2002-2003 Funded Projects
A Visual Analysis Component to 21A.219: Law and Society - $12,313
Professor Susan S. Silbey, Anthropology
Law and Society is designed to acquaint students with basic legal processes and organization from the point of view of a social scientist, not a lawyer or legal technician. In general, however, it can be a challenge to have undergraduate students see the systemic and structural features of social action. Professor Silbey will use appropriate films, visual analysis assignments, and the incorporation of visual images within written texts in order to engage students more highly developed visual capacities and enable them to become more astute observers of the social world and help them understand and deploy social theory and analytic concepts.
Aeronautics and Astronautics Communications web site - $9,617
Dr. Andrea McKenzie, Aeronautics and Astronautics/Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies
Dr. McKenzie will create a discipline-specific communications web site for Aeronautics/Astronautics educators and students to use in the classroom and as an outside resource. This site will include guidelines for specific genres of communications, writing, presentations, and reviewing techniques, as well as models of excellent written communications and video clips and graphics of excellent oral presentations. The educational goals are to integrate communications into the discipline by providing easily accessible models and guidelines for active in-class use and as a discipline-wide resource.
Building Interaction in Concourse Psychology - $21,450
Professor Jeremy M. Wolfe, Brain and Cognitive Science
Professor Wolfe will enhance the Concourse version of 9.00 Introduction to Psychology by creating a series of interactive computer-based experiences that can be used to supplement the standard classroom environment. These will be highly flexible in a way that will allow students to get a quick illustration of a phenomenon or dig forever into the topic if they are so inclined. The eventual goal of this project will be to create a rich collection of experiences that can be incorporated into and used by mainstream Introductory Psychology subjects and the academic community beyond MIT.
Development and Teaching Japanese Animation - $13,600
Sean Leonard '04, Experimental Study Group
There is increasing interest in Japanese animation (anime) throughout the United States. Sean Leonard proposes to develop and operate a spring 2003 subject on the field, using innovative teaching methods and guest speakers to enhance learning. He also intends to teach an IAP subject on the process of translating, subtitling, and post-producing anime works. Following the successes of these 2 subjects, the final objective is to arrange and package the subject for future teaching.
Exploring Black Holes - $8,000
Professor Edmund Bertschinger, Physics
In the fall term 2001, a new undergraduate class 8.224 Exploring Black Holes was offered, the initial development of which was supported by the MIT Council on Educational Technology. This funding allows Professor Bertschinger to complete the initial educational goals for the class. One part of the work will be to program a relativistic flight simulator, that will enable a user to look in all directions around a black hole while standing still, freely falling, orbiting, or moving under rocket power. This should be a significant contribution to the understanding of general relativity and its consequences for compact objects. A second part of the work will be to record the seminars and provide them in video streaming format to the web site, to foster greater interaction between and among the undergraduates and alumni in the class.
Foundations of Computational and Systems Biology - $26,000
Professors Peter Sorger, Amy Keating, Mike Yaffe, Bruce Tidor, Chris Burge, and Dr. Drew Endy, Biology
The interface between biology, engineering and computation is one of the most active areas of research in the life sciences. Professor Sorger and his colleagues will develop a new subject for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students with backgrounds in either molecular biology or computer science but not necessarily both. The two-semester Foundations series will represent a comprehensive introduction to the new biology and to biology-inspired computation.
Introduction to Optimization (15.053) - $14,000
Professor James B. Orlin, Sloan School of Management
The textbook for 15.053, a core subject of Management Science, is excellent in many respects, but is also out of date in other aspects. In particular, it is very out of date with respect to its use of computer technology and with respect to applications developed over the past 20 years. Professor Orlin's goals for this project are to therefore enhance the textbook along several different dimensions and to facilitate the international creation and collection of materials relating to optimization by an effective use of OpenCourseWare.
Mathematics for Aerospace Engineers: A Framework to Link and Solidify Mathematical Skills - $7,070
Professors Karen Willcox, John Deyst, Steve
Hall, Jaime Peraire, Aeronautics and Astronautics
Professor Haynes Miller, Mathematics
To improve the level of mathematics skills of sophomores and juniors in the department, Professor Wilcox and her colleagues will work to help design aspects of the core engineering curriculum so that it reinforces and builds upon concepts taught in math subjects. Specifically, they will develop mathematical modules to link concepts and terminology learned in freshman and sophomore math classes with concepts that are utilized in Course 16 classes and to link the common mathematical foundations between engineering disciplines. Utilizing this work, they hope to unify the way in which mathematics is presented to Course 16 undergraduates throughout their degree.
MIT - Haiti Curricular Initiative for Development Design - $12,350
Amy Smith, Instructor, Edgerton Center
This proposal is for a project that harnesses the energy of students and student groups to provide an exciting educational opportunity to MIT students and technical assistance to communities in developing countries. Amy Smith proposes to create a fall term seminar that provides a cultural, social, political, environmental and economic overview of the country; an IAP field trip to the country to identify technical problems that are faced by local communities; and a spring term design seminar that develops solutions to the problems identified during the IAP field trip.
