Because he can't put this in his Facebook status line

An observation from Dr. H:

Turns out if you don't attend class all semester, you don't write a particularly good final paper.

Feel my pain

Recent exam answers:

• "A semiconductor only does half of what a real conductor does."
  
  Well, there is no harm in guessing if you really have absolutely no idea.
  
  
• "It handles the downed-sized work of a conductor."
  
  The economy does seem to be hitting everyone very hard these days.
  
  
• "Speciation is the lack of water or water flow."
  
  Ah yes, you were present the day the guest speaker spoke on this topic. If I recall correctly, you spent the entire time texting.
  
  

The questions came directly from the sample questions on the study guide.

Difficult Day

I removed this post because I think maybe it shouldn't be up here forever.

Still, I'm disappointed by the whole thing.

Your academic advisor? That would be me.

I'm a first year advisor this year and my advisees are all in my first year experience class. This week, I fielded multiple requests from football players to drop from four course to three. Two colleagues mentioned the same issue. We are division III people, your coach isn't supposed to tell you how many course to take.

Difficult Letters

Student A: Reasonably bright, helpful, model student in terms of homework, deadlines, attendance and the like. He is not challenged in the majority of his non-science classes where he seems to excel. He also does very well in science classes with a lot of structure and a lot of graded homework. Unfortunately, this makes him lazy in the few science and math courses that require him to study on his own to fully grasp the material. Recently dropped a recommended, but not required, math class because he had done all the homework, but was scoring low on tests. Dependable, but never goes above and beyond what is required in classes. Yet he is intellectually curious, takes extra classes and reads non-fiction for fun. I really like him. I hope grad school makes him step up to his potential.

Student B: Quite bright, but not nearly so much as he thinks he is. So sure of his own abilities, he has trouble seeing past his own mental models. When something looks somewhat familiar, he says he "knows all that already" even though it only looks like what he does know on the surface. Shows moments of deep insight in between being annoyingly stubborn. Has good leadership qualities except when he is pissing people off by being so arrogant. Has e-mailed me at least four times regarding letters of recommendation for grad school, not one of the e-mails has the appropriate tone for someone asking for a favor. He has no idea how much further he will go if he drops some of the attitude. I really want to like him, but usually don't. I hope grad school humbles him a little, because that is the way he will be able to step up to his potential.

Exactly what I expected

• 9 a.m. class, junior/senior majors: 100% attendance
  
• 11:30 a.m. class, freshman/sophomore nonmajors: 55% attendance
  

Books

Last year, I read Everything Conceivable by Liza Mundy. This spring, I will be running a series of discussions about it. We have a half course on our campus which involves students reading several books over the course of the semester. Students select the books from a large number of choices, and they meet in small groups for a few weeks with the professor teaching their particular book and then write a paper. Some books are novels, others are collections of essays and still others are nonfiction. A question from a colleague last week reminded me to drop a note to the coordinator and I said I was interested in doing this book at some time in the future. She wrote back immediately and said she still had a slot left for Spring and had put me in. I was thinking next Fall or Spring, but it is too late now.

The last time I participated in the course, I decided to do Kim Stanley Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt without having read it. Two colleagues I know have chosen to read the books for the first time with the students, so they all discover the book together. I thought this was an interesting idea, so I decided to do the same. I chose The Years of Rice and Salt because I really like Kim Stanley Robinson and because was on my "to be read" list for a long time. Only problem: I thought it was an alternative history but it was actually about Buddhism. Which I knew nothing about. I enjoyed the book and the discussions with the students, but I was expecting something different. I didn't do a particularly good job running the discussions either, something I hope to correct.

In any case, I have read the book this time around. I thought Mundy's book would be an interesting one for discussion because I get the impression our 18-22 year olds know very little about assisted reproduction and many of the topics invoke strong opinions. Additionally, they way Mundy organizes the topics into somewhat self-contained chapters will fit in easily with the course format. As for the book itself, I found it to be a very easy and interesting read. I didn't really learn much more about how assisted reproduction works beyond what I already knew, but she seems to give a relatively straightforward introduction. Mundy also had some observations about ethical issues that I had not considered, so I found the book interesting in that sense.

I'm excited about participating in this course again, but am wondering how to handle controversial topics. I have run discussions on controversial topics in class, but they are usually on topics like "should we build more nuclear power plants" and not on, say, selective reduction. The sections consist of only about 4 students, so I'm especially concerned about keeping things constructive. Any suggestions?

Share my pain

The setting: An exam in a non-science majors general science sort of course. The question: Natural uranium is 99.3% U-238 and 0.7% U-235. What is enriched uranium and what is is used for?


Here is a sampling of the most painful responses:

• Enriched uranium is uranium made to be more polar
  
• Enriched uranium is present in U-238 and used before
  
• Enriched uranium is used for buildings
  
• Enriched uranium is processed and used for cleaning
  

A few notes from a conference

• Finding two other conference goers on the plane, we decided to share a cab to the hotel. The cabbie was a talkative sort of fellow who told us unbelievable tales of his past. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, offered us a deal. "You scam your boss, I scam mine." I won't say what happened, but I will say there seemed like only one way to get multiple receipts.^*
  
  
• The speaker giving one of the plenaries sounded a lot like Harry Shearer . This was especially evident when he used "Alright" as his verbal pause.
  
