Implementing those everyday life examples requires you to change the way you prepare

your teaching.

Because you need to step out of your signs and

have a look into society Into every lot day life into new, into newspapers.

To really see the science, how this applied in our world,

in our surrounding, in our environment.

Or rich and fine men has states it, the world looks so

different after at learning science.

So, seeing the signs in every day life and

bringing it to your classroom is what makes signs relevant for your student.

Seeing example how a colleague from physics implement it in every day life

example into a physics for biologists course.

>> But, again, there's also

lots of just physics problems

that are not biological per say.

One of my favorite examples is the rainbow.

So, it's one of the very classic first of all demonstrations experiment.

Second of all, geometrical optics,

descriptions, and problems where you can solve lots of things.

And by that, you find out a lot about a rainbow.

And so a rainbow has 10,

15 different interesting properties that

no one ever sees, except if they're told what to look for.

And, after that, you basically see it every single time you see a rainbow.

And so that, you don't necessarily need to have

a biological interest to find that nice.

And so that's something that I also do.

Last semester, it was actually quite interesting

that we were doing acoustics in the lecture,

and right that week, someone in the Swiss Air Force thought that

it would be nice to creat the super sonic boom.

Which then everybody heard, and so

you could directly put that into your lecture, right?

So it's also not always planned what you put in.

But you always sort of try to, at least,

if it fits, put on something that relates to what has been in the news or

what people hopefully are interested.

>> What makes those examples and problems special is

that students cannot solve it simply by reading the course material.

Communicating 10 to 15 different physics concepts and

competencies in one phenomenon, in one rainbow Is it very special, and

this requires students to bring together knowledge from different fields.

Of course you expect them to prepare for class are you expect them to

read the course material, they need more knowledge than just this knowledge.

So which kind of problems are suitable to bring to the classroom.

I once arranged a whole general science class

around the problem of climate change, because this is the problem that is so

big, that you can talk about, thermodynamics,

you can talk about chemical equilibrium, you can talk about cell biology, as well.

So you need a problem that is big enough, but on the other hand is authentic for

your discipline.

You need a problem that is really manageable from your disciplinary

prospective.

So, it is good to choose problems a grader could solve, so

perhaps have a look into the final axiom your field has,

and take some of the tasks out there, and for example bring it to a freshman course.

Those examples that generate interest and controversy are very special.

And when they have multiple solution pathways,

they are especially good because then you bring your students into discussions.

And when they start to discuss problems.

For example, you bring a problem and let ask them to solve this.

Then you could ask them to go into groups and arrange them around tables and

let them discuss about this.

And this requires them to bring together their knowledge.

Exchange at their knowledge and find a solution for the problem.

And when they start to argue about these problems,

this often brings them to understand science concepts more deeply.

And it also brings ups somehow solution pathways that don't work.

But these solution pathways are so important.

>> I think I learned many things from the students by making mistakes, and

I much appreciate when they help me to improve my lecture material.

Now on the side of the students I think it is important that they use trial and

error because by exploring the total space of solutions they will find out

where the best approach is.

So this mistake usually has a negative connotation, but

I see it very positivistic which means the students have the chance

to learn the whole dimension of whatever they are looking at.

Might be images, or computer software, or solving equations.

>> But that's one of the most important ways to learn something.

I mean, that's basically what science is, right?

Because science learns by mistakes.

Or learns by having things that

are later on shown to be not quite right.

I mean the thing is that in science, what you can do, something you sort of try and

teach your first years pretty thoroughly.

But maybe they forget once they get a bit further in their studies,

the most important thing in science is that you cannot prove anything.

A scientific proof is a contradiction in terms.

What you can do in science is you can falsify things,

which means you can show the things that you may have thought to be true

or may have thought to be in a certain way, are wrong.

>> You can see from the experience of the colleagues.

What we know from the learning sciences is that making mistakes is so important.

The struggle of the students when they are looking for answer,

when they're searching for solution pathways to problems is so important.

It's the real pay off of your lesson because here they do not learn the content

knowledge but also learn where their content knowledge comes to it's borders.

When they have stuck it at the end and found out of this dead end again and

find new ways to explain this everyday life example.

Then they are really about to understand science.

Active learning with socioscientific issues

Teaching Science at University

Meet the Instructors