I came across this very interesting article on efforts by MIT and other
universities to redesign their introductory science courses. While the
approach is resource-intensive and would require a large commitment from
Caltech, it seems to be far more effective at raising and sustaining
attendance, engaging students during lecture, and improving overall
student understanding of concepts. I remember that there had been talk
earlier of switching our Core classes to individual sections, with a more
individual approach to learning rather than the large lecture format. I
don't know whether Caltech would be willing to invest in this, but it
seems like an effective approach that we should at least consider. Here
is the New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/us/13physics.html?_r=1
-Neal Bansal
