Links for 2010-02-11

"The hardest thing about teaching anybody anything is finding the right level of communication, and the right way to express the concepts. It would seem logical that you don't go all jargony on a rank beginner, anymore than you have to spend time explaining the basics to an expert. But you'd be surprised how hard it is to put that into practice. [...]

But that's not all that you have to worry about, either. The next problem is expressing that knowledge clearly in a way that will allow the listener or reader to follow your argument and build on what they already know. When you're teaching, you tend to do this in a number of ways, using various media. [...] But in the end, it all boils down to words, and if you're not using them effectively and clearly, your students or readers are sunk.

"Five top science book writers offer advice for budding authors in a series of interviews in Nature's Books & Arts section. Peter Atkins reveals the hard work behind a successful textbook; Carl Zimmer highlights how passion is essential for popular science; David Brin reveals how criticism improves his fiction writing; Georgina Ferry shares research tips for biographies; and Joanna Cole explains how to convey science to children."

"From the standpoint of an individual instructor, the controllable variable (at least to some degree) is the quality of instruction. That's also what you care the most about, what you pride yourself on, and at a really basic level, why you're there.

From the standpoint of trying to make payroll, though, the opposite is true. A thrilled student doesn't pay any more than does a barely-contented student. ... Students pay by the credit, the course, or the year; they don't pay by the breakthrough. The 'extras' that a great class can generate don't show up in the budget. Worse, some students actually prefer classes that don't ask very much of them. ...

The endemic conflict is that beyond a minimal level, and outside of the elites, there's no economic incentive for the institution to do better than okay in the classroom."

"As I've been digging deeper into the data I've gathered on 210 million public Facebook profiles, I've been fascinated by some of the patterns that have emerged. My latest visualization shows the information by location, with connections drawn between places that share friends. For example, a lot of people in LA have friends in San Francisco, so there's a line between them.

Looking at the network of US cities, it's been remarkable to see how groups of them form clusters, with strong connections locally but few contacts outside the cluster. For example Columbus, OH and Charleston WV are nearby as the crow flies, but share few connections, with Columbus clearly part of the North, and Charleston tied to the South:"

"It's good to live well, and there's plenty of joy to be found in finer things. It's important to accumulate enough resources to pass on to the next generation, especially in an age where such transactions are increasingly rare. But this math is constant: 10 years at $200,000 is always greater than a 5-year, $1 million contract that's terminated after two seasons -- all because the team didn't make the NCAA Tournament. Among the thousands in Our Game who are capable leaders of men, there are only a handful of Hall of Fame legends, the "great ones." But greatness requires a context within which to exist, and there's nothing shameful about being, say, the greatest coach in Utah State history."