What makes a good exam question? Not surprisingly, I try to write exams that most students who are keeping up with the course should do well on — almost by definition, the exam should be evaluating what I’m teaching. But I also want the exam to reveal and assess different levels of understanding; it would … Continue reading What have I got in my pocket?
In Part 1, I described the motivations behind a “Freshman Interest Group” (FIG) seminar I taught last term, called “Modeling Life,” that explored how contemporary science can make sense of biology by way of physical and computational models. I also wrote about several of the topics explored in the class. Here, I’ll describe some of … Continue reading Modeling Life (a freshman seminar) — Part 2
I’ll finish a “real” post soon: Part 2 of my recap of a freshman seminar course on models. (I made the painting for it already!) But, since I’ve written about funding issues in science before (e.g. here), I can’t resist a small post on a proposed new NIH funding program. There is, of course, a … Continue reading Notice how I’m transferring knowledge, for free
The Eighteenth Elephant 