Monday, September 19, 2011

Topological insulators in prime time TV

The popular sit-com The Big Bang Theory continues to break new ground by introducing prime time TV viewers to the latest developments in condensed matter physics. This clip from an episode The Thespian Catalyst begins with Sheldon attempting to teach a class of Caltech graduate students about topological insulators. Note that the equations on the board are authentic, as usual.

Sheldon finds, as many of us do, there is a weak correlation between our perceptions of our teaching performance and our students perceptions of the quality of our performance. The show also discusses important issues about what initiatives we should take to address this issue and to improve the quality of our teaching.

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