Editors: Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend Professor Wieman's class the week of Sept. 3 and later if they call him in advance at (303) 492-6963 to arrange.Ìý
Nobel laureate Carl Wieman, distinguished professor of physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will teach a large undergraduate class of non-science majors on "The Physics of Everyday Life" during the 2002-03 school year.
The class of about 206 students is full and has a waiting list of students hoping to enroll. The first class will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 27, in Duane Physics room G1B20. The class will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The class will cover physics through the examination of familiar items such as light bulbs, clocks, radios, musical instruments, microwave ovens and nuclear weapons. Each student in the class uses an infrared transmitter "clicker" to send "votes" to a computer, where they are tabulated and displayed to the entire class.
"Most of the class time is spent doing demonstration experiments in which the students must make predictions as to the outcome and register their predictions using their individual clickers," Wieman said. "This system ensures active participation by all students and provides immediate feedback to the instructor and the students about any confusion or misunderstandings."
Wieman is one of at least seven CU-Boulder faculty members who are using the clickers in their classrooms this school year. Computer graphics and animations also are heavily used throughout the course.
"We have to find a way to make physics interesting and relevant to everyone, because it plays such an important role in modern society," said Wieman, who is part of a national task force established to improve physics education.
"I feel strongly that scientists have to do a better job of educating the general population, both for the good of society and the good of science."
This is the third year Wieman has taught the class. "The Physics of Everyday Life" continues in the spring as a smaller class of about 60 students and includes a laboratory.
Wieman also teaches and works closely with graduate students throughout the year.
Last year, the National Science Foundation named Wieman one of the first seven scientists and engineers in the United States to receive its highest honor for excellence in both teaching and research. He has taught at CU-Boulder since 1984 and holds a Marsico Endowed Chair of Excellence.
Wieman and Eric Cornell, a senior scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and an adjoint professor of physics at CU-Boulder, received the 2001 Nobel Prize in physics for their landmark 1995 creation of the world's first Bose-Einstein condensate.
Both Wieman and Cornell are fellows of JILA, a joint institute of CU-Boulder and NIST. The physics department is part of the CU-Boulder College of Arts and Sciences.
More information on Wieman's "The Physics of Everyday Life" class can be found on the Web at .