Episodes
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We first interviewed Professor Michel DeGraff back in season 1; he now returns for another episode, diving deeper into issues of culture and identity. He talks about his childhood in Haiti, where he was punished at school for speaking his own mother tongue, and where he was taught by his teachers and even his parents that Kreyòl was not âa real language.â After doing early work in natural language processing that led him to question widespread assumptions about language, Prof. DeGraff shifted his academic focus to linguistics. He now begins each iteration of his course 24.908 Creole Languages and Caribbean Identities by asking his students to write linguistic autobiographies that describe the languages they grew up speaking and examine their own attitudes about language. In addition to discussing that course, he talks in this episode about his efforts to draw attention to languageâs role in perpetuating imbalances of power. As an added bonus, we hear from two students from 24.908, discussing how Prof. DeGraff helped cultivate trust in the classroom, and how that trust freed the students to enrich each otherâs understanding of the world by sharing personal experiences and insights.
*English Translation of Prof. Michel DeGraffâs Kreyòl Statement:
So, my fellow countrymen,
There's something that is very VERY important to understand:
we must understand the origins of prejudices against Kreyòl.
We must also remember that Dessalines said, so clearly,
that everyone is human. And he also knew that,
if everyone is human, then every language is a perfectly normal language.
So Kreyòl, too, is a perfectly normal language.
That's why he said, since before 1804,
that Kreyòl is our own language,
so we don't need to always look for other languages to speak.
Yes, we must remember, if we did not have Kreyòl as a language,
we could never have succeeded in making this revolution
that gave us an independent Haiti.
Kreyòl was the language of the revolution.
So, today, we must use
Kreyòl too as language of instruction.
It is this language that will allow all children in Haiti
to access quality education as their right.
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Professor DeGraffâs faculty page
24.908 Creole Languages and Caribbean Identities on OpenCourseWare
The MIT-Haiti Initiative
Chalk Radio Season 1 episode with Prof. DeGraff
NY Times op-ed by Prof. DeGraff
Linguistics and Economics in the Caribbean (article by IanĂĄ Ferguson)
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions (https://www.sessions.blue/)
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If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
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Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter. (https://ocw.mit.edu/newsletter/)
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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Many people associate the word âsustainabilityâ with a few specific activities such as composting or recycling. Our guests for this episode, Dr. Liz Potter-Nelson and Sarah Meyers, point out that sustainability is actually much broader, encompassing all the future-oriented practices that promote the continued flourishing of individuals, cultures, and life on earth. Dr. Potter-Nelson and Meyers have sought not only to make education a tool for sustainability but to make it a sustainable activity itself. In this episode, they describe how they created the Sustainability and Climate Change Across Learning Environments (SCALES) project, a curated repository of open-source, easily adaptable educational resources, many of them originally adapted from course materials on MIT OpenCourseWare. These resources, which are categorized according to a set of six main pedagogical approaches and six chief competency areas, draw from a surprisingly wide range of academic fields, but each was selected for its potential to support sustainability in the classroom and in the world. After all, Dr. Potter-Nelson and Meyers say, sustainability is an inherently interdisciplinary subject, one that can informâand be informed byâteaching in nearly any field of study.
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Dr. Potter-Nelsonâs website
Sarah Meyers at MITâs Environmental Solutions Initiative
Teaching with Sustainability resource on OpenCourseWare
The SCALES Project
Dr. Potter-Nelsonâs white paper on sustainability education
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
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Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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Episodes manquant?