MIT Teacher Education Program Undergraduate Initiative - $22,000
Professor Eric Klopfer, Urban Studies and Planning
The mission of the MIT Teacher Education Program, started in 1995, is to develop a cadre of MIT undergraduates that will become the science and math teachers of tomorrow. Professor Klopfer intends to provide an opportunity for MIT students to meet the requirements of teacher certification entirely at MIT. This award will allow him to develop new courses, hire an MIT Teacher Fellow, and contract master teachers to work with student teachers to meet this certification goal.
Scientific Visualizations across Disciplines and Cultures - $12,000
Professor Joe Dumit, Science, Technology, and Society
Visualization is a key aspect of the presentation of scientific data in a variety of fields. Professor Dumit will assemble an online archive of teaching modules that will enable students to critically understand and assess scientific visualization across disciplinary lines. A new subject will be developed based on this archive that will expose undergraduates to a variety of visualization techniques, so that they will learn to understand the work involved in producing them and to critically assess the power and limits of each.
String Theory for Undergraduates (8.251) - $8,000
Professor Barton Zwiebach, Physics
All over the world, String Theory is taught as an advanced graduate course requiring the sophisticated tools of quantum field theory and Einstein's general relativity. Professor Zwiebach proposes to develop for the first time string theory at the undergraduate level, using the tools of undergraduate quantum mechanics, special relativity, electromagnetism and statistical mechanics. MIT will thus be recognized as the first institution to create a rigorous undergraduate level subject in string theory.
TeleEngineering Operations Suite - $20,000
Lieutenant Colonel Brian L. Baker, P.E., ROTC
Lt. Colonel Baker intends to use TeleEngineering to provide a linkage between MIT students in the classroom and engineers and subject matter experts in the field. The purchase of communications equipment required to tie into an elaborate network established by the Army Corps of Engineers will leverage that connectivity for enhanced classroom learning opportunities for MIT undergraduate engineers. Students could be linked in real-time to Corps of Engineers laboratories, deployed engineers or disaster responses sites, thus enhancing students' educational experiences.
2001-2002 Funded Projects
A Concept Question Database For Aerothermal Engineering - $3,800
Professors David Darmofal, Edward Greitzer, Earll Murman and Ian Waitz, Aeronautics and Astronautics
A final phase of implementing active learning and peer instruction within their sophomore core and junior/senior level subjects in Thermodynamics and Aerodynamics is to develop good concept questions. Professor Darmofal and his colleagues will develop a concept question database for undergraduate subjects in thermodynamics and aerodynamics and apply the database for in-class active learning and assessment of conceptual understanding.
Continuing and Improving MIT-Valencia Online Exchange - $14,319
Doctor Douglas Morgenstern, Foreign Languages and Literatures
Originally developed as a prototype in 6.916, Software Engineering of Innovative Web Services, Dr. Morgenstern intends to improve and expand an environment for active learning through an online community of interactions between MIT students and students at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. The primary educational objective of the web site is to provide an environment for active learning. The secondary objective is to provide an environment where elements of distance learning can be employed and tested.
Customized Weather Portal for Teaching in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate - $5,000
Doctor Lodovica Illari, Meteorology
Professor John Marshall, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
Dr. Illari and Professor Marshall propose to create software to allow students to access, manipulate and model real-time global meteorological data. Specifically, they intend to customize a weather analysis system for use as a teaching tool in undergraduate and graduate laboratory and IAP subjects, designed to illustrate the main dynamical ideas governing the circulation of the Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate. The analysis system will allow any remote user hands-on study of meteorology and its associated fluid mechanics and thermodynamics.
Economics Research And Communication (14.33) - $20,000
Professor Sara Ellison, Economics
The economics department will design a new subject to become a requirement for their undergraduate majors. Professor Ellison will establish this new subject that will teach students how to perform original empirical analysis of an economic question through the process of forming economic hypotheses, gathering appropriate data, analyzing them, and effectively communicating their results, in both written and oral form. Objectives include providing students with more intensive communications instruction, with hands-on research experience, and with a segue into thesis-writing.
Field Research Experience For Freshmen - $19,790
Professors Harry Hemond, Phil Gschwend, Heidi Nepf, Martin Polz and Sheila Frankel, Civil and Environmental Engineering
An important element of the revised 1-E environmental engineering curriculum is the new emphasis on field and laboratory work. Professor Hemond and his group will develop an off-campus real-world IAP field research project involving testing of the Charles River's environmental quality. This effort will offer a field-oriented freshman seminar that would complement and build on the concepts of the freshman curriculum.
Moon Festival: A Web-Based Multi-Linear Narrative About Cultural Identity and Chinese Culture - $20,000
Professor Shigeru Miyagawa, Foreign Languages and Literatures and Comparative Media Studies
This project is based on the highly successful projects developed in Foreign Languages and Literatures in French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. Modeled on his acclaimed project on cultural identity and Japan, StarFestival , Professor Miyagawa will create an interactive web-based narrative based on a Chinese-American experience for the purpose of teaching issues of diversity and cultural identity - Who am I? Where did I come from? Where do I fit in? It will thus give ethnic Asian students at MIT an opportunity to reflect on their own cultural background and to take pride in their multi-cultural identity.
