by Daniel Perley, Astronomy
In this case, words and diagrams were the problem, and no amount of them would solve it. My solution, instead, was to produce for my students an animated simulation of the motion of the planets around the sun, and display it on one wall using an LCD projector.
by Julia Comerford, Astronomy
Before the students started building their own PowerPoint presentations for class, I showed them the infamous slide that was held partially responsible for the Columbia space shuttle disaster, as well as several ill-conceived slides of my own. Through collaborative debate and discussion, the class broke each slide down and identified what was bad, why, and how to improve it.
by Benjamin Freedman, Molecular and Cell Biology
Why had the fishing metaphor been so successful? I theorized that it gave the students a way to personally relate to the microscopic events of cell division. In the next class, I decided to take this one step further.
by Matthew Sargent, History
To my students…the past was merely a “repository of error,” and the history of science was only the chronicle of humankind’s gradual purging of mysticism and error. My goal was to convince them that the ideas long since discarded from the canon of science could teach them something worthwhile about science itself.
by Kathryn Peek, Astronomy
The stellar evolution exercise followed from a tenet of my teaching philosophy: occasionally putting larger concepts aside to nail down the basics is important, and doing so can illuminate more complex ideas…The day that I did this exercise in my sections was one of my best days that semester.
by William Dichtel, Chemistry
Organic chemistry is unavoidably visual, requiring complex drawings and graphs. Unfortunately, this presented a great challenge for Alice, a legally blind student who could only see a few inches in front of her eyes…At first, I struggled to find ways that would allow her to grasp the concepts more readily, and became frustrated with my inability to “show” her what I was explaining. This was an important lesson as I realized that the onus was on me to teach effectively.
by Kimberly Cassibry, History of Art
I wanted my students to recognize the urban impact of such monuments as the Colosseum and Trajan’s Column, and to do that, I had to help them imagine the way Rome looked before these structures existed.
by Francesca Rivera, Music
Without the terminology or solid knowledge of the historical context in which the composers worked, students can’t move beyond simplistic taste statements…or value-laden judgments. My problem, then, was to help them quickly memorize key musical concepts with sufficient depth of understanding to recall the term and apply it effectively, and, to help them connect the works of individual composers with the larger time period in which they lived.
by Gaurav Punj, IEOR
Students usually think of discussion sessions as just problem-solving sessions where the GSI will work on some numerical problems that are relevant for their midterms and finals. I realized that they were more interested in the final answers rather than Physics.
by Tania Martin, Architecture
I determined that students unfamiliar with primary source research need models for conducting such research and hands-on practice. This became clear from my students’ paper abstracts, preliminary object analysis exercises, and from class discussions. It was not enough to lecture about paintings, photographs, buildings, and forests — the students needed to engage with the materials themselves, and to learn to read various kinds of sources against one another.