Harvard professor to share ideas on “Educating the Innovators”

A Harvard physics professor who has developed an approach to teaching innovation in science and technology rather than simply focusing on the transfer of information will present his ideas during a public lecture at Salve Regina.

Eric Mazur, professor of physics and applied physics and dean of applied physics at Harvard University, will discuss “Educating the Innovators of the 21st Century” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17 in the Bazarsky Lecture Hall. His lecture is sponsored by the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy.

Mazur will show how shifting the focus in lectures from delivering information to teamwork and creative thinking greatly improves the learning that takes place in the classroom and promotes independent thinking.

Innovation requires whole-brain thinking – left-brain thinking for creativity and imagination, and right-brain thinking for planning and execution. Our current approach to education in science and technology focuses on the transfer of information, developing mostly right-brain thinking by stressing copying and reproducing existing ideas rather than generating new ones, Mazur says.

In 1991, Mazur developed the Peer Instruction method for teaching science. His approach involves students in the teaching process, which he says makes physics significantly more accessible to them.

For more information, or to reserve a seat, contact the Pell Center at (401) 341-2927 or pellcenter@salve.edu.