Describes HHMI-funded projects, including laboratory projects, at 96 different colleges and universities. Members are interested in issues related to teaching and learning biology, the use of technological innovations, and the potential impact of these technologies on learning theory and the structure of schools. The Workshop Physics project at Dickinson College represents an attempt to redesign the teaching methods in introductory physics courses to take advantage of recent findings in physics education research and introduce students to the use of modern computer tools.
Students meet in three two- hour sessions each week.
There are no formal lectures. The course content has been reduced by about 25 percent as compared with the normal curriculum. Each section has one instructor, two undergraduate teaching assistants, and up to twenty-four students. Each pair of students shares the use of a microcomputer and an extensive collection of scientific apparatus and other gadgets. Among other things, students pitch baseballs, whack bowling balls with rubber hammers, pull objects up inclined planes, attempt pirouettes, build electronic circuits, explore electrical unknowns, ignite paper with compressed gas, and devise engine cycles using rubber bands.