Imagine that as you walk into your freshman year introductory science聽lecture hall, you hear聽your professor聽playing music.聽 Dr. David Brain of the Astrophysics Department at CU Boulder says that before each Astronomy 1000聽The Solar System class session, he plays, "Snippets of three songs."聽 Brain says that the snippets must have, "Some indirect relationship with the material."聽聽He says that he might use Blondie's, "The Tide is High," during a class about the tides on Mars, or play "Toxic" by Britney Spears before a lecture investigating聽various elements聽in the Solar System.聽 When the day's playlist ends,聽students know that it is聽time for class to start.聽 Brain doesn't hog the role of聽DJ, either.聽 He invites students to post聽suggestions聽to the D2L discussion board page that聽Brain dedicates to class music ideas - and they do!聽 In聽a typical semester, students聽suggest almost聽100 tracks.聽 Additionally, the music provides a token to remember the class.聽聽At the end of the semester, students can access the entire semester's playlist on Grooveshark.
But there's more to remember from聽Brain's Introductory Astronomy course than just the music.聽 First, "... We are all scientists ..."聽greets students at the top of聽the class聽syllabus.聽 Perhaps because of this high standard that Brain holds for his students, complemented with his efforts to聽relate class聽material to聽their personal interests,聽students nominated聽Brain for an ASSETT Teaching with Technology Award last year for that聽class.聽 In their nominations, students聽expressed appreciation of Brain's use of D2L.聽 Brain and聽his TAs make sure to keep the course聽D2L page full of聽relevant current events and extra information about topics covered in class.
Brain also reserves nights at the CU Boulder Sommers Bausch Observatory for his Introductory Astronomy students to observe the night sky.聽 As an optional replacement for a homework assignment, students may attend and sketch their observations.聽聽Additionally, "Professor Brain also uses the newly renovated [Fiske]聽Planetarium to supplement class lectures and make the class more exciting," a student wrote in Brain's nomination for the ASSETT Teaching with Technology Award.聽 Brain聽says that he聽tries to host about five class聽sessions聽in the Fiske Planetarium聽because there, students聽can, "Look at the night sky ... without being hampered by聽clouds," or聽even聽travel further out of Earth's atmosphere and聽virtually, "Fly through the canyons on Mars."
Brain also makes use of聽Clickers in class.聽 He may ask students to answer a question first on their own, without the opportunity to discuss with neighbors.聽 After students have submitted a Clicker answer on their own, Brain gives time to students to further discuss the question with their neighbors, and then answer the Clicker question again once more after having had the opportunity to discuss聽the question聽with their peers.
Brain聽has just finished his third year of teaching at CU Boulder, and he explains how much he collaborates with his聽colleagues and how聽they聽meet regularly to discuss best teaching practices.聽 "Everyone is extremely supportive,"聽says Brain of his department.
For the future, Brain considers presenting聽PowerPoint lectures with headers, images, and blank spaces instead of bullet points.聽 Then, he would聽spend class time聽filling in聽notes with a stylus pen on a tablet device聽while he lectures, just as his students write down their聽own notes while聽listening to聽lecture.聽 Further, Brain also explains that he feels that PowerPoint is ultimately too linear in nature when it comes to聽the human dynamics of a live lecture - what if a student asks a relevant question that聽answering would throw his lecture out of sequence?聽聽Brain says that he would聽like to be able to explore students' questions in the middle of the lecture without forgetting聽to cover important topics before he finishes.
Ultimately, Brain says his goal in teaching is: "I want [students] to realize that everyone has scientific capability," and to underscore, "... [乐播传媒'聽abilities] to聽reason things out for themselves."
When Brain is not teaching, he consults for NASA's聽ongoing MAVEN mission to Mars.
