Category Archives: communicating science
Six-legged spiders
Here’s a quiz for you: what’s wrong with these pictures? Did you find anything wrong? Surely you noticed the black widow spider has only 6 legs, not 8. Here’s the original – I amputated one leg with photoshop for the … Continue reading
A misconception about extrasolar planets
A couple of weeks ago in the introductory “Astro 101” class I work in, the instructor and I confirmed that many students hold a certain misconception. I was, still am, pretty excited about this little discovery in astronomy education. If … Continue reading
#eqjp, a teachable moment
In my current assignment through the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative in Physics and Astronomy at UBC, I’m working closely with a senior astronomy professor to help him better teach his general-education “Astro 101” course. It’s a mixture of providing … Continue reading
Constructing your own knowledge is not “edu-babble”
First, a disclosure: I’d love to pepper this posting with links to journal articles here, there and everywhere. But the truth is, if I try to do that, I’ll never get it written. If only I had a massive library … Continue reading
Leveraging Public Outreach
Every winter for the last 7 years, my Department has put on a science show for the general public, following the tradition celebrated by physicist Michael Faraday (1791-1867). This year’s theme was “The Physics of Light and Colour”. We did … Continue reading
