But the majority of students won t. According to Manfred Euler, president of the International Research Group on Physics Teaching, as he writes on that group s Web site, We have to convey the big ideas of our discipline and make them accessible and sensible to our students in a meaningful and authentic way, which meets their expectations and needs. Garvey couldn t agree more, and says that sitting in on other teachers courses is an immeasurable help. You can sit in on almost any course outside your discipline and learn about teaching, he says. Garvey knows that fewer students are majoring in physics every year, and he doesn t purport to turn that around.
People see it as a lot of work without a lot of pay at the end.
The Cold War used to finance a lot of defense work, but not anymore. So it s his job, Garvey feels, to make the teaching relevant to every day life, and if that means cranking tiny generators in a darkened classroom, so be it. And, according to Shertzer, that s exactly the strength he has in teaching, and it s what helped him win the award. He never stops questioning the way to teach, and he s not afraid to abandon the traditional ways. He has rethought the whole general physics agenda, always emphasizing the application of the physical concepts to everyday life, she says.