The Ancient Near East (21H.303) - $15,000
Professor Joshua Sosin, History
Many collections of primary sources and detailed archeological studies are virtually inaccessible to undergraduates. Professor Sosin will assemble a database that will contain English translations of primary sources, images of archaeological sites and artifacts and a bibliography. This database will be used in the classroom and outside, to test and control primary-source readings, to launch classroom discussion, to aid the group in the construction of historical arguments and to develop those arguments into viable research papers.
2000-2001 Funded Projects
Computer-Based Multimedia Demonstrations In Psychology - $10,900
Professor Steven Pinker, Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Subject 9.00 enrolls three hundred students a term, roughly half of whom are freshmen. This award provides funding to Brain and Cognitive Sciences Professor Steven Pinker to develop computer-generated audio, video, and animated teaching materials. Professor Pinker plans to integrate these resources with lecture materials for use in the classroom and on a web site for students to replay as they review and study.
Environmental Case Study Development - $26,000
Professors Jeffrey Steinfeld, Donald Sadoway and Dr. Matthew Gardner, Center for Environmental Initiatives
Professors Jeffrey Steinfeld, Donald Sadoway, and Matthew Gardner have received resources for the creation of a curriculum using the wide-ranging research programs currently underway within the Center for Environmental Initiatives. The results of this research, incorporated into classroom teaching at MIT in 3.091 and 5.23, will allow students to examine a series of case studies that emphasize the connections between theory and practice, thereby building awareness of industrial impact on the natural environment.
Essentials of Engineering - $15,000
Professors Thomas Eagar and Paul Lagace, Engineering Systems Division
Funding for the proposal by Professors Thomas Eagar and Paul Lagace will help create the first undergraduate subject to be offered by the new Engineering Systems Division. "Essentials of Engineering" will be a second-term freshman elective subject involving case studies of major engineering systems development and designed to permit investigation of several different disciplines. Faculty from a variety of Engineering departments at MIT will be contributing to projects for this class, aimed at developing in students the skills needed for effective engineering communication and leadership.
Faculty Development Workshops To Redesign The First-year Curriculum In Writing - $11,000
Drs. Rebecca Faery and James Paradis, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies
Funding provided for Dr. Rebecca Faery Director of First Year Writing will be used to support faculty development workshops for first year curriculum teaching staff in the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies. Within the workshops, faculty will be given the opportunity to review theory and practice, develop syllabi, and discuss strategy, methods, and the effective use of information technologies.
New Undergraduate Lab Course on Functional Imaging of the Human Brain - $16,000
Professor Nancy Kanwisher, Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Professor Nancy Kanwisher is using her award to design a new 16-unit lab class in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Students in this class will have a chance to design and run their own brain-imaging experiments, and analyze the results of their fMRI and those of others.
Restructuring Organic Chemistry - $8,600
Professor Daniel Kemp and Daniel O'Connell and Eric Chang '01, Chemistry
Under the guidance of Professor Daniel Kemp, two undergraduate students, Eric Chang (Course 7) and Dan O' Connell (Course 5) will develop learning aids including a student workbook, an Internet program, and a TA guidebook for Chemistry 5.12 , a class taken by 350 students a year, and a prerequisite for many classes in a variety of departments.
Use Of The Geotechnical Centrifuge To Integrate Physical Modeling Of Large Scale Engineering Problems - $12,500
Professors Patricia Culligan, John Germaine & Andrew
Whittle
Civil and Environmental Engineering
As part of a major redesign of programs in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor Patricia Culligan's award will provide funds to use the MIT Balanced Arm Centrifuge to provide hands-on experience and problem-based learning to students in 1.031: Geotechnical Engineering Design. Student teams will build scale models of their geotechnical engineering problems to be tested on the centrifuge, allowing them to see the effect of their engineering design.
1999-2000 Funded Projects
A Communication Pipeline For elab 7.15J - $15,000
Professor Paul Matsudaira, Bioengineering and Environmental Health
In the new Project Lab for Biology undergraduates and Bioengineering minors (7.15J/BEH350), Professor Paul Matsudaira’s students will examine the complex pattern of yeast cell genes using DNA chips, matrices of probe DNAs that are arrayed on glass slides. Because DNA chips are so new, teaching materials must be compiled from various sources. Professor Matsudaira will use his award to develop a fully integrated electronic support tool for instruction, data collection, and the preparation of reports for the new lab subject. Lectures and all supporting information will be compiled and placed on the course web site. Student reports and papers for the BUG Journal as well as the Project Lab will be administrated via this same system, permitting rapid feedback, improved graphics, better written papers, and publication-ready documents.
