Notice To Users
Gerard Williger
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Teaching:
Most Recent/Current Courses:
Physics & Astronomy 107, Elementary University Astronomy, Au
2024
Physics & Astronomy 307, Astrophysics I: Solar System
Astrophysics, Au 2024:
Tutorial
(non-credit, taught irregularly, assisting Lutz Haberzettl):
Past courses at
U. Louisville:
Physics & Astronomy
195 (the eclipse course), Au
2023 (in person), Sp
2024 (online)
Recitations for Physics
& Astronomy 298, Sp 2014, Sp 2024
Physics & Astronomy 590, Stars & Galaxies/Astrophysics II: Sp
2013, Sp
2014, Sp
2015, Sp
2016, Sp
2017, Sp
2018, Sp
2020, Sp
2021,
Sp
2022,
Sp 2023,
Sp 2024
Physics & Astronomy 650, Research Methods
(in astronomy): Sp
2013, with J. Lauroesch, J. Kielkopf
Past courses at U. de Nice:
Astrobiology (general education/non-majors,
in French): Sp
2010, Au
2011 (with M. Adrian-Scotto + team), Sp
2012 (team-taught), Sp
2013 (for geology majors, team-taught, my part via
Internet)
Quasars & Black Holes (general
education/non-majors, in French): Sp
2010, Sp
2012
Star Formation (Master-2nd yr, in English):
Dec 2009, Dec 2010, Dec
2011
Physics labs (in French):
Quantum Mechanics-3rd yr Sp 2011, Sp
2012
Electronics-1st yr Au 2011
Thermodynamics-1st yr Sp 2011
Recitations (in French): Thermodynamics for
Physicists Sp 2011
Tutoring for Physics & Astronomy 107 by
former students: the A-Stars program
AWARDS:
Lily Bouch Award -
for the most inspirational student in Astronomy 107
Lily Bouch was a student in Astronomy 107 who tragically died
in an automobile accident in April 2018, a few
days before the final exam. In her memory, this award
commemorates the student who is the best example of
enthusiasm for the course, determination and/or overcoming
obstacles.
Au 2019: Susan Pallman, senior, Web Design/Art
Sp 2020: Elmedina Brkic, senior, Education
Au 2020: Sebastian Zapata, sophomore, going into Business
Computer/Information Science
Sp 2021: Adam Poston, sophomore, pre-Business
NSF
Website for REU searches searches (astronomy,
atmospheric science, materials research, physics, computer
science, life sciences etc.)
NOTE: Many of the programs listed as "physics"
also include astronomy!
Academic Misconduct: Why Cheating Makes A Loser Of
Everyone
Advice from Astro 107 Students Who Cheated
Academic Misconduct in Physics Courses - A Guarantee
of Career Failure
Astronomy
books by local academics
Setting
Aside All Authority: Giovanni Battista
Riccioli and the Science against Copernicus
in the Age of Galileo
Christopher
M. Graney (University of Notre Dame Press, 2015)
Popular
Articles on Education and Working Through College
Manual Labor, All Night Long: The Reality of
Paying for College (3rd Shift UPS in Louisville) , The Atlantic, 20 Mar 2015
Why
Science Majors Change Their Minds (It’s Just So Darn Hard +
Grade Inflation in Humanities) , NY Times, 4 Nov 2011
A
warning to college profs from a high school teacher ,
Washington Post, 9 Feb 2013
Some
Students Need to Fail: Lessons Learned from a Dean ,
Inside Higher Ed, 10 May 2012
We
Must
Teach Students to Fail Well , Chronicle of Higher
Education, 1 May 2009
Close the Book. Recall. Write It Down. , Chronicle of Higher Education, 1 May 2009
Some Students Get Away with Poor Preparation
, USA Today, 10 Nov 2008
Faculty
and
Students Interact Outside of Class, USA Today, 9 Nov 2008
High
School
Students Active in Research, USA Today, 10 Dec 2008
Beating
Cheating (with software), The
Economist, 2 June 2011
5 Study Habits That (are
said to) Work reprinted from
www.post-it.com, Sep 2014
Study
Tips: The Transition from High School To College by Ron Theys, U Wisconsin-Fond du Lac, reprinted at
www.astronomynotes.com
Focus
on Process, your Brain as a Learning Machine, to Succeed --
not on "raw intelligence" ,
Carol Dweck, 1 Jan 2015, Scientific American
Why
All-Nighters DON'T Work , P
Haynes, B Christmann, L Griffith 2015, eLife
10.7554/eLife.03868, Brandeis U.
