Augmented reality, computational physics, engaging students

Just in time for the weekend, here are a few brief items that contain interesting reads and food for thought on physics education: 

Artificial intelligence and other novel technologies in physics education

We are living in a time of significant technological advances and breakthroughs. Increasing computational power facilitates extensive numerical simulations of material physics, astronomical objects such as black holes, weather and climate phenomena, and the dynamics of a global pandemic that we have been going through for a couple of years. Artificial intelligence based chatbots such as ChatGPT by OpenAI appear to have a disruptive impact on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Data science and big data are more established concepts that have already found their way into academic research as well as industrial applications. Quantum computing and brain-inspired computer chips are further examples of potentially disruptive technologies. Virtual reality and the so-called metaverse are expected to become increasingly sophisticated and relevant, too. 

12 questions every physics department should ask themselves

Here are 12 questions that every physics department should ask themselves in regard to teaching and the educational curriculum: 

More resources for teaching methods and materials

As the beginning of the winter semester 2022/23 is approaching here in Germany, we are currently in the process of finalizing preparations for our teaching activities. This is yet another reason why I am dealing with physics education these days and therefore I would like to share a few more interesting resources that I stumbled upon.

Computational physics is underrepresented

The subject "physics" can be divided into experimental and theoretical physics. In order to become excellent physicists, students attend numerous classes on these two subcategories of physics. The neverending "battle" between theoretical and experimental physicists on which group of people are the "real" physicists is being fought on (presumably) each and every university campus in this world.

But does the simple division into two categories, theory and experiment, do justice to this large and complex subject termed physics? Not really. How about computational physics?