Development Of An Interdisciplinary Laboratory Subject For A Modern Environmental Engineering Curriculum - $19,020
Professor Heidi Nepf, Professor Martin Polz
Professor Bettina Voelker, Environmental Engineering
As part of the reform effort in the undergraduate environmental engineering (1E) curriculum, Professors Heidi Nepf, Martin Polz and Bettina Voelker are developing a laboratory subject that strives to engage students in systems-oriented learning that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. The goal of this project is the design of a modern, interdisciplinary laboratory sequence that will give students the tools for innovative analysis of the physical, chemical, and biological processes governing the behavior of environmental systems. For the faculty involved, the increased interaction that is required to create this lab will deepen their understanding across disciplines, and it is believed the collective teaching of the lecture subjects tied to the laboratory will improve as the lab provides the structure and focal points for instruction.
emergentDesign Curriculum Initiative - $8,000
Professor Peter Testa, Architecture
Open-source software tools will be developed by Architecture Professor Peter Testa to introduce computation in the earliest stages of the architectural design process. The emergentDesign curriculum is a significant departure from traditional architectural education and will draw upon techniques and approaches from the disciplines of computer science and artificial intelligence in addition to architecture. A major component of the studio will be a weekly in-class laboratory in programming interactive Java applications to serve as design tools. Through this, it is hoped that a distinction in roles between "architect" and "programmer" will be shown to be less effective than the role of "designer". It is also hoped that viewing design as a process, as opposed to a product, will give the students a chance to engage architecture from a contemporary perspective.
Introduction To Women’s Studies: A Team-Teaching Model For MIT - $3,500
Professor Lora Wildenthal, History
Professor Sally Haslanger, Linguistics and Philosophy
Women’s Studies faculty members, including Professor Lora Wildenthal (History) and Professor Sally Haslanger (Linguistics and Philosophy), have created a new modular approach to teaching SP.401. The class will now draw upon the expertise of all faculty members in Women’s Studies, and make it possible for all faculty to take over teaching this introductory subject on a rotating basis. The class will now be organized so that individuals with a variety of scholarly interests will feel competent and able to contribute seriously to the endeavor. The award will be used this summer to gather and produce materials in preparation for the first iteration of the class in Fall 1999.
Linking Theory To Practice Through Hands-On Activities: Unified Engineering Undergraduate Course Enhancement - $7,700
Professor Daniel Frey, Aeronautics and Astronautics
Professor Daniel Frey is using his award to design additional classroom demonstrations and laboratory exercises for the Unified Engineering course in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. This project seeks to improve student exposure to physical examples of the theoretical constructs taught in Unified through additional hands-on experience. It is hoped that a collection of varied demonstrations and experiments can be created, giving the instructors who teach Unified Engineering additional material to draw upon and incorporate into lectures and problem sets.
Software To Teach Nerve Conduction - $20,000
Professor Thomas Weiss, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Since 1984, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Professor Thomas Weiss has been involved, together with a number of students, in developing software packages to teach cellular biophysics. The alumni funds will support a project to produce a software package to allow students to learn about the conduction of action potentials in both unmyelinated and myelinated nerve fibers by access to simulation software. The software will be used in lecture demonstrations, in special recitations held in electronic classrooms, as homework problems, and as bases for student projects. The software and its manual will be made available over the internet.
Thermal Fluid Machines For 2.005/2.006 Thermal Fluids Engineering - $14,590
Professor Ernest Cravalho, Professor Gareth McKinley
Professor John Brisson, Mechanical Engineering
As part of the major curriculum reform underway in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, subjects 2.005/2.004 is a year-long sequence that replaces 2.20, 2.40 and 2.51. In the new sequence, the principles of fluid mechanics, thermodynamics and heat transfer are being taught as a cohesive, unified whole. With the help of this award, Professors Ernest Cravalho, Gareth McKinley and John Brisson will develop instrumented demonstrations of quantitative and qualitative effects in thermal fluid sciences, including a vapor compression refrigerator, a boiling curve, and an upgrade of their critical point demonstration. This award will enable the recipients to use both undergraduate and graduate students to develop the demonstration hardware.
Web-Based Microelectronic Device Characterization - $19,872
Professor Jesus del Alamo, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Jesus del Alamo will use his award for the support of a permanent set-up of dedicated equipment for web-based microelectronics device characterization. This will continue the field trials that have already occurred in 6.720J/3.43J and 6.012 in the Fall and Spring of 1998-1999. The project allows for a hands-on device characterization experience in classes that have not, for practical reasons, been able to offer such an experience to students before.
1998-1999 Funded Projects
5.302: Introduction To Experimental Chemistry - $10,000
Dr. Martín Zysmilich & Professor Rick L. Danheiser, Chemistry
Dr. Martín Zysmilich and Professor Rick L. Danheiser are using their award to support an experimental laboratory subject during IAP for freshmen enrolled in 5.11 or 3.091. After the resounding success of last year’s intensive IAP laboratory course for freshmen (5.301), Dr. Zysmilich and Professor Danheiser have designed 5.302 to give more first-year students an opportunity to witness firsthand the products of experimental chemistry, which students are otherwise left to read about in their textbooks. 5.302 will focus on "fun" experiments that will illustrate to students the wide range of phenomena that can result from even simple chemical experimentation.