  
• I went to one session given by someone had developed a seminar course on the topic I am planning to run for a freshman seminar next year. He passed out a detailed schedule, with reading assignments, discussion topics and weekly short writing assignments. Given that I like what I heard, this simplifies next Fall considerably.
  
  
• With some time to kill after the end of a conference I went to the Borders in the very large mall next to the conference hotel. Something was odd, but I could not place my finger on it. Somehow, people in this Borders just looked a little different from what I expected. Soon the reason becomes clear: I had just walked into a Bill O'Reilly book signing.
  
  

^* I lost a shuttle receipt from my last trip, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over this.

A question for a student of mine

I have a student in danger of failing for no good reason, but lots of bad ones. Here are the reasons I have identified so far:

• He didn't buy the book because someone told him he "didn't need it"
  
• He has not had high school PhysChemBio. Instead, had a similar class 8 years ago in middle school that he doesn't really remember much about.
  
• That class was taught in a different language.
  
• He skips class regularly.
  

I've suggested he come and see me once a week (in addition to, you know, showing up for class). Today, he came to my office hours for help.

Here's the question I really want to ask him: Did you think it was a good idea to show up in the office of a professor whose class you may be failing reeking of pot?

Things I learned while grading one of my final exams

1. "Larger wavelengths have trouble fitting through photomultiplier tubes."

2. "One advantage of X-ray [technique] is that is uses X-rays."

On Books and Shoes

I met my honor's class for the last time today and gave them each a science-related general interest book for summer reading. Among the books I handed out: Bright Earth by Philip Ball (to the Art major), Critical Mass by the same author (to the student interested in nuclear issues and politics), Cities in the Wilderness by Bruce Babbitt (to the student interested in sustainability), and Oxygen (the play) by Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann (to the theater major).

I do this occasionally for non-majors in small (<10 students) classes when I've enjoyed their enthusiasm (and I think they will read and enjoy them). I also give books as graduation presents to our majors. Total cost for the non-major class: $105.73. (Paperbacks, nothing fancy.) I figure I bought these and these for myself recently for no defensible reason^*, so what is $106 to support lifelong learning in science?

 

 

^*Other than my obsession with Reebok Freestyle hitops which I've been wearing for 25 years.

Different Reactions

Recently, I found I was not so happy about this business:



So I did this:


Now, dying my hair is not unusual, having started going gray at 20. But, being short on time and vanity, I usually do this only on semester breaks. I missed my usual before the term window and found myself with a block of time in the middle of the week.

My honor's class, consisting of mostly freshman women:

"Your hair looks cute!"

My major's class, consisting of mostly junior-senior men:

"Whoa! Did you DYE your hair!?"

Missed Exams

When I first started teaching, I was stunned to find out that students actually missed tests! They sometimes just don't show up! Who knew?

I quickly grew tired of feeling like (a) a failed lie detector (b) a pushover or (c) a resentful bitch instructor, so I searched for a better way.

In my lower level classes, I adopted the "retake" policy of one of my former colleagues: everyone gets to take one (modified) test over for any reason. That seems simple enough, but the policy does get more complicated: If you didn't take the test the first time, you must score at least X to have your test counted. If you did take the test the first time and you score higher, you get the higher score. Score lower, but within Y points of the first attempt, keep your higher score. Score more than Y points lower and your score is determined by this ultra-complicated formula: (2*HI+LO)/3.

This provides a negative incentives for skipping just because you can, as missing tests is not, in my experience, a good omen for success. There is a small risk of retaking so if you are not prepared, you won't waste my time, or yours. The, um, "ultra-complicated" formula seems to be a deterrent as well, simply because some students aren't sure what it means.

So does it work?

Yes! I love this system. I also love that the student who blows the first test (Whoa! college.... Science...) but gets organized and buckles down can re-take that first test (in a similar incarnation). My current record point increase is 54 on a 100 point test.

I don't do this in my upper level classes. Why? Because I've never really had much of a problem there. Then this happened. The short version: one student, called Jill here, missed an exam and had a "suspicious" excuse. Whatever. This is rare enough in this class, I let it go. Everyone in my upper level classes gets the benefit of the doubt the first time. Then Jill asked another student what was on the test. I believe she skipped the test to gain more study time, and the cheating attempt was a crime of opportunity, but either way, I was not happy.

So now, the "Jill Rule" joins all the other specific rules added to my syllabus because of the actions of one student. There is the "Bob Rule", the "Alexis rule" and even the "Crazy Paranoid Student Rule". What is the "Jill Rule"? An XX% penalty on exam retakes for unexcused reasons.

Guess who missed the first test this semester? I guess she didn't read the syllabus.

Today I Love Teaching

Astrodyke linked to a great article about the total lunar eclipse. Among other things, it explains why the moon looks red during the eclipse.

I could not help myself, so I sent an e-mail to students in my last semester's general education science course. In this class we talked about many many different things - but one of them was sky color during sunsets.

Hi former [cool physchembio gened] students!

