His has been teaching large classes in the last a few years, including Physics 101/102 (college physics), Physics 108 (general physics for engineers), and Physics 121/122 (descriptive astronomy). He has also tought sophomore lab (Modern Physics Lab or PHY 208 Lab), PHY 301 (intermediate mechanics) and scanning tunneling microscopy as a part of PHY 552 (Advanced Lab).
Being a simple-minded person, he is not into magic teaching philosophies or advanced teaching techniques, whatever they are. Instead, he constantly examines how he can enjoy the material himself. He makes the assumption that the presentation of the materials can only be as interesting to students as they are to the instructor. He has total faith in that once he finds the interest in teaching the materials, everything else should naturally follow. The courses that he has taught so far are listed below.
Physics 101 and 102 are noncalculus-based general physics, taken mostly by students majoring in life sciences. The mathematics involved is rather simple but the fundamental principles are explained in details. It is his intention to make the course enjoyable, which can in fact be achieved for some students with some genuine effort from both the instructor and the students (yes, students have as much to do as the instructor does in making a class successful). One is expected to get a general view of physics from this course and ideas about approaching problems (not necessarily physics problems).
Physics 107/108 are calculus based physics courses for engineering and science students, who will have to use some of the materials in their jobs in the future, which always seems to be so distant to students when they are taking the course. It is slightly different from learning physics simply to know what is out there and how to approach problems with logic. It is probably no surprise that he was quite impressed with the level of genuine interest of some of the students in the materials, and the amount of time they are willing to spend on it.
Descriptive Astronomy (PHY121/122) is a year long course covering most of the topics of interest at a level that can be enjoyed by anyone. It discusses the power of scientific approaches that are capable of squeezing out an amazing amount of information out of a little bright spot (which remains as a little spot even with the most powerful telescopes), including things like its motion, temperature, mass, age, etc. It puts us in perspective, both in space and in time. Although the subject matter is mostly about things that have almost nothing to do with our daily lives, it starts and ends with the human race, its origin, evolution, endless curiosity, and the future (which unfortunately is much more bleak--mostly because of our own actions--than most people are aware of or willing to accept). If students had half the fun as the instructor did by teaching it, it would have been a very pleasant experience.
Experiments in PHY208 lab include many of the key discoveries that led to what we call today as modern physics (quantum physics, relativity, nuclear physics, etc). It is a one credit course, but most students spent more time on it, voluntarily, than what it is worth. Well, that is probably the way it should be. When one likes something, one spends the time and does a good job.
PHY 301 deals with mechanics at a level that makes one feel for the first time that he/she is doing physics "for real". Things are presented in a more general way, and therefore it is more abstract. Whether one gets a headache or a kick out of it, there are not many things in mechanics as unique as the Lagrangian. It is surprising that some non-physics majors take the course. It is also amazing that they tend to a good job! But again, one probably has to have quite a bit of interest before taking something as challenging as this, which is, after all, not a requirement for them.
PHY 552 is a unique course because it is taught by 10 professors, using experimental techniques used in their own research areas. The course is offered to both graduate and undergraduate students, and it covers a wide range of modern experimental techniques. His part of the course is scanning tunneling microscopy, which is designed to give students hands-on experience on this amazing technique that has a spatial resolution of a few percent of the diameter of the smallest atom (i.e., the hydrogen atom)! Although atoms are discussed in many courses in detail, it is always a thrill to reach out, and touch an atom.
He is greatly offended by the notion of research and teaching professors. No, he is not taking this personally, but he is angered by its implication regarding his "research" friends and colleagues, whom he respects. It is because many of the people responsible for this remarkable invention appear to be strikingly ignorant and do not seem to be aware of the concept of work. While telling students and the public that research professors do not care about teaching, they seem to have never bothered to look at any statistics of teaching evaluations versus research achievements. There are examples--some can even be sensational--supporting such a division that can be used for making quick judgements and conclusions, which is all too often what we see in our daily lives. But a little study of statistics (if the person has the ability to do so) of professors in a given department or university, or even between different institutions, will be much more appropriate. It is then, and only then, one has the right to say anything! As for himself, and strictly for himself, he doubts very much if he would have any interest left for teaching when he becomes tired of his research. Quite often he finds that the desire, or lack thereof, to conduct research is nothing different from that for teaching.
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