The auditorium classroom in Manning Hall has been getting a lot of traffic on Wednesday afternoons over the last few weeks.
Each Wednesday at 4 p.m. the physics department offers seminars on diverse scientific topics. Lately, the variety of those in attendance at these lectures has given the series an added twist.
While many who come to the lectures and demonstrations are faculty, graduate and undergraduate students from the department, or just plain interested in the subject matter, there has been an influx of newcomers who are starting to faithfully attend as well — students trying to get extra credit.
“I’ll bribe a student to do anything to get them to learn,” said Joan Schmelz, an associate physics professor and scheduler for the events.
At Wednesday’s session, Schmelz delivered her speech and slide presentation on Stonehenge to a full classroom of over 150 people, most of whom were students who filed in line at 5 p.m. searching for their instructor in order to sign the all-important ‘extra credit attendance sheet.’
Schmelz, who has been scheduling the sessions for a year, said she knows many of the students attend for the credit, but she believes they can still walk away with more than a couple of extra points or a quiz grade.
“Even though I know many of the students would not have been there (without the extra credit), they can still listen and they can still learn something.”
In her introduction, Schmelz said she wanted her presentation to be something accessible to everyone, something people wouldn’t need a physics degree to understand.
Initially the lectures were geared towards people with an in-depth knowledge of the sciences. But lately the appeal has been to audiences on several levels of understanding, Schmelz said.
Even the department’s approach to advertising the series has changed. Schmelz said she has an e-mail list of high school teachers whom she has informed about the lectures. The last few lectures have seen increasing numbers of high school science students.
Flyers posted around Manning Hall list the appropriate audience for each Wednesday.
Each week a different professor has an hour to do with their lecture what they choose, according to Schmelz. She said her job is to be a ‘central processing unit,’ not a coordinator. Next week Don Franceschetti, a professor in the physics department, has chosen for his topic, “Physicists’ adventures among Psychologists.”
Dr. Robert Marchini, who will be involved in the ‘Grand Finale’ presentation of the semester, said he likes the idea of inviting students to the seminars. The associate physics professor said the seminars help students to get a new world view.
Though Marchini doesn’t offer extra credit for the seminars because he said it puts those who can’t attend due to their jobs at a disadvantage, he said he is a proponent of offering his students extra credit.
“I offer extra credit in my classes, but I also encourage my students to attend,” Marchini said. “Students can get an added appreciation for the intelligence of ancient civilization. A lot of students think they’re smarter than people from ancient civilization but they’re not.
They’re just more educated. And they owe that to us.”