Comprehensive Integration Of 2.007 With Freshman Physics - $15,000
Professor Alexander Slocum, Mechanical Engineering
Professor Edmund Bertschinger, Professor Alan Guth, and Professor Boleslaw
Wyslouch, Physics
Professor Alexander Slocum of Mechanical Engineering will collaborate with Physics Professors Edmund Bertschinger, Alan Guth, and Boleslaw Wyslouch to integrate 2.007 with 8.01 and 8.02. With the goal of inciting passion for learning and motivation for retaining the information taught in freshman-year Physics, Professor Slocum will work with Physics faculty to create an active connection between the 2.007 and the material covered in 8.01 and 8.02. In each of the subjects, syllabi will be cross-referenced, thus explicitly helping undergraduates see the ways that knowledge transcends specific disciplines. Professor Slocum cited the goal of showing students in 8.01 and 8.02 how the material they are studying as freshmen will be applied in their second year, namely by encouraging Physics faculty to illustrate the principles of physics through demonstrations using machines created by 2.007 students. T.A.s will also work across disciplines to help students in freshman-year Physics and 2.007 see the connections between the subjects.
Curtain Going Up! Introductory Multimedia Modules In Theater Arts - $10,000
Professor Thomas DeFrantz and Professor Brenda Cotto-Escalera, Music and Theatre Arts
Professors Thomas DeFrantz and Brenda Cotto-Escalera will use their award to support a project geared toward integrating multimedia technology into Theater Arts at MIT. Acknowledging that undergraduates have limited time to devote to humanities and extra-curricular activities, the project proposed by Professors DeFrantz and Cotto-Escalera will not only enhance undergraduate subjects in Theater Arts but also provide an online resource for students who are involved in co-curricular and extra-curricular performance groups. The project involves the creation of three multimedia modules that will use video, film, slides, and musical excerpts, all of which will be transferred to a digitized slide show format for use online and in the classroom.
Cybertutor: A Reactive Mechanics Tutor For The Internet - $7,000
Professor David Pritchard, Physics
Professor of Physics David Pritchard will use his award to support an effort to shift homework for 8.01 from paper to online assignments. The Cybertutor will be able to hone problem sets to each student’s skill level, both in terms of academic background and success at solving the specific problems at hand. The program will also provide more immediate assistance for students while they are working on their homework by allowing them to seek help on specific aspects of the problems on which they are working, and will provide students with feedback on how they scored in a more timely manner than is possible with paper grading. Lastly, the Physics faculty will be able to evaluate the efficacy of each individual problem by examining patterns where students were consistently successful or consistently struggled on problem sets.
Development Of Internet Hypertexts In The Basic Sciences - $7,200
Professor Vernon Ingram, Biology, Director of the Experimental Study Group
Professor of Biology Vernon Ingram, Director of the Experimental Study Group, is using his award to further efforts in maintaining a Biology Hypertext, which is already available on the Web at http://esg-www.mit.edu:8001/esgbio/. In addition to updating the Hypertext as it now stands, Professor Ingram will work toward creating a Center of Internet Science Teaching. His hope is that the Biology Hypertext project will be a step in the direction of establishing such a center.
Experimental Nonlinear Dynamics: An EAPS-Math Collaboration - $10,000
Professor John Bush, Mathematics
Professor Daniel Rothman, Earth Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Continuing in the spirit of exhibiting real-world physical phenomena to students who are learning about complex theories in the classroom, Professor John Bush of Mathematics is collaborating with Professor Daniel Rothman of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences to create laboratory demonstrations for 12.006. The goal of the demonstrations will be to illustrate the ways that nonlinear dynamics manifest themselves in a variety of real physical systems. Proposed demonstrations include the creation of a forced pendulum, a Malkus waterwheel, and a Belouzov-Zhabotinsky reaction, among others.
The Development Of A Bilingual Curriculum In Chinese Literature - $6,000
Professor Emma Teng, Foreign Languages & Literatures
Professor Emma Teng is using her award to develop one subject and adapt another subject to include bilingual curricula and texts. Noting a dearth of bilingual materials in field of Chinese literature, Professor Teng hopes to create subjects that will appeal to a wide range of MIT undergraduate and graduate students and that might also be applicable to academics at other colleges and universities.
The Initial Design And Implementation Of An Online Communication Resource Center - $10,000
Professor James Paradis, Dr. Edward Barrett, Dean Leslie Perelman, and Dr. Steven Strang, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies
As a first step in creating a new Communication Resource Center, which is being developed in response the work of the CUP Subcommittee on the Communication Requirement, Professor James Paradis and Drs. Edward Barrett, Leslie Perelman, and Steven Strang are using their fund gift to design and implement an Online Communications Resource Center (OCRC). This online resource will primarily serve undergraduates, but will offer resources that will be of use to faculty and other members of the community as well. Services of the OCRC will include access to educational materials for students and faculty, an online scheduling mechanism for appointments at the Communications Resource Center, and a secure online referral facility through which faculty will be able to refer students to the Center.
White House Audiotapes As A Resource For Teaching The American Presidency And American Politics - $4,200
Professor Daniel Kryder, Political Science
With the goal of exposing undergraduates to the nuances of research in the social sciences based on primary materials, Political Science Professor Daniel Kryder is redesigning curricula for two subjects that will incorporate audiotapes from the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon presidential administrations. Citing the richness of audiotapes as a source for academic study, Professor Kryder noted that students will learn not only about the subject matter but also about how social scientists report historical events, by comparing prominent secondary sources with their own interpretations of the primary sources.
