Category Archives: School and Education

What makes a great teacher?

The Atlantic: What Makes a Great Teacher? by Amanda Ripley.

“For years, the secrets to great teaching have seemed more like alchemy than science, a mix of motivational mumbo jumbo and misty-eyed tales of inspiration and dedication. But for more than a decade, one organization has been tracking hundreds of thousands of kids, and looking at why some teachers can move them three grade levels ahead in a year and others can’t. Now, as the Obama administration offers states more than $4 billion to identify and cultivate effective teachers, Teach for America is ready to release its data.”

Your daily dose of science

Chad Orzel is a physics professor at Union College in Schenectady, NY, and has written How To Teach Physics to Your Dog, which will be published later this month. He’s also the author of a weblog called Uncertain Principles, where he published an 18 minute long video called The Bohr-Einstein debates, with Puppets. It’s well worth watching and really entertaining, although I have to agree with Orzel that the fake German accent of Albert Einstein really is atrocious (compare to the real Albert Einstein‘s accent). I’m sure I could fake a German accent better than Chad Orzel. ;-)

Science links

Trailblazing – three and a half centuries of Royal Society publishing.

“Welcome to Trailblazing, an interactive timeline for everybody with an interest in science. Compiled by scientists, science communicators and historians – and co-ordinated by Professor Michael Thompson FRS – it celebrates three and a half centuries of scientific endeavour and has been launched to commemorate the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary in 2010.
Trailblazing is a user-friendly, ‘explore-at-your-own-pace’, virtual journey through science. It showcases sixty fascinating and inspiring articles selected from an archive of more than 60,000 published by the Royal Society between 1665 and 2010.”

Link via MetaFilter: Selected Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

More science links in this MetaFilter thread: Math education – how should math be taught?

Diese Woche in der Zeit

Alltag von Schulleitern: Täglich nachsitzen. “Ob eine Schule erfolgreich ist, darüber entscheidet vor allem die Leitung. Ein Tag im Leben einer Schuldirektorin”. Von Martin Spiewak.

Abiturprüfungen: Und jetzt? “Durchs Abi gefallen – zwei ehemalige Schüler erzählen, wie sich das anfühlte und wie es danach weiterging”. Von Madlen Ottenschläger.

Und noch zwei Artikel zum Physik-Nobelpreis 2009 aus der Online-Ausgabe:

Physik: Nobelpreis für die Erfinder der Digital-Fotografie und den Meister des Lichts. “Ohne sie gäbe es weder Breitband-Internet noch digitale Fotos: Die Physik-Nobelpreisträger 2009 revolutionierten den Alltag und ermöglichten die Informationsgesellschaft.” Von Dagny Lüdemann, Sven Stockrahm und Alina Schadwinkel.

Physik-Nobelpreis 2009: Eine simple Idee revolutionierte die Welt. “Charles Kao legte mit der Datenübertragung per Glasfaser den Grundstein für die heutige Informationsgesellschaft. Der Nachrichtentechniker Godehard Walf erklärt, warum.” Von Dagny Lüdemann.