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Re: [Phys-l] Trading Research for Teaching



Some subscribers may be interested in David Epstein's (2006) Inside Higher Ed report "Trading Research for Teaching," concerning the activities of physics Nobelist Carl Wieman.

Epstein writes [bracketed by lines "EEEEEEEE. . . . ; my CAPS; my insert at ". . .[....]. . ."]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
At flagship universities, where RESEARCH IS WORTH ITS CITATIONS IN GOLD, AND TEACHING IS WORTH A FEW ALTRUISTIC PENNIES, it's not unusual for faculty members to sacrifice quality instruction for quality lab time.

So it's more than a bit novel that Carl Wieman, a physics professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a 2001 Nobel Prize winner, is leaving Colorado, and giving up his physics research for (gasp) a teaching initiative.

Not only is Wieman leaving his lab, but he's leaving the United States, where his efforts to get funding for teaching projects have brought more frustration than dough. Next fall, WIEMAN WILL JOIN THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, WHICH HAS PROMISED HIM $12 MILLION OVER FIVE YEARS FOR A SCIENCE EDUCATION PROJECT.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Currently, most faculty members who give unique methods like peer-instruction . . .[Crouch & Mazur (2002)]. . . a try are tenured, and willing to put in a lot of work, often with no funding, to get started. Wieman said that the fundamental vision, which will begin as a collaboration of education science projects between Colorado and UBC, is to "work with departments" to develop conceptual knowledge assessment tests for all scientific disciplines; "really good clicker questions," and a detailed archiving and dissemination system. Wieman plans to hire and train people to develop concept tests and implementation schemes.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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"RIGHT NOW, WE DON'T HAVE [GOOD TEACHING EVALUATIONS]," Wieman says. "The typical person gives students a final exam, and they grade it on a curve. It really doesn't tell anything whatsoever about any objective way you can evaluate faculty in terms of what students have learned." Science teachers, Wieman says, tend to be very unscientific about their teaching. Teachers shouldn't "decide what's right and wrong by tradition, or superstition, or anecdotes . . . that 2 out of 100 students told you they liked it. We know how to evaluate these things better."

IF BETTER ASSESSMENTS EXIST, WIEMAN REASONS, PROFESSORS MIGHT HAVE MORE INCENTIVE TO TEACH WELL, AND DEPARTMENTS MIGHT TAKE TEACHING EVALUATION MORE SERIOUSLY.
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EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

For more on Wieman's perspective on physics education see Wieman & Perkins (2005).


Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>

"Education is not rocket science, it's much harder."
George "Pinky" Nelson, astronaut, astrophysicist, and former director
of the AAAS "Project 2061," as quoted by Redish (1999).

REFERENCES
Crouch, C.H. & E. Mazur. 2001. "Peer Instruction: Ten years of experience and results," Am. J. Phys. 69: 970-977; online at <http://tinyurl.com/d35z4>.

Epstein, D. 2006. "Trading Research for Teaching," Inside Higher Ed, 7 April, online at <http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/04/07/wieman>.

Redish, E.F. 1999. "Millikan lecture 1998: building a science of teaching physics," Am. J. Phys. 67(7): 562-573; online at
<http://www.physics.umd.edu/rgroups/ripe/perg/cpt.html>.

Wieman, C. & K. Perkins. 2005. "Transforming Physics Education," Phys. Today 58(11): 36-41; online at <http://www.colorado.edu/physics/EducationIssues/> / "Papers" (where "/" means "click on").