Professor Eyvind H. Wichmann
I have pasted this on my Blog because what Professor Wichmann says about physics, is also true of literature and history.
Professor Wichmann says, "I always urge my students to go back and look at old issues once more as their knowledge and sophistication increase, and I promise them that they will see something they did not see before."
The serious student of history cannot read anything about Hitler for the umpteenth time without seeing one more parallel between Hitler and his fascist friends --- and George W. Bush and the present Republican party.
Eyvind H. Wichmann
Distinguished Teaching Award: 1988
Physics
Statement written: 1988
I subscribe to the not very original belief that True Knowledge and Understanding can be reached only through a substantial personal intellectual effort. Guidance by a more experienced person can be most helpful, but ultimately the learner has to arrive at the final convictions by thinking through the issues on his or her own. One of my main goals is to foster intellectual initiative and independence in my students.
Creative thinking must, of course, have a basis in factual knowledge, and one aspect of teaching is to try to increase the students' knowledge about physics. There are characteristic methods and strategies to follow, the knowledge of which is a trademark of a physicist. Another important aspect of teaching is thus to show how these strategies and standard mathematical methods are applied to the solution of particular problems in physics.
I see the development of the field of physics as a process of ever-increasing refinement in outlook that accompanies the steady expansion of the empirical material. I think that there are analogies in the process of learning physics. As we progress, our understanding becomes deeper and more sophisticated: we see new aspects of old issues that we did not see before. At the same time we learn more about the facts of life in physics, which are the results of a great multitude of experiments and observations. In our teaching of physics, the subject is of necessity compartmentalized into courses on specific topics, which makes it hard for the student to see the unity of physics. To the beginning student, physics often appears like a collection of problems. It is an important task of the physics teacher to show the students how it all hangs together.
I always urge my students to go back and look at old issues once more as their knowledge and sophistication increase, and I promise them that they will see something they did not see before.
When assigned to teach a course I follow this advice myself and although I may have taught the course before, and although it may be at a rather elementary level, I invariably see some new, interesting aspects of the subject. I think that this is beneficial for the teaching, because the students tend to be very stimulated when they discover their teacher's strong interest: learning the subject becomes a joint venture.
I try to promote an open atmosphere in my classes, in which students discuss the issues with each other, and in which nobody is afraid of saying something wrong. I expect my students to be serious about their studies, and I think that the quality of their work is at its best when they perceive that their work is taken very seriously. I have no requirement that my students share my own strong interest in physics, but I have found that very many of them do. This makes teaching very pleasant and rewarding.
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What a pleasure it must have been to study with Eyvind Wichmann.
The humble Farmer
posted by The humble Farmer at 9:08 AM
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