Open course ware

my name is John belshire I'm in the department of physics at MIT uh I'd like to describe the teal program that I'm uh involved in here teal stands for technology enhanced Active Learning uh so I'm teaching freshman physics introductory physics using a lot of technology and in an active learning environment I'd like to describe what we're doing in both of those aspects both the technology and the active learning aspect let me first say a little bit about my background I've been at MIT for 30 years uh in the early 90s I taught the large freshman Physics course in electromagnetism uh everyone at MIT has to take two terms of physics uh mechanics and electromagnetism so we have large enrollment courses in particular the course I taught uh in the early 90s had 700 students in it that's normally taught in a passive manner that is it's lecture recitation 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of recitation uh I would do the lectures and a number of Fac...

[MUSIC PLAYING] JOHN DOLHUN: I've done these demos in front of live audiences. I remember one time I did one demo in front of alumni. I forget what it was, but it was a failure. And this one little kid-- he was only about four years old-- he raised his hand. He said, you win some and you lose some. SARAH HANSEN: Today on Chalk Radio, we're talking about the course 5.310, Laboratory Chemistry. This is a course that not only teaches students about hands-on science, but also life. Because working in a lab is a lot like baking-- you can follow recipes, but your cake might still collapse. I'm your host Sarah Hansen. In this episode, we're joined by two MIT educators who have helped shape this standout course. They'll tell us more about what it looks like to support students with various academic interests as they develop lab skills, overcome setbacks, and apply their studies to real-world problems like water quality. JOHN DOLHUN: I'm John Dolhun, curren...

[SQUEAKING] [RUSTLING] [CLICKING] JOHN DOLHUN: Good afternoon, everyone. So I'm going to start off today with a small demonstration. And I wonder if somebody could tell me what are the states of matter? Yeah? Aisha? AUDIENCE: Solid, liquid, gas, and then [INAUDIBLE].. JOHN DOLHUN: Solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Good. Good. OK. So the plasma is one that we don't oftentimes talk about. And that's what we're going to be talking about in this lecture. So what we're going to do-- a plasma basically is a group of ionized gas molecules. The sun and the stars are plasma. This is a plasma globe, which on a small scale you're not actually going to be able to see the plasma inside because it's not hot enough. But we'll be able to see the colors from the emissions. So ionization is when an electron hits a gas particle, kicks an electron off, and produces a gas ion. That's ionization. That's what's happening on the Sun and the stars. I mean...

[SQUEAKING] [RUSTLING] [CLICKING] JOHN DOLHUN: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to The Ellen Swallow Richards lab part two. There is-- the room will be a little bit more sparsely populated today. I wonder why. Lab reports are due, right? So we're going to get started. And I'm going to start off by talking about probably the most important parameter in measuring the health of the river, and that's the dissolved oxygen. So when we look at the dissolved oxygen concentrations out there, for a river to really be healthy, we're looking for something greater than probably about 8 PPM. If the concentrations fall down to 5 or less, then you'll start to see the fish move around erratically, because they're trying to get their oxygen. So less than or equal to 5, and we have some stress placed on the aquatic life. If the dissolved oxygen concentration goes below 2, even for an hour or two, you're going to have fish kills. So let's take a moment to act...

[SQUEAKING] [RUSTLING] [CLICKING] JOHN DOLHUN: Good morning, everyone. And welcome, or good afternoon. Welcome to The Ellen Swallow Richards Lecture Series. This is our beloved Charles River. This is the river you're going to be testing. Once you've tested this river, you can actually take this testing and apply it to any body of water. Why should we be concerned about this Charles River? Yes? Because we live next to it. Because we live-- that's a good reason. Because we live next to it. Anyone else? Aisha? AUDIENCE: To care about your environment. JOHN DOLHUN: You care about your environment. And speaking of caring about your environment, we've got some problems with phosphate out there. We've got high phosphorus concentrations. And those high phosphorus concentrations lead to algal blooms. And those algal blooms produce toxic chemicals and odors. And when all this algae dies, it heads down to the bottom and breaks off and it's acted on by decompo...