the group has lots of interesting new projects!
I definitely believe that there is a perception of what a scientist is/looks-like in the cultural zeitgeist. I also believe that this image bears little resemblance to many of the scientists that I know. The This is what a Scientist Looks Like project is out to help correct this difference. I encourage you all to take a look!