physics

Steven Pollock

Steven Pollock is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Steven Pollock rather than just read about it. In short: Steven J. Pollock is an American professor of physics and a President's Teaching Scholar at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he has taught since 1993.

Key takeaways

Steven Pollock belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Steven Pollock to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Steven Pollock from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Steven J. Pollock is an American professor of physics and a President's Teaching Scholar at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he has taught since 1993. His specialisations are in physics education research and in nuclear theory. He is the 2013 U.S. Professor of the Year.

Early life and education Pollock sat for an Sc.B. in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982 and for an M.S. and Ph.D. in physics at Stanford University respectively in 1984 and 1987 for his thesis, entitled Electroweak Interactions in the Nuclear Domain, under Professor John Dirk Walecka.

Career He was a postdoctoral fellow in nuclear physics at the Nationaal instituut voor subatomaire fysica (NIKHEF), Amsterdam, from 1988 to 1990, and at the University of Washington's Institute for Nuclear Theory from 1990 to 1992. In 1993 he became a senior scientist at NIKHEF before joining the University of Colorado at Boulder as an assistant professor, where he was promoted to associate professor in 2000 and to full professor in 2009. In the early aughts (2000s) he shifted his primary focus to physics education research. In 2003 he co-founded the learning assistant programme.

Research Pollock investigates and develops curricular and pedagogical reforms and assessments in upper-division physics courses. He investigates impacts of established reforms in large lecture introductory courses, including the use of "Tutorials in introductory physics", with graduate TA training, and use of undergraduate learning assistants. He has advised four graduate students and eight postdoctoral fellows in nuclear physics and in physics education research.

Bibliography

Books Particle Physics for Non-physicists: a Tour of the Microcosmos (2003). The Teaching Company. ISBN 1565856244. Physics 1 (2001). Thinkwell. ASIN 1605380261. Great Ideas of Classical Physics (2006). The Teaching Company. ISBN 1598032550.

See also American Association of Physics Teachers Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Learning Assistant Model Nuclear physics Physics education research Science education

References

External links Steven Pollock faculty homepage Steven Pollock's website at University of Colorado Boulder PER group homepage Steven Pollock publications indexed by Google Scholar

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Steven Pollock

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Steven Pollock claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Steven Pollock before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Steven Pollock ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Steven Pollock

In research: Steven Pollock appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Steven Pollock in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Steven Pollock is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century American physicists, American educational theorists, Fellows of the American Physical Society, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Steven Pollock outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Steven Pollock in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Steven Pollock means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Steven Pollock out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Steven Pollock in simple terms?

Steven J. Pollock is an American professor of physics and a President's Teaching Scholar at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he has taught since 1993.

Why does Steven Pollock matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Steven Pollock?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Steven Pollock.