I was pleased and surprised to read that Carl Wieman was leaving
Boulder and coming to the University of British Columbia to work on
the problems of physics teaching earlier this week in the Vancouver
Sun. I am a retired physics professor from Simon Fraser University,
across town from UBC, and one of the founders of the BC Section of
the American Association of Physics Teachers. I am further encouraged
by what David Epstein has written here. I can add some local
intelligence which will explain my attitude to any who might think
that British Columbia is a strange geographical choice to nurture
such an activity.
British Columbia has a first rate record for secondary mathematics
and physics teaching based on its students' performances in national
competitive examinations. We have an enthusiastic and committed group
of high school physics teachers, perhaps because our teachers are
fairly well paid compared to their US peers. Wieman will be working
with an exceptionally well prepared student body at UBC. I see great
merit in applying his peer involvement methods to this population.
Brian Pate tried student feedback at SFU in 1966 in his chemistry
lectures. A 300+ seat lecture theater was wired with five-position
rotary switches in the armrests of each the seats. Positioning the
switch to any choice produced a contribution to a reading on a
corresponding meter at the lectern. Brian had seen a smaller
installation in Scandinavia on which he patterned the SFU system. It
is my impression that that system never worked very well, and of
course it is prone to malfunction or even malice. Wieman's wireless
solution is much more practical, of course.
All of us physics teachers in British Columbia welcome Wieman's
coming, and I expect that something significant will come of it.