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Nobody comes into this world already knowing how to teachâand most students arrive at undergraduate or graduate programs without any teaching experience at all. For those who are selected to be teaching assistants, the prospect of facing a classroom of students for the first time can be terrifying. To assuage those fears and provide pedagogical skills, the Biology department at MIT runs a training program for new TAs; our guest Dr. Summer Morrill helped develop the curriculum for that program, as well as serving as an instructor in it. In this episode, Dr. Morrill describes how she designed the content of the training program to reflect the specific challenges Biology TAs typically face in their first semester. Among the topics she discusses are the importance of empathy and inclusiveness in classroom teaching, how the same habits of thought that make effective biologists can also make especially effective teachers, and ways in which the course materials from the training program (which she is sharing in a forthcoming supplemental resource on OCW), would lend themselves to being usefully adapted for training TAs in other disciplines and at other institutions.
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
RES.7-005 Biology Teaching Assistant (TA) Training on OCW
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
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Stay Current
Subscribeto the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware,donateto help keep these programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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In this episode we meet Haynes Miller, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, who in his 35+ years of active teaching at MIT has done much to shape the instituteâs math curriculum. Prof. Millerâs special focus is algebraic topology, but his teaching has encompassed a wide range of other topics from differential equations to number theory, and he has a special interest in teaching undergraduates. Join us as Prof. Miller discusses math education with guest host Paige Bright, a current MIT third-year student who was one of his students in a first-year seminar and who has since acquired teaching experience of her own as the instructor for the course Introduction to Metric Spaces during the Independent Activities Period in January 2022 and 2023. Among the topics they cover in this discussion are the importance of communication in mathematics, Prof. Millerâs use of computer manipulatives (which he calls âmathletsâ) to engage students more actively, what âlab workâ means in the context of pure mathematics, how instructors from different institutions have come together online to discuss ways to improve undergraduate math education, and what happens when you ask students to switch roles and become teachers.
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
18.03 Differential Equations on OCW
18.821 Project Laboratory in Mathematics on OCW
18.915 Graduate Topology Seminar: Kan Seminar on OCW
Paige Brightâs course Introduction to 18.S097 Metric Spaces on OCW
Prof. Millerâs faculty page
Prof. Millerâs âmanipulativesâ at mathlets.org
Online Seminar on Undergraduate Mathematics Education (OLSUME)
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
On Twitter
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Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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Eric Grimson is MITâs chancellor for academic advancement and interim vice president for Open Learning; heâs also a longstanding professor of computer science and medical engineering. In this episode, Prof. Grimson shares his thoughts on in-person and online education. We learn that he rehearses each lecture one, two, or even three times before coming to the classroom, and that he often pauses in his speech when lecturing to avoid distracting his students with âumâs and âahâs and similar disfluencies. But though some of the techniques he describes might seem to reflect a view of teaching as performance, Grimson firmly believes that education should be a dialogue rather than a monologueâthat students should be engaged as partners in the exploration of the material, even in an introductory-level class. âAnybody with enough curiosity ought to be able to explore a field,â he says, âand we ought to be able to teach at a level that opens it up to them.â The same conviction underlies his commitment to sharing his expertise online, whether by publishing his course materials on MIT OpenCourseWare or through purpose-built MOOCs on MITx. [Warning: this episode also includes numerous bad jokes!]
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
6.0001 Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python on OCW
6.0002 Introduction To Computational Thinking And Data Science on OCW
Professor Grimsonâs faculty page
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
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Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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MIT has long been an innovator in online education. For even longerâfor its whole history, in factâit has championed hands-on learning. These two emphases may seem incompatible, but the MICRO initiative draws on both in an effort to increase diversity within the field of materials science. Dr. Jessica Sandland and Dr. CĂŠcile Chazot, our guests for this episode, describe how MICRO recruits undergraduates from minoritized backgrounds to do impactful research remotely in collaboration with MIT researchers. Dr. Sandland and Dr. Chazot see this collaboration as a mutually beneficial relationship: the MICRO students gain valuable experience in cutting-edge research, as well as an introduction to a field they may not have had the opportunity to study previously, while the MIT researchers benefit both from the studentsâ work on the projects and from the fresh perspectives they bring to the field. In this episode, we also hear how MICRO supports participantsâ professional development with guidance from ânear-peerâ grad-student mentors, who provide help not only in technical matters but also in developing soft skills such as writing abstracts or defining questions for research.