1997-1998 Funded Projects
5.30: Chemistry Techniques Laboratory For Freshmen - $10,000
Professor Timothy Swager & Professor Rick Danheiser, Chemistry
Professors Timothy Swager and Rick Danheiser of Chemistry have received funding to support the development of an innovative, techniques-oriented freshman chemistry laboratory subject to be offered during IAP. The aim of this new subject is twofold: to provide undergraduates with an opportunity for hands-on experience in their freshman year; and to facilitate the ability of first-year students to obtain undergraduate research positions in chemistry department laboratories.
A Training Tool For International TA’s - $2,305
Dr. Jane Dunphy, Foreign Languages & Literatures
Dr. Jane Dunphy has received support to create a videotape to serve as a model for an effective interactive classroom, where students are fully engaged in discussion and problem solving. International TA’s will be able to use this videotape as a tool to analyze the different aspects of teaching that contribute to a successful, dynamic class.
Computerized Demonstrations Of Electromagnetic Fields - $9,000
Professor Markus Zahn, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Professor Markus Zahn of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science has received support to use Maxwell software to prepare computerized visuals and movies of dynamic electromagnetic phenomena to be used as classroom demonstrations, for homework assignments, and for assigned design problems. The use and experience of this computer software by 6.013 students will teach them to use practical tools and expose them to real-world problems they will see on the job.
History At The Bench: Reading And Writing About Modern Europe - $10,000
Professor Anne McCants & Professor Harriet Ritvo, History
Professors Anne McCants and Harriet Ritvo of History are using their award to design a European history core subject that emphasizes the skills and methods professional historians actually use -- e.g., persuasive writing and oral presentations -- in their research. The subject being developed will introduce undergraduates to the source materials of modern European history in a way which will allow them actually to practice the art of the historian rather than simply to consume the scholarships of historians. In their title "History at the Bench," the instructors deliberately borrowed the metaphor of the engineers in an effort to convey that the emphasis will be on "practice" rather than mastery of a narrative tradition. Writing persuasively will be a critical component of that "practice."
Making Things Move - $8,500
Professor Steven Leeb, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Professor Steven Leeb, from Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, will use his award to partially fund the costs of a piece of equipment that will be used in four EECS subjects. Professor Leeb intends to introduce into the EECS curriculum the opportunity for students, freshmen through first year graduate students, to actually touch and work with substantial (greater than one horsepower) rotating electric machines for servomechanisms, drives, and generating systems in the context of modern design problems.
New Teaching Technologies In Introduction To Aerospace Engineering And Design - $12,000
Professor Dava Newman, Aeronautics and Astronautics
Professor Dava Newman of Aeronautics and Astronautics has received an award to support her curriculum developments using new technologies and design in a freshman subject, 16.00 Introduction to Aerospace Engineering and Design. Professor Newman intends to refine the Web-based course materials for 16.00; to assess the "learning value" of using new technologies in education; and to create an interactive electronic text and CD-ROM materials based on this curriculum.
Team Building Skills In Chemical Engineering Projects Lab - $15,000
Professor Clark Colton, Chemical Engineering
Professor Clark Colton of the Chemical Engineering Department has received support to help with his development of a curriculum in team building and team management skills that will be an integral part of Subject 10.26. The content of the curriculum will focus on the characteristics that lead to successful team performance and on tools and techniques that students can use with their own 10.26 lab teams and later in their professional careers.
The MIT Architectonic Research Collaboratory - $6,000
Professor Chris H. Luebkeman, Architecture
Professor Chris H. Luebkeman of the Department of Architecture will use his funding to further his work toward an "ARCSpace" -- the design and development of a virtual environment at MIT that will support undergraduate teaching, learning, and research about the "science of architecture." The ARCSpace is envisioned as the premier virtual collaboratory for architecture students not only at MIT, but from around the world to "meet" and collaborate in both educational and research venues. The initial work on the collaboratory will be in the context of topics relating to load-bearing structure.
1996-1997 Funded Projects
A Course In Electromagnetism Using Advanced Technologies - $14,000
Professor John Belcher, Physics
Physics 8.02 is the highest enrollment subject taught at MIT, and it is one of the more difficult subjects for students because of the non -intuitive nature of electromagnetism. In order to properly demonstrate the phenomena, Professor Belcher plans to develop a series of short videos with animations and text of selected 8.02 experiments. Professor Belcher emphasizes that "the power of animations in explaining electromagnetic phenomena can only be appreciated by viewing sample animations." Professor Belcher plans on having the initial phase of the 8.02 material developed for Spring 1997.
Computational Experiments For 2.001: Mechanics & Materials I - $7,500
Professor Rohan Abeyaratne, Professor Frank Feng, and Dr. Nishikant Sonwalkar, Mechanical Engineering
A significant number of Mechanical Engineering sophomores enroll in 2.001, the subject in which theoretical concepts are introduced in lecture and related design problems are worked on in recitation. Ideally, this foundation information would be also relayed through "hands-on" experience in the laboratory; however, due to limited resources, the laboratory experience must wait until 2.002. Therefore, Professors Abeyaratne, Feng, and Sonwalkar have sought the help of the Class of ‘51 Fund to support the development of a "virtual laboratory" using hypermedia technology. The visualization experience of abstract concepts will be viewed through solid examples of interactive manipulation of different types of supports, mechanical devices, and stresses and strains as well as video clips of experiments. This project, beginning during the summer of 1996, is anticipated to be completed in September 1997.