This article explains why the moon looks red in a total lunar eclipse (See the section "Red Light in the Dark"):

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/15357796.html

(And, if you are getting this note in real time - the eclipse looks pretty cool right now!)

- Prof. Twice

And I received back:

I was talking to [another student] earlier and said "why the heck is it red if the Earth is between the moon and the sun blocking the light?" Lol, now I know the answer. Thank you!

Hope the semester is going well,

-A. Student

In another nice episode of perfect timing in teaching, our seminar speaker (a guest I invited, but from a totally different sub-field) spoke about a phenomenon I covered only 6 hours earlier in class. Gotta love it when that happens.

On the not-so-great side, due to the total eclipse of the moon and coming of age in the eighties, I now have the song Total Eclipse of the Heart stuck in my head. And now perhaps you do too. Sorry.

Still lovin' the honors class

Friday:

I had a number of basic phys/chem/bio topics I wanted to review in the honors class. One was scientific notation. I did not do an assessment on this, so I just asked "Do you remember how to use scientific notation for large and small numbers?" The entire class (of 8) nodded. "Okay, should we review a few just for good measure?" They shrugged in a way that said to me "sure, knock yourself out" but admitted it wouldn't hurt. So I put up one "large" and one "small" number, reminded them to use the correct button on the calculator (not the 10^x button). Everyone seemed satisfied and agreed we could go on. Total time spent: 2.5 minutes.

Ambiguity

Slush
Unpredictable, wet
Preschool is closed
Campus open, classes on
Imminent

Snow
Wet, slippery
Going home slowly
Classes met, others canceled
Intensifying

Storm
White, heavy
Spouse to conference
Flight still on time
Weird

Good Problems

My honors class (non-science majors) is up to eight students. Last week, it had seven and the Honors Program secretary called me and offered to cancel it if I didn't want to teach a class that small. If I didn't mind, she said the director wanted to let it run. So do I mind? Uh...No-o.

The first day, I tried to find out a little about what the students already know about physchembio. Good thing too - several had taken an AP class in high school. A few more had an honors class in high school. One had taken a semester of college physchembio. And highest math level? Two with trig, a bunch with pre-calc, and one with calculus. Nice.

To find out how much they remembered, I gave a quick assessment: "Define/describe these five basic terms/concepts from physchembio." They worked individually for awhile, then I broke the class into two groups and had each group repeat the assessment on a new form. It works well - they talked about science and reviewed what they already know - I find out what that is.

And what do they want to learn about? Here is a sampling: Is ethanol going to save the world? Will a killer asteroid hit the earth? Stay tuned.

A new challenge in storytelling

I'm about to begin my spring term of teaching, and I find myself wondering:

Which stories do I tell?

How should I tell them?

My science class for non-majors is an "issues" course. That is, we look at current issues in science of interest to the general community. Energy, climate change, that sort of thing. Back in the day, I used to present both sides of the global warming debate. I thought I had to, you know, to be fair. I don't know why - maybe to overcompensate for my liberal nature. As I became increasingly uncomfortable with this, I began to minimize the debate itself, and just present mechanism, facts and numbers. I addressed the debate, but only briefly.

In 2005, after a break of a few years, I taught the course again. Just beforehand, I went to a seminar where I had the opportunity to discuss the issue of what to present in class with real climate scientists. The other instructors (non-climate scientists like me) and I wanted to know what to do about the other side of the debate. We all felt some discomfort not presenting both sides. The climate scientists felt no such discomfort. "Present IPCC," they said, "this is the consensus of the scientific community." A fine point, I thought.

I presented the IPCC conclusions. I talked about how climate modeling was done. I showed Hanson's famous graph and explained how it was routinely misrepresented. This all went well. Half way though the term (and after the climate change section), the students in my class asked where I fell politically. I told them I try not to discuss my own politics. They said, "But we want to know!"

There are two schools of thought on this question: full disclosure and don't ask, don't tell. Having opted for the second, I now found myself facing a room full of students asking for full disclosure instead. Astonishingly, to me at least, they went on to say, "We really don't know!" How could they not know? Anyway, there was really no conflict here. The students asked me a fair question. They knew me well enough to believe me when I said the following: "Me? OK. I'm a raving liberal. Does that mean you have to agree with me? No. Does that mean your grade on issues papers depends on agreeing with me? No. I care that it is well written. I care that you have reasons for your opinions and that you can articulate them."

So, what have I learned? A reasoned approach to the evidence does not necessarily get you branded as a raving liberal.

I'm teaching this class again this term. I was planning on taking the same approach. This is all well and good. However, I find myself wondering if my story needs to change. Why? Well, there is a faculty member on my campus who is a global warming skeptic. He teaches this topic. A lot. His contention that climate change is not caused by humans is appealing to the students. And why wouldn't it be? It means they don't need to think about changing their lifestyles. It is hard to counter this.

I'm hoping the way I tell the story of climate change is up to the challenge.

scientiae-carnival

My grades are due in 12 hours

What did I do all day? Grade.

What will I do into the wee hours of the morning? Grading.

What was my colleague doing today? Working on a syllabus. For next term. Which begins in February.

Damn her.