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
MICRO resource on OCW
Mentoring worksheets:
Defining a Research Project and Aligning Expectations (PDF)Planning and Managing Remote Research Tasks (PDF)Effective and Inclusive Communication in Remote Mode (PDF)Fostering Independence (PDF)Establishing a Network of Mentors: The Mentoring Map (PDF)Abstracts of research by MICRO participants
Apply to MICRO
Dr. Sandlandâs faculty page
Dr. Chazotâs website
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
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Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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Do you always make the best possible choices, even when youâre stressed or short on sleep? The ideally rational person (âHomo economicusâ) assumed by conventional economics always acts in ways that are materially advantageous to them. But Associate Professor Frank Schilbach seeks in his research and teaching to explore the ways in which Homo economicus fails as a model of actual human behavior; in particular, Prof. Schilbach is interested in uncovering the psychological factors that influence peopleâs choices, even when those choices appear obviously counterproductive and irrational. In this episode, Prof. Schilbach discusses how psychologically-informed interventions can not only boost peopleâs productivity, earnings, and savings, but can even increase their tendency toward benevolence and cooperation. As he puts it, while economists have not ignored mental health altogether, they have tended to view it instrumentally, in terms of its effects on productivity or financial stability. It would be better, he suggests, to view mental health as valuable for its own sake, as an inherent element of overall well-beingâwhich is why he prioritizes studentsâ mental health by making assignments due not first thing in the morning but at 6 or 8 PM!
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Professor Schilbachâs behavioral economics course on OCW
Professor Schilbachâs faculty page
Professor Schilbach at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us:
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Instagram
Stay Current:
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW:
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits:
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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To most people, especially those who are too young to remember the Cold War, the possibility of nuclear Armageddon may seem so remote as not to be worth contemplating. But Prof. Bob Redwine and Jim Walsh, two of the instructors behind MITâs Nuclear Weapons Education Project (NWEP), warn that it may not be so unlikely after all, and that failure to take the threat of nuclear war seriously makes it more likely that it will actually occur. Redwine, Walsh, and their colleagues used their expertise from a wide array of fields to create the NWEP and its associated course 8.S271 Nuclear Weapons â History and Prospects. Together, the course and the project website represent an interdisciplinary effort to educate nonspecialists on the science, technology, and history of nuclear weapons, along with present efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation and to reach international agreements to reduce the likelihood of a world-devastating conflict. In this episode, we hear how the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki changed geopolitics forever, how a well-intentioned nuclear doctrine may have disastrous unintended consequences, and why understanding the topic of nuclear weapons requires an interdisciplinary approach.
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Professor Redwineâs faculty page
Jim Walshâs faculty page
8.S271 Nuclear Weapons - History and Future Prospects on OCW
Nuclear Weapons Education Project website
âNuclear Gets Personal with Prof. Michael Shortâ (Chalk Radio episode)
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us:
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Instagram
Stay Current:
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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Professor Gigliola Staffilani, who teaches in MITâs Department of Mathematics, was closely involved in designing and teaching the introductory-level 18.01 Calculus I course series now found on the MIT Open Learning Library. Sheâs also been involved in teaching calculus to students on campus. To help students become proficient in a notoriously intimidating subject, she has tried to design learning experiences that bridge the gap between the pure abstractions that mathematicians love, exemplified by the use of conventional notation such as x, y, and f(x), and the concrete real-world situations in which calculus is typically applied in other fields such as chemistry or physics. In this episode, Prof. Staffilani discusses her efforts to make calculus less abstract and more intuitive for learnersâefforts that draw on a diverse mix of teaching tools and props: digital applets, sketching tools, bagels, croissants, donuts, and even a balloon in a box. She also discusses her commitment to increasing equity and fighting implicit bias in her field.
