Using the ‘Beauties of Physics’ to Conquer Science Illiteracy
By
CLAUDIA DREIFUS
Published: July 17, 2007
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In the halls of academia, it is the rare senior professor who volunteers to teach basic science courses to undergraduates.
But Eric Mazur, the Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics at
Harvard, is driven by a passion. He wants to end science illiteracy among the nation’s college students; specifically, he strives to open them to the “great beauties of physics.”
Mazur’s own Harvard course, Physics 1b, is the kind of science class that even a literature student might love — playful, engaging, something like a trip to a science museum. Indeed, Dr. Mazur, 52, is as experimental in his classroom as he is in his research laboratory.
“It’s important to mentally engage students in what you’re teaching,” he explains. “We’re way too focused on facts and rote memorization and not on learning the process of doing science.”
balance of the article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/sc...ml?ref=science
PS Dave, the sail works because there is a keel and some water to react against. The magnetic or solar wind sail must grab onto gravity to work. Tricky but doable.