Course Reports
Category archives for Course Reports
The Test(ing) of Time: Measuring the Performance of a Stopwatch
Posted by Chad Orzel on May 26, 2011 As I’ve mentioned before, I’m schedule to teach a class on “A Brief History of Timekeeping” next winter term as part of the Scholars Research Seminar program. Even though I have a hundred other things to do, I continue to think about this a lot. One of the goals of the course is to introduce…
Lessons in Applied Data Archaeology
Posted by Chad Orzel on May 24, 2011 I’m teaching our upper-level lab course this term, where I do a two-part experiment on laser spectroscopy. The first part is to calibrate the free spectral range of a homemade Fabry-Perot interferometer, and the second part is to use that Fabry-Perot as a frequency marker to calibrate a diode laser scan across the rubidium hyperfine…
Physics Takes Practice
Posted by Chad Orzel on February 14, 2011 Doug Natelson talks about a recent presentation on education: I recently heard a talk where a well reputed science educator (not naming names) argued that those of us teaching undergraduates need to adapt to the learning habits of “millennials”. That is, these are a group of people who have literally grown up with google (a…
Notes Toward “A Brief History of Timekeeping”: Kooks and Sticks
Posted by Chad Orzel on February 10, 2011 Barring a major disaster, I am scheduled to teach one of our Scholars Research Seminar classes next winter. I’ve been kicking the idea for this around for a while, with the semi-clever title “A Brief History of Timekeeping.” The idea is to talk about the different technologies people have used to mark the passage of…
Academic Poll: Appropriate Language
Posted by Chad Orzel on January 19, 2011 We did a lab yesterday that asked students to measure the speed of a ball leaving a spring-loaded launcher in a few different ways. this is a great way to talk about the difference between systematic and random errors and how those are dealt with. As a way of starting that discussion, I asked the…
This Day Needs a Reboot
Posted by Chad Orzel on January 5, 2011 Kate and SteelyKid have colds (well, they’re sharing the same cold), so SteelyKid is waking up a lot during the night. Since Kate needs rest as well, she put earplugs in last night (she’s a much lighter sleeper than I am), and I took baby-soothing duty. So I was up half the night. I come…
Academic Poll: Course Selection
Posted by Chad Orzel on November 10, 2010 We’ve just recently completed pre-registration for Winter term classes, so I’ve been thinking a bit about why students do and do not sign up for things. Thus, a poll: You are a college student considering an elective class in your major, and you see it has a lab. Your reaction is:survey software Feel free to…
On the Quantum Physics of Whiteboards
Posted by Chad Orzel on April 28, 2010 I’m teaching Physics 350: Quantum Mechanics this term, which is a junior/senior level elective course using Townsend’s book which deals with quantum mechanics in the state vector formalism. The room in which the class meets is the only one in the department that contains a whiteboard (using dry-erase markers) rather than a blackboard (using chalk).…
Academic Poll: Pop Quiz, Hotshot
Posted by Chad Orzel on February 2, 2010 Tuesday is a heavy teaching day for me– I’m in lab from 9-4, basically– so here’s something to occupy the time. Oh, no! It’s a pop quiz: Pop quizzes are:(survey software) (In case the phrase is an American idiom, a “pop quiz” refers to a short test given in class with no advance warning.) This…
Poll: The Computers of the Future
Posted by Chad Orzel on November 6, 2009 Today’s Quantum Optics lecture is about quantum computing experiments, and how different types of systems stack up. Quantum computing, as you probably know if you’re reading this blog, is based on building a computer whose “bits” can not only take on “0″ and “1″ states, but arbitrary superpositions of “0″ and “1″. Such a computer…
