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Teaching Astronomy
Jan. 23rd, 2007 03:32 pmI'm teaching one class this semester (Astronomy part II), to leave myself time to do research. (The research hasn't happened yet, but it's still early.) After two 5-person classes last semester, this class of 24 seems huge and a bit overwhelming. I divided them up into two lab sections, which was a very good idea: it gives me a better chance to learn their names, even if it does mean two lab sessions a week for me. The risky bit is that the labs have to be done in 90 minutes instead of the usual 3 hours; today was the first lab and they were all done in an hour, so maybe it won't be a problem.
The lectures have done pretty well so far. The students seem to be mostly on the ball, and they react the way I'd like (with amusement or amazement as appropriate), at least some of the time. (Last semester's students were rather stoic which got to be frustrating.) My lectures have been good, I think: colloquial and informative. I don't know if they are organized enough: there is a danger that everything I say might sound reasonable to them, but then they can't follow the thread later. They took their first quiz today, so we'll see how that goes.
I've been talking about light, and in class today I needed an incandescent (i.e. tungsten-filament, normal) light bulb. I'd brought one with me, but the switch stopped working before class started. Not wanting to go back across campus to get another one, I looked for an open office, and lo and behold, there was a professor next door to the classroom with a lamp! I asked to borrow it, and she was very nice in lending it to me, saying it was one of the stranger requests she had gotten. The students got to see the blackbody spectrum through a diffraction grating, and compare it to the discrete spectrum of a fluorescent spiral bulb (which is pretty striking if you ever get the chance to see it), and it went very well.
Teaching is an athletic activity, and it wears me out. Unfortunately, my bicycle is in the shop, so I have to walk home (30 minutes)...not very far for me, but I'm sitting here at the college waiting to recover first. :) Guess it's about time to go....
The lectures have done pretty well so far. The students seem to be mostly on the ball, and they react the way I'd like (with amusement or amazement as appropriate), at least some of the time. (Last semester's students were rather stoic which got to be frustrating.) My lectures have been good, I think: colloquial and informative. I don't know if they are organized enough: there is a danger that everything I say might sound reasonable to them, but then they can't follow the thread later. They took their first quiz today, so we'll see how that goes.
I've been talking about light, and in class today I needed an incandescent (i.e. tungsten-filament, normal) light bulb. I'd brought one with me, but the switch stopped working before class started. Not wanting to go back across campus to get another one, I looked for an open office, and lo and behold, there was a professor next door to the classroom with a lamp! I asked to borrow it, and she was very nice in lending it to me, saying it was one of the stranger requests she had gotten. The students got to see the blackbody spectrum through a diffraction grating, and compare it to the discrete spectrum of a fluorescent spiral bulb (which is pretty striking if you ever get the chance to see it), and it went very well.
Teaching is an athletic activity, and it wears me out. Unfortunately, my bicycle is in the shop, so I have to walk home (30 minutes)...not very far for me, but I'm sitting here at the college waiting to recover first. :) Guess it's about time to go....
