SPACE CENTER SCIENTIST PUBLISHES POWERPOINT LECTURES

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.-A University of Arkansas professor has enhanced one of the most popular astronomy textbooks by pairing it with a PowerPoint presentation. His presentation will appear with the second edition of the textbook, distributed to astronomy classes nationwide.

Astronomy remains one of the most popular courses in the undergraduate curriculum. People who teach or have taken astronomy in recent years may know the name of Jay Pasachoff, one of the most popular writers of astronomy textbooks. When the second edition of his latest textbook with Alexei Filippenko appears later this year, it will contain a PowerPoint presentation developed by University of Arkansas professor Claud Lacy.

Lacy, professor of physics and member of the Center for Space and Planetary Science prepared the PowerPoint presentation for use in his undergraduate "Survey of the Universe" course. When Pasachoff heard about this presentation, he asked Lacy if he could use it as a resource to support his textbook. The publishers, Brooks/Cole Publishing, will distribute the files on a CD-ROM to university professors adopting the book for their university courses.

Lacy, who has taught at the University of Arkansas for 25 years, suggests that after about 20 minutes most people have a hard time focusing on a lecture alone. He has therefore devised a number of methods to hold the attention of his students, and he has incorporated these methods into a PowerPoint presentation.

His methods include Think-Pair-Share questions, Roundtable, Brainstorm, Discussion Questions, Send-A-Problems, Didadic Essay Confrontations, and lecture demonstrations. He put considerable effort into the project, Lacy said, and he’s pleased that his work will benefit students all over the world.

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