We are very excited to present Professor Eric Mazur from Harvard University as the 2nd Annual Swenton-Ouellette Lecturer. He will be presenting “The Tyranny of the Lecture” at 4:00pm on February 14 in the US Bank Theatre inside the Ohio Union.
The goal of the Swenton-Ouellette lecture is to highlight members of the chemistry community who display excellence in not only research but also mentorship, teaching, and outreach. The speaker is chosen by soliciting nominations from faculty and graduate students in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. ChemTALKS, a graduate student group then reviewed the nominations and unanimously chose Professor Mazur. Mazur is currently Professor of Applied Physics and Physics at Harvard, and also Dean of Applied Physics.
Reviewing Mazur’s biography it was clear to us that he has made important contributions in both optical physics as well as education. His teaching methods are revered and have been adopted across many science disciplines both nationally and internationally. We are looking forward to this seminar and hope that all attendees will benefit from this event.
Here is the abstract for his upcoming lecture:
“Most — if not all — of the important skills in our life are acquired outside the traditional classroom setting. Yet we continue to teach using lectures where students passively take down information. Instead, we should really focus on the assimilation of that information and shift the focus from teaching to helping students learn. Over the past 20 years, instructors world-wide have begun to adopt Peer Instruction to get students to think in class. With the advent of new technology the process can be significantly improved. A new data-analytics driven audience response system does away with multiple choice questions and helps instructors design better questions, manage time and process flow, and optimizes the discussions in the classroom.”
The lecture is being sponsored by ChemTalks, The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and UCAT. For more information on the Swenton-Ouellette Lecture please visit our website. To register for the event, please click here.
Cheers,
Kelsey Miles
ChemTALKS Vice President