Archive for the 'Science and society' Category
Saturday, April 9th, 2016
I have had an incredible opportunity to meet with the European Colleagues who are engaged in science outreach. This was a European – EuroScienceFun 2016 conference and it took place in Reykjavik Iceland. I didn’t know much about Iceland before coming and I knew very little about how Europeans are engaged in science outreach. I […]
Filed under: Conferences, General, General teaching, Interactivity in the classroom, Outreach, Personal, Science and society | | Comments Off on EuroScienceFun 2016 Conference in Reykjavik
Thursday, March 24th, 2016
I am getting ready to attend a Euro Science Fun Conference in Iceland. I have been actively involved in math and science outreach for almost two decades now. I am very familiar with the outreach efforts (in math, physics and chemistry) that are going on in North America. I have helped to establish a number […]
Filed under: Conferences, General, General teaching, Science and society, Science Education, Science in everyday life, Teacher Education, Uncategorized | | Comments Off on Euroscience Fun Conference – Iceland 2016
Sunday, March 6th, 2016
On March 5th, 2016 we held a 38th UBC Physics Olympics. It was a very successful event. I would like to share a letter I have written to the Physics Teachers who came with their teams to participate in the event. I think the letters speaks to why physics outreach matters so much. Dear BC Physics […]
Filed under: General, General teaching, Outreach, Personal, Physics Education, Science and society, Science Education, Teacher Education, Technology and learning, Women in Science | | Comments Off on 38th UBC Physics Olympics
Monday, January 18th, 2016
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. Winston Churchill During this weekend, I happened to stumble a number of times upon an idea that failure is crucial for learning. While listening to Bill Nye’s book “Undeniable” in the gym, I noticed how he talked about Dolly the sheep and […]
Filed under: General, General teaching, Physics Education, Science and society, Science in everyday life | | Comments Off on On the importance of … FAILURE
Monday, November 23rd, 2015
I am very happy about the the workshop I led on Saturday, November 21st as part of UBC Centennial Lecture Series. It was a very engaging event with more than 100 participants. Most importantly, it showed that meaningful activities can engage both parents and children. I hope it will become a tradition.
Filed under: General, General teaching, Interactivity in the classroom, Mathematics education, Science and society, Science Education | | Comments Off on Math for Parents and Children
Friday, November 20th, 2015
I think every science educator should watch this movie. I cannot imagine a better reason to study or to teach science than to enjoy figuring things out. I could not have said it better than a very famous physicist – Richard Feynman.
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Wednesday, October 21st, 2015
We have had a very successful Fifth Math and Science Family Day on October 18, 2015. We had 300+ guests and more than 80 volunteers including faculty members, staff, many teacher-candidates, as well as graduate and undergraduate students from the Faculties of Education, Science, Applied Science, Let Us Talk Science, as well as volunteers outside […]
Filed under: General, General teaching, Mathematics education, Outreach, Science and society, Science Education, Science in everyday life | | Comments Off on 5th Math and Science Family Day
Thursday, July 9th, 2015
During the last two days I have had a chance to participate in our local and very special event at the Faculty of Education: TEX Expo 2015. The goal of the event to share technology-related ideas with each other across the Faculty. During the first day of the event we had presentations by the faculty members […]
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Saturday, June 20th, 2015
This year I attended a Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) Congress in Edmonton. The meeting made me think once again about the importance of science communication. For example, I attended a number of plenaries and invited talks and some of them were very exciting. For example, Sara Seager from MIT gave a great talk about […]
Filed under: Conferences, General, Outreach, Personal, Science and society, Science Education | | Comments Off on Can scientists afford neglecting science communication?
Monday, June 1st, 2015
As I am reflecting on my experience of working with Chinese mathematics and science teachers, my students (in a graduate course on mathematics and science education I am currently teaching) pointed out to me that I missed a CBC radio discussion on the Cross Country Check up that focuses exactly on this problem. I am […]
Filed under: General, General teaching, Mathematics education, Science and society, Science Education, Science in everyday life | | Comments Off on Is there something wrong with the way math is being taught?