My teaching philosophy is simple: Students studying physics should become adept at moving between verbal, mathematical, graphical, visual and kinesthetic representations of physical phenomena. To this end, students should be actively engaged in their learning while in class and should pursue expansion and solidification of these ideas through practice while away from class. Lecture and discussion are not meant to simply transmit information (that's what reading the textbook is about) - but rather to transform the ideas into something meaningful for students to grasp and assimilate into their own knowledge (some people call this 'constructivism'). Technology and social networks have both been shown to have tremendous potential in helping the learning process - that's what you can expect in my courses: use of computers and other kinds of gizmos; plus working in groups, reaching consensus with your neighbours and presenting your findings to small or large peer groups.
Spring 2008
Office Hours: MW 10-11:30; T Th by appointment;…