Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS). Interactive group work is often a very effective alternative to traditional lecture-based instruction. I am currently involved in a nationwide effort entitled "Peer-Led Team Learning" (PLTL) to develop, disseminate and test curriculum for collaborative group work in the lower-division sciences. I am working with David Sokoloff and Ronald Narode to develop a textbook supplement based on CPS curricula that I first began work on at the University of Oregon. Certain parts of the curriculum we are developing are available for trial use and evaluation--click on the "CPS Curriculum" link below for more information.
Teacher Education. The Oregon Center for Excellence in the Preparation of Teachers (OCEPT) is a $5 million NSF initiative to improve teacher education in Oregon. As a 1999 OCEPT Fellow, one of my activities was to develop a practicum course that exposed prospective teachers to active engagement teaching methods such as collaborative group tutorials, computer-based labs and interactive lecturing techniques.
Other Curriculum. I have worked extensively on the development and testing of Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs), which were first formalized by David Sokoloff and Ron Thornton as a way to engage students in a large lecture setting.
Cosmological Modeling in Scalar-Tensor Gravity. I have studied the cosmological models that are allowed by scalar-tensor gravity, also known as Brans-Dicke theory. This is an alternative to general relativity which has, essentially, a varying value of Newton's constant G.
Quantum Decay of Domain Walls. Domain walls are walls of energy that are predicted in the early universe by many theories of particle physics. Once produced, however, these walls tend to take over the dynamics of the universe and it is difficult to see how they would ever disappear classically. This work uses semiclassical quantum gravity techniques to calculate a process through which domain walls would decay through quantum tunneling in the early universe. One may further construct a model whereby the universe is created as a domain wall tunneling from nothing, which later decays quantum mechanically into a big bang-like explosion.
| HOME | Research
| CPS Curriculum |
KHPATENT |
Created by kolitch@lclark.edu