Ratings
agency: Students judge their teachers. Often unfairly. - a
meta-study of ratemyprofessors.com , The Economist, 23 Jan 2016
The
Math Revolution in America: Math is a Tool for CRITICAL
THINKING , The Atlantic, Mar
2016
Students
Who Take Notes by Hand Outperform Those with Laptops
(includes 5' video), Tanya
Rivero, Wall Street Journal, 4 Apr 2016
A
Learning Secret: Don’t Take Notes with a Laptop (and don't
use the Internet in class, either) , Cindi May, Scientific American, 3 Jun 2014
The
rise of the 'gentleman's A' and the GPA arms race , Catherine Rampell, Washington Post, 28 Mar 2016
Why
Universities Should Get Rid of PowerPoint and Why They Won't
Paul Ralph, Univ. Auckland,
quillette.com, 02 Sep 2016
How
I Rewired My Brain to Become Fluent in Math: The building
blocks of understanding [in many fields] are memorization
and repetition. Barbara Oakley,
Oakland Univ., nautil.us, 15 Sep 2016
Media
Multitaskers Pay Mental Price: People Don't Do As Well As
They Think Clifford Nass,
Stanford, YouTube video 1.8', 25 Aug 2009
How
we lost the world-changing power of useless knowledge: Why
Pure Research is Necessary
Simon Ings, New Scientist, 15 Mar 2017
Dear
Students, Don’t Be a Commodity -- How to Differentiate
Yourself from Other Graduates to Land a Job Vince Bertram, Real Clear Education, 16 Aug 2017
How
to Really Help Struggling Students: One-On-One Instruction;
Don't Promote Without Mastery
Debra Bruno, Politico, 19 Oct 2017
The
Americans who can't read - spotlight on Kentucky BBC, Franz Strasser & Ashley Semler, 30 Oct
2017
What
Makes A Good Teacher? It's More than Raising Test Scores The Atlantic Monthly, Matt Barnum, 8 Dec 2017
NASA
Pioneer Katherine Johnson Q and A: Work the problem, THEN go
use the computer! AARP
Bulletin, Sue Lindsey, Mar 2018
Why
Our Kids Don't Get Math - A Math Paradox: The Widening Gap
Between High School and College Math The Daily Riff,
Joseph Ganem, 17 Oct 2017
Math
skills aren’t enough to get through hard decisions – you
need confidence, too The Conversation, Ellen Peters
& Brittany Shoots-Reinhard, 9 Sep 2019
8
Ways to Overcome Bad Teachers (and 7 Mistakes to Avoid)
4tests.com, Aric Mitchell, undated (linked on 8 Dec 2019)
How to fix education’s racial inequities, one tweak at a
time Politico, Marcella Bombardieri, 25 Sep 201
9
Italian lessons: what we've learned from two months of home
schooling , [with tips for online teaching in general in
a pandemic], The Guardian, Tobias Jones, 25 Apr 2020
I’m
Not a Snowplow Parent — I Want My Kids to Fail [growth from
not being perfect] , CBC, Janice Quirt, 15 Oct 2019
Why
suffering setbacks could make you more successful , BBC,
Ian Leslie, 9 July 2019
Dunning-Kruger
Effect: tendency for people wrongly overestimate their
knowledge or ability in a specific area [or, "a little
knowledge is a dangerous thing"] , Psychology Today,
linked on 2020 May 4
Dunning-Kruger
Effect: The importance of knowing you might be wrong ,
BBC, 6.5' video, 2020 May 14
The
Myth of being 'Bad' at Mathematics , Riffanie Wen, BBC,
2020 May 12
What
wayfinding teaches us about history, memory and our brain:
Put away that GPS and exercise your brain , Michael
Bond, CBC, 2020 May 8
The
mindset you need to succeed at every goal , David Robson
(author of "The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Do Dumb
Things", BBC, 2020 July 22
When
'math is accessible to any brain,' we can make better
political, social choices, says mathematician; Math could
help people make more rational, thought-out decisions, says
John Mighton , Allie Jaynes, CBC, 2020 Jan 21, has 24.6'
audio
Why
writing by hand makes kids smarter , Anne Sliper
Midling, Norwegian Science & Technical News, 2020 Oct 1
I Grew Up Gifted, But My Life Didn’t Turn Out The Way I
Expected [as drive, self-discipline and resilience count
more]
, Heather M. Jones, CBC, 29 May 2019
Kids Like Cold Call and No Opt Out
, EL Education, 6th grade students, Springfield
Renaissance School (MA), Sep 2011, 2' video
I Flunked the Random House Typing Test, But Everything
Turned Out Okay [or, how to learn from people and hard work]
, Sean Desmond, RealClearBooks, 03 Feb 2021
The Pandemic Has Increased the Need for Student Tutoring:
Peer Mentoring, Not a Thinly Veiled Cheating App [Chegg], Is
the Answer
, Edward Whitley, Chair of English, Lehigh U,
realcleareducation.com, 17 Dec 2021
My Late Father Was a Great Teacher. He Wouldn't Last a Week
in the Modern Classroom.
