Physics Nobel Laureate Carl Weinman to talk at DIT

Dr Carl Wieman,winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2001, has devoted much of his energies in recent years to improving the teaching of science in higher education and has established inter alia the Carl Wieman Science Education Institute (CWSEI) based at the University of British Columbia. He will two presentations at DIT as follows:

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“Science education in the 21st Century; using the methods of science to teach science”
Monday 18th May 2009, Michael O’Donnell Theatre, DIT Bolton Street, Dublin 1, 2.30 p.m to 4.30 p.m

Dr Wieman will discuss the failures of traditional educational practices, even as used by “very good” teachers and the successes of some new practices and technology that characterise this more effective approach and how these results are highly consistent with findings from cognitive science. This session is intended for lecturers in science, engineering and environmental health.

Please contact brian.bowe@dit.ie to reserve a place

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“A new model for transforming the teaching of science in higher education”
Tuesday 19th May 2009, Michael O’Donnell Theatre, DIT Bolton Street, Dublin 1, 9.30 a.m to 11.30 a.m.

This session will go into depth about how to implement the principles for achieving effective learning and retention that have now been empirically established. This session is intended for lecturers in all disciplines including those with responsibility for managing and/or developing the teaching processes.

Please contact jen.harvey@dit.ie to reserve a place.

Nobel Laureate Weinberg to give public lecture

Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg will give a public lecture on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009, 3:00 pm at Theatre A, Science Lecture Block, UCD on ‘The Craft of Science and the Craft of Art’.

Perimeter Institute publishes live physics resources

The Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics has published on its website a section on hot topics in modern physics on the 'What We Research' outreach page. The info includes text, graphics and online presentations dealing with Cosmology, Superstring Theory, Quantum Gravity, Quantum Foundations, Quantum Information and Particle Physics. The resource section at the bottom of each page recommends a wealth of interesting online lectures by some famous scientists.

See Perimeter Institute.

Physics research at Bell is finished

See this: "After six Nobel Prizes, the invention of the transistor, laser and countless contributions to computer science and technology, it is the end of the road for Bell Labs' fundamental physics research lab. Alcatel-Lucent, the parent company of Bell Labs, is pulling out of basic science, material physics and semiconductor research and will instead be focusing on more immediately marketable areas such as networking, high-speed electronics, wireless, nanotechnology and software."

Sounds like the usual short-sightedness of focusing on today's apparent requirement rather than tomorrow's potential. Fundamental research, like broad-based education, seems to be falling out of favour in lots of places. How far does this go before it's irreversible?

See Wired.

UC Berkeley launches YouTube lectures

UC Berkeley announced on Wednesday that it has begun posting entire course lectures on YouTube, the Web's No.1 video-sharing site.

Berkeley officials claimed in a statement that the university is the first to make full course lectures available on YouTube. The school said that over 300 hours of videotaped courses will be available.

See UC Berkeley Physics Lectures.

IoP report on Physics in the Irish Economy

The Institute of Physics has recently commissioned a report examining the importance of Physics in the economic life of Ireland. As an example of the findings, 85,000 jobs are in physics based sectors in Ireland (5.3% of all jobs in the economy). This compares with 82,000 jobs in the banking, finance and insurance sector.

See IoP in Ireland - Report.

The implications of students’ ‘evolving’ use of technology

Good piece dscussing what students do wth technology today, what their priorities are, and how teaching may need to evolve to best reach students today. From the article, “IT is not a good substitute for good teaching. Good teachers are good with or without IT and students learn a great deal from them. Poor teachers are poor with or without IT and students learn little from them.”

See Inside Higher Ed.