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Share your teaching insights
Professor Staffilaniâs faculty page
Single variable calculus courses on MITâs Open Learning Library
18.01 Calculus I: Single Variable Calculus on OCW
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
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On Instagram
Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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Though thereâs widespread consensus that the slavery and colonization that characterize the history of European relations with Africa represent a legacy of grave injustice, there is much less agreement on how to redress that injustice. Professor M. Amah Edoh, who teaches in MITâs Department of Anthropology, designed the course 21A.S01 Reparations for Slavery and Colonization with the goal of honestly facing the historical record and openly discussing how best to respond. Because she believes expertise is too often conceived of as something that flows ânorth-southâ from the developed nations toward the developing world, she structured the course to embrace expertise wherever it might be foundârecruiting guest lecturers from various disciplines and from institutions around the world, as well as activists currently involved in the quest for reparative justice. She even went a step further, sharing the lecture videos on YouTube while the semester was still ongoing and inviting viewers to contribute their own insights into how to deal with the ongoing legacy of historical wrongs. In this episode, Prof. Edoh describes the motivation for this innovative course structure and reflects on the challenges of grappling with such a sensitive subject.
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Share your teaching insights
Professor Edohâs faculty page
Course materials by Professor Edoh on OCW
21A.S01 Reparations for Slavery and Colonization on OCW
Open Learning story on 21A.S01
OCW YouTube playlist for 21A.S01
Africaâs Expertise (YouTube lecture by Prof Edoh)
African Futures Action Lab
How Africa Has Been Made to Mean (2020 episode of Chalk Radio)
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
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Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer (https://twitter.com/learning_sarah)
Brett Paci, producer (https://twitter.com/Brett_Paci)
Dave Lishansky, producer (https://twitter.com/DaveResonates)
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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When humans interact, they donât just pass information from one to the other; thereâs always some relational element, with the participants responding to each otherâs emotional cues. Professor Cynthia Breazeal, MITâs new Dean of Digital Learning, believes itâs possible to design this element into human-computer interactions as well. She foresees a day when AI wonât merely perform practical tasks for us, but also will provide us with companionship, emotional comfort, and even mental health support. But a future of closer human-AI collaborative relationships doesnât only require technological developmentâit also requires us to learn what AI is capable of and how to interact with it in a more informed way. To further this goal, Professor Breazeal leads the Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education (RAISE) initiative at MIT, which runs an annual âDay of AIâ program to promote better understanding of AI in the next generation of technology users and developers. In this episode, she describes those projects as well as her work developing the groundbreaking social robots Kismet and Jibo, prototypes of what she calls âwarm techââAI-enabled devices designed to be engaging, expressive, and personal.
Relevant Resources:
Day of AI
RAISE (Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education)
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Share your teaching insights
Professor Breazealâs faculty page
Professor Breazeal named Dean of Digital Learning
Professor Breazeal introduces Jibo (YouTube video)
The Rise of Personal Robotics (TED talk by Professor Breazeal)
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Instagram
Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseWare, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Nidhi Shastri and Aubrey Calloway, scriptwriters
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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In the previous episode we learned about a project undertaken as part of the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC) initiative at MITâs Schwartzman College of Computing. In this episode we hear about another SERC project, from Prof. Daniel Jackson and graduate teaching assistant Serena Booth, who have partnered to incorporate ethical considerations in Prof. Jackson and Prof. Arvind Satyanarayanâs course 6.170 Software Studio. Jackson and Booth explain that software can fail its users in three ways: First, it can simply work badly, failing to meet the purpose it was intended for. Second, it may do what the user wants it to, while simultaneously accomplishing some insidious purpose that the user is unaware of. Third, as Prof. Jackson puts it, it may âcontribute to a computational environment that has subtly pernicious effectsâ on the individual or on societyâeffects unintended not only by the user but also by the software designer. In their revised syllabus for 6.170, Jackson and Booth attempt to address these second and third types of failure by introducing ethical concerns early in the course and by sharing an ethics protocol to scaffold studentsâ decision-making throughout the software design process.