Crossroads: The Integration Of The Teaching Of Spanish Language And Culture Through Technology - $10,000
Professor Margery Resnick & Margarita Groeger, Foreign Languages and Literatures
Professor Resnick and Dr. Groeger sought funding from the Class of ‘51 to enhance the teaching of Spanish IV. New curricular modules will allow for the integration of language learning, history, literature, and culture, so that students will have a contextual understanding of events that have shaped the Hispanic world. The modules will be developed through transforming articles, literary texts, interviews, video and audio clips, and speeches into an interactive language-learning environment on the World Wide Web. Additionally, glosses and tools, vocabulary and grammar activities, links to other web sites and an on-line bulletin board will help students learn independently, effectively and efficiently. This curriculum reform should be ready by the end of 1996.
Engineering A Change: Designs For The Developing World
Professor Carl Peterson & Amy Smith, G., Mechanical Engineering
While the core subjects taught in the Freshman Year are designed to teach students background principles necessary for the understanding of science and engineering disciplines, the context of problem-solving makes the theory seem more relevant and easier to learn and might better be produced through exposing students to the design process. This freshman seminar will meet once a week for two hours during Spring Term 1997; students will begin to find solutions to technical problems in developing countries. The projects students select for the seminar will focus on diagnosing and treating sexually transmitted diseases. Students will meet informally in groups with a faculty supervisor and a graduate student or upperclass assistant.
Teaching Initiatives For 2.002 Mechanics Of Materials II - $8,500
Professor Mary Boyce, Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Lori Breslow, Sloan School of Management
The Department of Mechanical Engineering is phasing in a new undergraduate curriculum that includes a basic core of eight subjects conveying the fundamental principles of mechanical engineering and the introduction of non-traditional teaching techniques. In 2.002, Professor Boyce and Dr. Breslow will introduce new methods of teaching and learning through the development of a "take-home Shoe Box of Experiments", the introduction of "Facilitated Teamwork" in the laboratory and a "Teaching Practicum." It is hoped that these new initiatives will help the undergraduate students learn subject content more thoroughly and independently, develop confidence as problem solvers, and improve their communication and teamwork skills. Graduate students assisting with this subject will experience in group facilitation and teaching. Through the help of the Class of ‘51 Fund, this model will be in place for Fall 1996; the subject will be taught again in Spring 1997, so experience gained from the fall term subject can be immediately applied. It is anticipated that other subjects in Mechanical Engineering will undergo similar curriculum development.
The Virtual Screening Room: A Multimedia Textbook For Film Analysis - $10,000
Professor Henry Jenkins, Literature Faculty
Because movies move, traditional textbooks containing the static medium of print lose a great deal of the fundamentals of cinema. Professor Jenkins has developed a new type of textbook that enables the dynamic nature of film to remain intact - A "Multimedia Textbook." This more experiential approach to learning about film will allow the student to engage with and manipulate segments from the world of cinema. Professor Jenkins’ project will produce: a compendium text of key terms and concepts; a multiple indexing of authors, genres, national cinemas, and historical periods; sidebars providing advanced discussion of core debates in film history and film theory; multimedia authoring to allow students to make their own juxtapositions, associations and supported arguments; and interactive exercises and experiments to allow students to manipulate images and sequences from films. The Class of ‘51 Fund will enable Professor Jenkins to finish the chapter on editing that will include 120-150 films representing most of the major national cinemas. He plans to include the new editing unit in his Film Analysis freshman seminar during Fall 1996 and in his Film Experience HASS-D subject in Spring 1997.
Interactive Programming: Revolutionizing Introductory Computer Science
Professor Lynn Stein, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
In the Fall of 1996, a new introductory subject will be offered in computer programming. Focusing on computation-as-interaction rather than computation-as-calculation, freshmen will learn the importance of hands-on experience and collaboration as forms of teaching and learning. This style of teaching departs from the traditional methods in Computer Science; the major component of the class will be a three hour in-class laboratory which emphasizes student interaction, student teaching, and facilitation by the subject staff.
1995-1996 Funded Projects
Case Studies In Environmental Politics - $15,000
Professor Stephen M. Meyer, Political Science
The Class of ‘51 funded Professor Meyer’s proposal to prepare teaching modules on environmental politics and policy. The existing reading material was considered by the students to be inadequate for an otherwise highly regarded subject. After Professor Meyer introduced the new material, the teaching module was considered to be the backbone of the subject. Students rave that the new module is able to blend science and politics in a way that explains how science is used, abused, and ignored in the policy process - necessary information for them as future scientists and engineers. "The Class of 1951 has had a tremendous immediate impact on the environmental politics and policy education for undergraduates at MIT," states Professor Meyer.
