My name is Dr. Martin Lonsky and I am currently a research scientist at the Goethe-University Frankfurt in Germany. Aside from conducting research, I have a great passion for teaching physics and materials science. I am always excited about trying out new teaching approaches and to spark students' interest for natural sciences by conveying my enthusiasm for the aforementioned subjects.
But why exactly did I decide to start writing my very first blog? Does the world really need a blog about teaching, especially in the field of physics? Is there really so much to talk about this specific topic?
To give a brief answer to these three questions: Yes, I believe that the world needs this blog, there is a lot to talk about and that is why I am starting this blog today. I think that these are very exciting times that we are living in, where higher education is going through a lot of changes and transformations. Not only did we go through an unprecedented pandemic (well, technically, we are still going through it right now, more or less at least) which has moved in-person instruction to virtual meetings, but, more generally, our society is heavily impacted by the most recent technological developments, economic challenges, environmental issues and political debates.
Higher education is evolving continuously as well. As a teacher, I have the power to drive and control some of the changes and transformations, but I also have to adapt by developing new teaching skills and applying those in the classroom. Now it is time for a summary of my personal background -- if you are interested in what topics this blog will cover in the future, please scroll down to the bottom of this page; otherwise, keep on reading please. When I started my first teaching activities in the third semester of my Bachelor program (for potential readers from the US: I was a sophomore undergraduate student back then) by leading discussion sessions as a teaching assistant for an introductory computer science class (this was my minor at that time, my major was physics), I could not imagine how many little details there would be that I need to pay attention to as a teacher. I had only attended a two-day workshop for new teaching assistants, and that was it. Only during my more than twelve years of teaching I learned how to become a better teacher, how to get students involved, how to deal with questions that I cannot answer immediately, or how to understand each student's individual background and needs. However, just like higher education and everything else in academia, I am still evolving, still in the process of growing and improving as a teacher. Starting this blog is the next step in my personal development, so to speak. Here, I am trying to establish a platform, where I can communicate my experience and learnings to other fellow teachers and students. At the same time, I hope that the (possibly) growing community of this blog will participate in the discussions with me and others, and provide inspiration for future blog posts.
I am very glad that I could be involved in the teaching of physics, mathematics, and computer science classes during my Bachelor, Master, and PhD time in Frankfurt, Germany. In detail, I was leading discussion sessions and tutorials, delivering guest lectures, designing problem sheets, organizing discussion groups for introductory condensed matter physics lectures, and mentoring students during their research projects in our laboratory and in advanced lab courses of our institute. Subsequently, during my two-and-a-half year long postdoctoral stay at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I had the privilege of getting to know the American system, too, with all its advantages and disadvantages. Besides my research projects, I was doing guest lectures in classes on "Magnetism and Magnetic Materials" and "Electronic Properties of Materials" when the actual instructor was out of town, I designed and supervised numerical simulation group projects for students who attended the magnetism lectures, I advised students on their senior design project, and I also co-mentored undergraduate and graduate students in our laboratory. Now, back in Frankfurt, I resumed teaching physics in Germany by guiding a Master student in our research group with their research work and being involved in a seminar on magnetism, where students are supposed to give presentations on selected hot topics.
This very first blogpost today was not supposed to become an extended version of my CV, but I hope that the reader could get an impression of my past and present teaching activities, and my personal background in general. In future posts, I will most likely refer to some of my previous teaching experience from time to time, but I will also try to provide a broader perspective on all the topics.
Now, to the most important part of this post: What can the reader expect in the future? Here is a loose collection of topics, questions and problems which will be addressed:
- How can we get more people to become interested in (condensed matter) physics and materials science? Especially in Frankfurt and all over Germany it appears as if we are currently having problems in the context of sparking young people's interest.
- What can German universities, teachers and students learn from the United States, and vice versa?
- What are the most effective teaching methods for physics and materials science? What are the best ways to engage students? How should teachers interact with students in general?
- A question specific to German physics departments: Should German still be the main language which is used by professors and lecturers, or would it be beneficial to switch to English?
- Should we try to find partners from industry and, for example, invite them for seminars and guest lectures, or should we rather keep the university as a place for fundamental science only?
- Is it a good idea that attendance of classes is mandatory for students? Do we need to have them hand in solutions to problem sheets every week or should everything be on a voluntary basis?
- What is actually the exact role of a teacher?
- Should a department offer only "physics" as a major, or does it make sense to offer more specialized majors, such as "physics of information technology", "astrophysics", "quantum materials and nanoscience", etc.? What are the pros and cons?
- In the future, will all the lectures be pre-recorded online, or is there still an advantage of classes with hundreds of students sitting there and listening to the professor/lecturer? Shouldn't in-person activities rather comprise discussion sessions in smaller groups?
- What are good resources for people who teach physics and materials science in higher education?
- And many more...
Please feel free to leave a comment down below, especially if you have suggestions for topics that should be discussed in the future. If you have made it this far: Thanks a lot for reading and stay tuned for more posts coming soon! Have a great weekend y'all.
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