Hello. I'm a faculty member in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences of the University of Colorado, and Director of Fiske Planetarium , the most active university planetarium in the US and the largest between Chicago and the Pacific coast. A short biography is here. In Spring I teach ASTR3800, "Astronomical Data Analysis and Computer Programming," and, with Nick Schneider, a seminar on "Excellence in Teaching." The latter is similar to the workshops I presented nationally as Education Coordinator of the American Astronomical Society.
Here is a "White Paper" called Recommendations for Science Teaching that I recently submitted to the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey.
I believe in the balance of research and teaching, for the good of the individual and the good of the country. That's why I'm especially proud of the hundreds of "nonscientist" students I've taught. That so many of you have expressed increased enthusiasm, understanding of, and support for science lets me know how successful these courses were. Of course I am also proud of my Ph. D. students. It's a pleasure that so many astronomers at CU Boulder believe that their teaching should be as excellent as their research. This makes CU a great place to study astronomy.
I came to CU from Chicago, where I pioneered a new job track in astronomy with a joint appointment at the Adler Planetarium and on the faculty of the University of Chicago, beginning in 1992. My vision called for astronomers to work in a Planetarium while still remaining active in research, so that they could bring the latest discoveries to the public. That path has now been followed by more than a dozen astronomers at the Hayden Planetarium in NY, the Denver Museum of Science, etc. It is inspiring to see how many Planetariums in the US are modernizing!
Previously I served as National Education Coordinator of the American Astronomical Society and as a commentator on National Public Radio.
I've
written a small book about teaching with wireless student response systems
("clickers") which allow immediate interaction between a teacher
and all the students in the classroom. This technology is inexpensive, easy to
use, and can transform a class. As Mazur and others have shown, student-student peer interaction
substantially increases student learning. I present evidence that it improves
student attitudes as well. You may find the
Table of Contents and Foreword by Prof. Eric Mazur of the Harvard Physics
Department, Chapter 1, and
Chapter 2 by clicking the links.
The book is available from
Addison Wesley. There is also a version "Clickers in the Astronomy
Classroom," that adds many examples specifically from astronomy. A Second
Edition will be published in early 2009. A summary of
Tips for Successful Teaching with Clickers is linked
here (and here as printable .pdf format). Please email me if you make extensive use of it; you are welcome to.
I'm doing many workshops on clickers nowadays, such as the keynote talk at the Inaugural Conference on Classroom Response Systems ("Clicker Conference"). Click here to see a PowerPoint, and here to download the .ppt file. I am willing to do additional ones; email me.
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Many people have requested information about the innovative way I have been teaching introductory astronomy, teaching critical thinking, the nature of science, and pseudoscience. |
Some
of my teaching materials are frequently requested. They concern how to teach
science, and how to not be fooled by pseudoscience. Look here:
More subtle aspects of "What is Science?"
How to Recognize Pseudoscience and avoid being fooled.
Light, Color, and Spectrum Activities
About once a year I lead an educational travel-study trip, such as to see the Northern Lights or total eclipses. These are the two most spectacular natural sights one can ever see. People shout out, and cry, and remember seeing them all their lives. I hire the best speakers in the US to make these trips as delightful as possible. Join me!
In summer 2009 I will lead a trip to China and Tibet for the total eclipse that lasts nearly 6 minutes. This is the longest for most of our lives. DON'T MISS IT! We well have special cultural experiences in this fascinating country. Click for a summary, the complete itinerary, or the list of speakers.
The March 2006 total eclipse trip
was attended by hundreds and many said it was the best trip they ever made.
HERE for details and
comments of travelers.
Photographs from previous trips:
More northern lights photographs.
Larger eclipse view.
The Evolution of Galactic Boron and the Production Site of the Light ElementsSince the 1970s it has been believed that the light elements Li, Be, and B are made by the spallation of cosmic rays (CRs; primarily energetic protons and alpha particles) on nuclei of C, N, and O in the interstellar medium. Abundances of the light elements have in fact been used to infer the existence of a large flux of low energy CRs which are kept from our direct detection by solar modulation but which should efficiently produce Li, Be, and B. Our data suggests that the "reverse" process of energetic C and O particles hitting ambient H and He, probably in the vicinity of supernovae, have played a much larger role in the formation of the light elements than previously recognized.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been used to obtain spectra of the boron 2500 Ang. region in eight galactic halo stars ranging from [Fe/H] = -0.4 to -3.0. The sample includes the most metal-poor (and presumably oldest) star ever observed for B. Spectrum synthesis using latest Kurucz model atmospheres has been used to determine B abundances for each star, and particular attention paid to the errors of each point, to permit judgement of the goodness-of-fit of models of galactic chemical evolution.
Usual models of galactic chemical evolution do not fit the data well; their predicted increase of light elements with time is too rapid. A straight line of slope approximately 1 gives an excellent fit to a plot of log (Boron abundance) vs. [Fe/H], and if NLTE abundances are used the slope is approximately 0.7. Plotting B vs. [O/H] rather than [Fe/H] increases the slope of either plot about 0.2. The observed relation suggests that the production of light elements such as B and Be is directly related to the production of heavier elements.
Our data do not show a change in slope between halo and disk metallicities, but the number of stars near the disk-halo transition is small and a modest change is not precluded. The NLTE B/Be ratio is typically about 15 throughout the lifetime of the Galaxy, a ratio naturally produced by cosmic ray (CR) spallation. Our data support a model in which most light element production comes from low-energy CR spallation of C and O nuclei onto protons and alpha particles, probably in the vicinity of massive supernovae in star-forming regions. This process was discussed in the original work of Reeves, Fowler, & Hoyle (1970), but until recently most models have emphasized light element production in the general ISM from the spallation of high-energy protons and alpha particles onto CNO nuclei. Especially during the Galaxy's early history, when the metallicity of the ISM was low, the spallation of protons and alpha particles onto CNO nuclei cannot account for as much B as we observe unless the CR flux was sufficiently higher to compensate. The observed relation also constrains any direct production of B by the neutrino process in supernovae (Woosley & Weaver 1995) to be at most a small part of total B production.
exploring
the Himalayas near Mt. Everest.
teaching
Penguin behavior to Penguins in Patagonia.
The
North Pole. In an Inuit (Eskimo is less polite) village, Cape Dorset,
on Baffin Island in Canada. I lead educational vacations here to experience
the northern lights and native culture. Living in an igloo is something
we do for fun. Using two twin otter aircraft and a fuel cache, we travelled
to the North Pole, Beechey Island, and on to Thule, Greenland. Beechey
Island is where the famous Franklin expedition vanished while looking for
the Northwest Passage last century. We saw the 3 graves discovered and
autopsied in 1982.last modified 9-30-2004