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Share your teaching insights
Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC) resource on OpenCourseWare
6.170 Software Studio ethics assignments
SERC website
Professor Jacksonâs faculty page
Serena Boothâs personal website
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Instagram
Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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When computer science was in its infancy, programmers quickly realized that though computers are astonishingly powerful tools, the results they achieve are only as good as the data you feed into them. (This principle was quickly formalized as GIGO: âGarbage In, Garbage Out.â) What was true in the era of the UNIVAC has proved still to be true in the era of machine learning: among other well-publicized AI fiascos, chatbots that have interacted with bigots have learned to spew racist invective, while facial-recognition software trained solely on images of white people sometimes fails to recognize people of color as human. In this episode, we meet Prof. Catherine DâIgnazio of MITâs Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) and Prof. Jacob Andreas and Harini Suresh of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In 2021, DâIgnazio, Andreas, and Suresh collaborated as part of the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing initiative from the Schwarzman College of Computing in a project to teach computer science students in 6.864 Natural Language Processing to recognize how deep learning systems can replicate and magnify the biases inherent in the data sets that are used to train them.
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Share your teaching insights
Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC) resource on OpenCourseWare
Case Studies in Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing
SERC website
Professor DâIgnazioâs faculty page
Professor Andreasâs faculty page
Harini Sureshâs personal website
Desmond Pattonâs paper on analysis of communications on Twitter
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Instagram
Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseWare, donate to help keep those programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Script writing assistance by Aubrey Calaway
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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Most of the students in Professor Dennis McLaughlinâs course 1.74 Land, Water, Food, and Climate come to it with established opinions on some very controversial topics: whether GMOs are safe, whether climate change is real (and really human-induced), whether organic agriculture is preferable to conventional agriculture, and whether itâs better for land to be worked by individual farmers or by larger corporations. Dealing with topics like these in an introductory graduate-level class can be challenging. You have to train students to read the scientific literature so that they can evaluate the facts on both sides of an issue. But you also have to strike a balance between those concrete facts and the intangible social values that enter into debates on sensitive topics. In this episode, Professor McLaughlin describes his approach to those two challenges in teaching 1.74; he also explains how a diversity of backgrounds among the students in the class enriches class discussion, and he describes what he sees as the teacherâs role: to adjust and when necessary reframe the terms of discussion, while still allowing students the freedom to explore the ramifications of their ideas.
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Share your teaching ideas and insights with Dennis McLaughlin
Professor McLaughlinâs course on OCW
Professor McLaughlinâs faculty page
Other environment courses on OCW
The MIT Climate Portal
Connect with Curt Newton at LinkedIn or Twitter
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Instagram
Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep those programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Script writing assistance by Nidhi Shastri
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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Students in MITâs course 5.310 Laboratory Chemistry have a state-of-the art lab to work in, with energy-saving hibernating fume hoods and a new spectrometer that achieves mind-blowingly precise measurementsânot parts per million or parts per billion, but parts per trillion! And the students do spend much of their time in that new lab. But Dr. John Dolhun, director of the Undergraduate Chemistry Teaching Labs at MIT, who taught 5.310 for many years, and Dr. Sarah Hewett, who currently teaches it, make sure that the course doesnât take place entirely behind closed doors. One of the lab activities involves collecting water samples from the Charles River and analyzing them for dissolved oxygen and contaminants such as phosphates. This activity, named the âEllen Swallow Richards Labâ after an environmental chemist who was also the first female student at MIT, ensures that the coursework is grounded in real-world concerns. In this episode, Dr. Dolhun and Dr. Hewett discuss that lab and other topics, such as how to teach perseverance, why their course emphasizes ways of communicating science to an audience of nonscientists, and the importance of sharing educational resources.
