Engagement

Something wonderful happened in class. I am not sure why; perhaps it's because they've been thinking about the properties and motions of stars in galaxies for almost three weeks now, perhaps it's because we've explored the issue in depth using both Sparke and Gallagher (the very good course text) and Blanton and Moustakas (a splendid review). A contributing factor may be that I sat in a different spot, not near the board (we all sit around a conference table, and usually they're at the other end and I'm near the board, I moved to be away from the board and amongst them). It is goofy that sitting in a different spot might help change the atmosphere, but I think it might have? I also talked a lot less than usual, by design. I'm trying to talk as little as possible, but boy, I'm a blabbermouth.

The responses to the pre-class questions were excellent, and I had the chance to change what I thought we'd do in class to adapt to those questions - we talked about how to read papers for a while. Then we spent a good deal of time on a pre-class question that was done a little less well (perhaps because it was trying to connect concepts from different class sessions together, I think also because I worded it poorly), and in that activities students took the initiative, took risks by attempting unfamiliar problems, built on each others' answers, managed to synthesize concepts from different class sessions, and checked on their answers themselves (self-correcting).

NGC 5866, a lenticular galaxy (HST/NASA/ESA).

Then, we talked about lenticular galaxies. If you want to start a fight in a room full of astronomers who study galaxies, just ask one of them to tell you how lenticular galaxies form, stand back and watch the fireworks. They share a number of properties with spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies, and I won't get into the details for fear of starting a fight about how they form.

Many of them identified in their responses to the pre-questions that they weren't sure how they formed, so we talked about it. How glorious it was! Someone said, 'well, they're faded spiral galaxies.' And someone else countered, 'but they've got larger bulges than spirals, they can't be faded spirals!' They were citing evidence, putting facts together, presenting contradictions, connecting them to other galaxy types, challenging (justifiably) the evidence cited by each other (and myself), posing to first order all the important questions of lenticular galaxy research. Everyone spoke today, some more than others, but everyone spoke.

Could well be the best teaching experience I've ever had. Makes the pain of preparing a flipped class feel like it's totally worth it.