Collaborative Interaction For Improved Pedagogy - $10,000
Professor Seth Teller & Professor Julie Dorsey, Lab for Computer Science
Through the development of prototypes, Professors Teller and Dorsey were able to research the pedagogical techniques that not only challenge students’ learning but also create an environment in which the students contribute to the teaching aspect. By specifying algorithms to perform the specific task, a group of students are able to navigate a body of material organized into a "directed graph" of modules in the web. The students were able to navigate the graphs and choose nodes in which other modules were invoked. These nodes enabled the students to move forward in a number of ways a) to see how the algorithm is dynamically manipulated; b) to specify code fragments to perform specific operations, documents, and debug the codes; or c) to leave comments, test cases, etc., behind for other students embarking in the same codes, creating a real-time link to conversations with students and teaching staff. Implementation of this project is currently underway. Future work of this project includes publication of the findings in education and web journals.
Industrial Ecology As A Vehicle For Advancing The Basic Concepts Of Chemistry: A New Approach To Teaching 3.091 (Introduction To Solid State Chemistry) - $10,000
Professor Donald Sadoway, Material Science and Engineering
With the help of the Class of ‘51 Fund, Professor Sadoway was able to undertake a comprehensive revision of 3.091, Introduction to Solid State Chemistry, to teach the fundamentals of chemistry along with the basics of industrial ecology. Through the addition of new lecture topics, enrichment material, new homework exercises and exam questions - and an active web site documenting all the additions - students found this required subject to be enjoyable and informative. The class enjoyed seeing how chemical principles could be applied in contemporary technology. The lecture, teaching staff, and students found the revisions of 3.091 to be both needed and rewarding.
Problems In Electricity And Magnetism - $10,000
Professor Robert Rose, Concourse Program
As a continuation of "From Russia With Love," Professor Rose used the new form of problem solving during the Spring Semester 1996 to help students understand the physical phenomena of Electricity and Magnetism. With the help of funds granted to this project, the new subject, SP344, met one day a week to work through problem sets, thus enriching the second semester experience.
Visual Chemistry - $15,000
Professor Bruce Tidor & Melinda Cerny, Chemistry
With the help of the Class of ‘51, MIT undergraduates were employed to help develop curricular tools for teaching large undergraduate chemistry subjects and to help expand a web site outlining departmental and educational information in the Chemistry department. Through the use of a new software package, teaching modules have been developed to show the various structures adopted by DNA; these tools are being used in 5.07 (Biological Chemistry). In the fall, a new module will be introduced in 5.11 (Principles of General Chemistry), and a new "graphical interface" will be used in conjunction with a number of pre-existing kinetics modules in 5.60 (Thermodynamics and Kinetics). The new department web site provides information on departmental activities, seminars, ongoing research, and class information. (This department’s web site address is http://web.mit.edu/chemistry/www/.)
1994-1995 Funded Projects
Electronic Multimedia Online Textbook In Engineering - $20,000
Dr. Edward Barrett, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies
The Class of ‘51 Fund awarded money to support a prototype of an Electronic Multimedia Online Textbook in Engineering (EMOTE). The EMOTE, designed to support hyperlinked databases of text, video and still imagery and viewed on the World Wide Web, assists students with their written and oral technical reports. EMOTE offers self-paced tutorials, sample writings, and basic instructional tools for writing and speaking. Students who have used this prototype found that the program is easily accessible and helps develop their communicative strategies. Future plans include the introduction of the prototype in some freshman seminars in the fall and possible publishing of an expanded version of the prototype in hardcopy and digital form. The web site can be found at: http://web.mit.edu/emote/emote.html
From Russia With Love
Professor Robert Rose, Concourse Program
Problem solving and problem sets - the crucial exercise in the MIT educational experience - create a great deal of stress for students. In an effort to lessen some of that stress, the Concourse Program developed exercises to stimulate group problem-solving sessions. Professor Robert Rose found that the ideal problems must be challenging and "anti-remedial" - similar to those traditionally used in Russian math and science classes. With the assistance of Dr. Yuri Chernyak, "problem sets" were developed by the Freshman Concourse Program for an intensive credit-granting Independent Activities Period (IAP) subject. Professor Rose found students were highly enthusiastic and invigorated by the new problems and by the instructor, and this subject was again offered in the following IAP. As a result of this activity, Professor Rose and Dr. Chernyak have recently published a book, The Chicken From Minsk, containing 100 riddles and problems in logic, mathematics, Newtonian physics, and rudimentary special relativity.
The New 8.01 - $25,000
Professor Wit Busza, Physics
Funds from the Class of ‘51 Fund permitted Professor Busza to develop a comprehensive series of study guide materials to accompany a new version of Physics 8.01. The "New 8.01" - first offered in the Fall of 1994 - is significantly different from the more traditional freshman lecture/recitation subjects, and was introduced with the goal of encouraging students to take charge of their own learning. The study material and the level of faculty-student interaction were changed; most notably, the number of weekly lectures was reduced and the number of small group classes increased. Study guides were developed that include the goals and a summary of each study unit, as well as examples and sample problems. Instead of "problem set" homework assignments, 8.01 progress is monitored by weekly quizzes, longer review quizzes and a final exam. All quizzes and exams are given by the "course examiner," who plays an integral role in the subject but is supplemented by other faculty who teach the small classes. By having one person - the course examiner - in charge of the grading, the individual class professors are regarded as allies and resources.