Relevant Resources
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Share your teaching ideas and insights with John Dolhun and Sarah Hewett
Dr. Dolhun and Dr. Hewettâs course on OCW
ChemLab Boot Camp video series on OCW
Ellen Swallow Richards biography at Wikipedia
MIT Spectrum article on the new undergraduate chemistry labs
MIT News article on energy-saving measures in the undergraduate chemistry labs
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Instagram
Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, please donate to help keep those programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Script writing assistance by Aubrey Calaway
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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Sanjay Sarma is not only a professor of mechanical engineering; heâs also Vice President for Open Learning at MIT, where he oversees innovative efforts to reimagine education, and he is coauthor (with Luke Yoquinto) of the recent book Grasp, which explores the nature of learning. In this episode, Professor Sarma discusses the differences between nominal learning, in which you memorize a fact or procedure but soon forget it, and real learning, in which you can effectively apply the skills and concepts youâve previously mastered. When the format of education is consistent with what science tells us about how our brains store and retrieve information, Sarma says, real learning can be optimized. He argues that well-designed platforms for online learning are a vital resource for people worldwide who lack access to in-person educationâlike a glass of water to someone in a desert. But he also sees online learning as an indispensable tool for in-person education, allowing innovations that help to maximize the value of studentsâ and instructorsâ time together, and he is optimistic about the potential value of online learning credentials as a pathway toward in-person degrees.
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Sanjay Sarma & Luke Yoquintoâs xTalk on Grasp
Professor Sarmaâs course on OCW
Professor Sarmaâs faculty page
Professor Sarma at MIT Open Learning
Professor Sarmaâs book Grasp
Micromasters programs from MITx
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us:
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
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Stay Current:
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW:
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits:
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Script writing assistance from Nidhi Shastri
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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Nancy Kanwisher, founding member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and professor in MITâs Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, describes the effort to understand the mind as âthe grandest scientific quest of all time,â partly because it seeks to answer fundamental questions that all people ponder from time to time: What is knowledge? How does memory work? How do we form our perceptions of the world? In this episode, Prof. Kanwisher gives a nutshell history of her field and describes how scientists use imaging techniques to study the brain structures involved in different cognitive skills. She also reflects on the usefulness of personal anecdotes as a teaching technique in courses like her 9.13 The Human Brain. Kanwisher believes scientists have a moral obligation to share the results of their research with the worldâwhich may explain why she has published her course materials for 9.13 on OpenCourseWareâbut she doesnât see that sharing as an onerous responsibility. âThe stuff I do is easily shareable with people,â she says, âbut itâs also fun. Itâs really fun to get an idea across and see somebody resonate to it.â
Relevant Resources
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Share your teaching ideas and insights with Nancy Kanwisher
Professor Kanwisherâs course on OCW (9.13 The Human Brain)
Professor Kanwisher at MITâs McGovern Institute for Brain Research
Professor Kanwisherâs series of short videos on brain science
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Instagram
Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep those programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer (https://twitter.com/learning_sarah)
Brett Paci, producer (https://twitter.com/Brett_Paci)
Dave Lishansky, producer (https://twitter.com/DaveResonates)
Script writing assistance from Nidhi Shastri
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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Contemporary Movements for Justice is an MIT course in which scholars and activists speak about pursuing justice for European colonialism in Africa and its contemporary legacies.
Do you have ideas that could help shape these discussions? If so, please participate in this new OCW opportunity. Watch course lectures online at the same time as MIT students. No registration required, and itâs completely free. Then share your ideas by following the link below. Professor Edoh will incorporate your questions and comments into the offline discussions that happen in class. After each class discussion she'll pin a summary comment on each video on YouTube so you can see how your contributions informed the conversation.
The next course module is on the efforts of a group of Afro-descended Belgian activists to hold accountable a commission that was established to examine Belgiumâs colonial past in Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda. Tune in to the OCW YouTube channel throughout November 2021 to watch videos from experts speaking about transitional and reparative justice in this context. You can find a complete schedule of the lectures for the course below.