, Jeremy S. Adams, quillette.com, 17 Oct 2021
Lower Bars, Higher College GPAs: How grade inflation is
boosting college graduation rates
, Jeffrey Denning, Eric Eide, Richard Patterson (all
BYU), Kevin Mumford (Purdue), Merrill Warnick (Stanford),
Education Next, 9 Nov 2021
The Role of Homework in the Age of Photomath and Chegg
, eMath Instruction, 29 Apr 2021
Become Antifragile: Exercise Your Resilience by Embracing
Painful Emotions to Achieve Happiness
, Tal Ben-Shahar, former Harvard and Columbia faculty
member, RealClearScience, 1 Feb 2022 (7.2' video)
This $12 Billion Company [Chegg] Is Getting Rich Off
Students Cheating Their Way Through Covid
, Susan Adams, Forbes, 31 Mar 2021
Why Good Students Do "Badly" in College: Why We Should Care
and What We Should Do -- the 80/20 - 20/80 principle and
other strategies for success
, The Learnwell Projects, Aug. 2017
The best- and worst-paying college majors, five years after
graduation
, Mike Winters, CNBC, 12 Feb 2022
The College-Admissions Process Is Completely Broken
, Jeffrey Selingo, opinion piece, Microsoft News, 23 Mar
2022
When "Rigorous" Courses Aren't: High schoolers are taking
tougher classes, getting better grades, and know less than
students did a decade ago. What gives?
, Frederick M. Hess, thedispatch.com, 24 Mar 2022
Grade Inflation 'Persistent, Systemic' Even Prior to
Pandemic, ACT Study Finds
, Linda Jacobson, The 74, 16 May 2022
Editorial: The problem with college debt is that we never
fix the causes
, Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times, 26 May 2022
(reprinted on Yahoo News)
The Scourge of Online Solutions and an Academic
Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
, J. Overduin, J. Buchman, J. Perry, T. Krause, Towson
St. U., June 2021, "The Physics Educator", on the breakdown of
the correlation between homework and test results
Why criticism lasts longer than praise
, Sarah Griffiths, BBC, 26 Jun 2022
Warning: Telework could be harmful to your creativity!
, Tom Temin, Federal News Network, 21 Jul 2022
Curiosity: The neglected trait that drives success [and
helps your memory!]
, David Robson, BBC, 6 Sep 2022
CEO: Failure is school. Failure is where you learn
, Sara Sidner, CNN, 11 Oct 2022 (2.2' video)
When Learning Math, Sometimes Less Is More: learn algebra
well rather than calculus poorly in school
, Alex Small, Real Clear Education, 14 Sep 2022
The Promise of Habit-Based Learning: slow (reasoning) and
fast (rote) learning are complementary
, Barbara Oakley and Terrence Sejnowski, Liberty &
Law, 1 Dec 2022
We Can All Reach a 'Flow State'. Here's How.
, Ross Pomeroy, RealClearScience, 6 Dec 2022.
How to become a successful physicist: by calling on
knowledge to make common, critical decisions
, Carl Wieman, Stanford, Physics Today, 75, 9 (Sep.
2022)
Coding (Programming) is still a good career bet
, The Editorial Board, Financial Times, 27 Jan 2023
Your attention didn't collapse. It was stolen. Why
multi-tasking does not work.
, Johann Hari, The Guardian/Observer, 2 Jan 2022
Lessons from the ancient world for modern America: The Value
of Classics
, David Shribman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11 June 2023
Mobile phones and other devices to be banned from Dutch
classrooms ; Education ministry in the Netherlands says tech
is a distraction from learning and will only be allowed if
specifically needed
, Reuters, Amsterdam, 4 July 2023
High-dosage tutoring can help remediate learning loss, but
funding is running out
, Jeff Murray, 18 Apr 2024, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
We should be talking more about dumbed-down grades in
schools
, Jay Mathews, Washington Post, 7 Apr 2024
Former College President Explains Funding Strategies Behind
Universities - EXCELLENT explanation why tuition goes up at
state universities
, The Economist, 10 Mar 2024, article + 12' podcast
New numbers show falling standards in American high schools: Low-achieving pupils may suffer the most
, Wall Street Journal, 28 Apr 2024, 8.4' video
Escape from Higher Ed's Bermuda Triangle:
Two decades ago, reformers introduced effective new ways to help college students lost in the vortex
of remedial education classes. But progress stalled.
, Anne Kim, Atlantic Monthly, 25 Aug 2024