Reflections on undertaking a problem-based learning degree and the student’s perception of the role of university

David McDonagh

“Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.” – John Dewey

Problem Based Learning

• What would happen if the orbits of Mars and Earth were instantaneously swapped?

• What are the limits to human speed?

• Are these patents practical? Do they violate the laws of thermodynamics?

• How can software be designed to program rovers on Mars?

• Could life exist on Enceladus?

• How do magnetic particles behave in biological systems? How can they be used in medicine?

Problem Based Learning

Magnetism

What is the effect of the Sun on the Earth and Mars now?

The solar wind

The Earth’s magnetic field

The Dungey CycleAurora

What would happen if the orbits of Mars and Earth were instantaneously swapped?

Stars

The nature of light Heat flow

Planetary atmospheres

Rayleigh scattering

Wien’s Law

The Van Allen Belts

Albedo Steffan-Boltzmann Law

Remote sensing

Newton’s Law of Cooling

Glimpsing the Cathedral

• An overarching problem provides context and structure

• Forces you to go beyond passively learning

• Material stops being viewed through the lens of what to know for the exam

• A focus on group work

Extension Tasks

• Density Functional Theory as an interdisciplinary tool

• The viability of terraforming Mars

• An overview of black holes

• The physiological effects of space travel

• The viability of mining the solar system

• A primer to quantum computation

Learning the Research Process

• Instruction is kept brief

• Extent of the task is decided by the student

• Students can pursue their interests

Learning the Research ProcessA primer to quantum computation

How do quantum computers work?How do classical computers work?

What is the importance of quantum computers?

Claude Shannon and Information TheoryChurch-Turing Thesis

Binary notation

Logic gates

Boolean logicSuperpositionMeasurement principleHilbert Space

Polarisation

Entanglement

Quantum states evolving with time

Unitary transformations Qubit gates

Quantum algorithmsFourier sampling

Solovay-Strassen primality test Defining information

Channel capacity and noiseCryptography

Learning the Research Process

Quantum Computation and Quantum information, Nielsen and Chuang

9 week EDX course on Quantum Computing and Quantum algorithms

Khan Academy lecture series on vectors and vector spaces

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware, Petzold

Elementary Linear Algebra, Grossman Mathematical Methods in the

Physical Sciences

The Role of MOOCs

The Role of MOOCs

Beyond a revision aid:

• Weekly lectures

• Course Notes

• Marked problem sets

• Assignments

• Discussion forum

• Q&A sessions with the lecturers

• Marked exams

What is the Role of University?

• Information transfer is no longer limited to the university.

• How do you assimilate this information? How can you apply it?

• What do students expect from university?

Reflections on Problem-Based Learning

• Teaching how to build, not collect bricks

• The importance of personalised education

• The course content is the same, but solving the over arching problems produces different answers, and different students.

• Students need to be encouraged to interact

Thank you for listening

“Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.” – John Dewey