Amah Edoh is the Homer A. Burnell Assistant Professor of Anthropology and African Studies at MIT. Last year she was the winner of the Everett Moore Baker Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. She has previously appeared on the Chalk Radio podcast (and been profiled in Open Matters) discussing her course 21G.026 Global Africa: Creative Cultures. In addition to that course, OCW also has published the materials from Professor Edohâs 21G.025 Africa and the Politics of Knowledge.
Relevant Resources:
Contribute Your Ideas to Contemporary Movements for Justice
Contemporary Movements for Justice Video Playlist
MIT OpenCourseWare
Professor Edoh's Faculty Page
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Lecture Schedule:
October
What do We Mean by Reparations?Openings for Seeking Justice for Colonial Violence in AlgeriaNovember
Relevance of a Transitional Justice Framework to Address Belgium's Colonial Past (coming soon)Accessing Archives to Make Claims (coming soon)Connect with Us:
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us at 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Instagram
Stay Current:
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW:
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep those programs going!
Credits:
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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The classic New England town meeting, with voters gathered in a large hall to decide issues directly, is often cited as the purest form of American democracy. But historically, those town meetings gave a voice only to certain classes of people. In this episode we meet Ceasar McDowell, Professor of the Practice of Community Development at MIT and newly appointed associate director of MITâs Center for Constructive Communication. Prof. McDowell has devoted his career to nurturing a more vibrant, inclusive democracy, one adapted to the complex reality of a modern, largely urbanized America. In his course 11.312 Engaging Community (coming soon to OpenCourseWare), he helps his students use the tools of civic design to craft forms of community engagement and decision-making that will bring everyone into the conversation, even those on the margins of our society. In keeping with his commitment to collaborative effort, Prof. McDowell encourages his students to propose specific real-life problems theyâre interested in, and to decide collectively which ones to address in the class. âWe have to learn to talk to each other,â he says. âYes, this is hard work, and yes, you can do it.â
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Professor McDowellâs faculty page
MIT's Center for Constructive Communication
We Who Engage (blog)
We Who Engage (podcast episodes)
We Who Engage (Instagram)
Americaâs Path Forward
Civic Design Framework
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us:
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us at 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Instagram
Stay Current:
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW:
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep those programs going!
Credits:
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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In our previous episode we met Professor Dava Newman, cofounder of the nonprofit group EarthDNA. Todayâs guest is Brandon Leshchinskiy, a graduate student in Technology and Policy at MITâs Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, who has helped Prof. Newman create the EarthDNA Ambassadors program, training young people in communication, negotiation, and storytelling to build support for individual and collective action on climate change. Leshchinskiy has crafted an engaging interactive presentation, called Climate 101, that creatively employs materials from various sources to examine climate change from scientific, economic, and civic perspectives. By teaching young people to deliver this presentation effectively, he is developing a cohort of trained climate educators who can in turn teach their peers to reach out to friends and family on one of humanityâs most pressing issues. In this episode, Leshchinskiy discusses why young people make effective climate ambassadors, how climate presentations can be made more powerful by customizing them with specific details that are relevant to peopleâs own communities, what we can learn from societyâs response to the challenges of Covid-19, and how to avoid developing âdoom fatigueâ from exposure to negative news stories.
Relevant Resources
MIT OpenCourseWare
OCWâs 20th anniversary celebration registration page
The OCW Educator Portal
EarthDNA on the Web
EarthDNAâs Climate 101 on OCW
EarthDNA Ambassadors program
Wangari Maathai (Nobel Peace Prize winner)
âI will be a hummingbirdâ (YouTube video)
Professor Dava Newman at MITâs Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
Rand Wentworth at Harvardâs Center for the Environment
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. Weâd love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Instagram
Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep those programs going!Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
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