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GUNTHER ROLAND: The
writing skills are, I

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think of, essential importance
for any of the physics majors

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here.

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It doesn't do you
much good if you

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do the science just for itself.

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You want to tell
people about it,

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and you want to
be able to do that

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in a professional
manner that really

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gets the appropriate
appreciation

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for your scientific work.

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And to do that, you
need to understand

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what is really the
form of communication

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that scientists, physicists use.

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And that is, I think, one of
the key elements in junior lab--

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to really explain
how this is done,

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and then through practice,
really develop that skill.

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So two of the things that the
students do in 8.13 and 8.14,

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in addition to performing
the experiments, is to,

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A, give 15-minute presentations
on the experiments

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in the style of an
APS parallel session

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and write four-page papers on
each experiment in the style

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of Physical Review Letter.

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And I think there are
two elements to this.

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And one is, of course, that this
is a large part of their grade.

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So this is a skill
that we judge.

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But I think it is also a
skill that the students really

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develop in 8.13 and 8.14.

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Most of them, before
joining the lab,

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have never written a paper.

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And many of them have not given
presentations in that style

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before.

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Some of them have.

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Some of them haven't.

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And so this is a skill
that they get to practice.

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It's a skill that they
really need later on.

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And it's also something
that many of them

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are rather worried about
when starting the class.

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One of our teaching--

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one of our writing
instructors likes to say,

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fear of public speaking
is one of the top fears

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that people list when asked what
they are really worried about.

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And what we tell the students,
and what they really find out

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during the class, is
that public speaking

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is a skill that you can really
perfect through practice.

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And for me as an
instructor-- and I hope also

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for the students-- seeing
the progression of them

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during the semester
from really not knowing

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what to do with the 15
minutes of speaking time

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to having professional
presentations at the very end

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is really one of the most
gratifying things in 8.13,

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and then later in 8.14, to see
how much their skill really

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improves over the course
of three, four months.

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So there are many
ways in which we

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try to help the students really
develop these communication

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skills.

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One is, of course,
instruction and examples.

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Before they do their
first presentation,

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then they give the presentation.

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They meet with the
writing instructors

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afterwards to go
over the presentation

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and get feedback from them.

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Typically, what we do is we
have 15-minute presentations

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and then a 15-minute
question and answer session

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that we also use to give
feedback on the presentations.

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And then at the very
end of the semester,

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the students take their favorite
of the three presentations

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they gave during the
semester, refine it a bit,

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and then give it in front
of the whole class--

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again, after getting feedback
from the writing instructor.

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So there's a lot of
practice, and there's

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a lot of back and forth between
the students, the writing

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instructors, and the lab staff.

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In 8.13, obviously, at the
beginning of the semester,

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there's an extremely
wide spectrum

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in terms of their
communication skills.

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Some people are
just naturally more

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inclined to talk to
a large audience,

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to present themselves,
whereas others

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are mortified doing that.

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And I think by the end
of 8.13, that spread

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becomes much narrower.

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Of course, not everybody
will have the same spirit

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when giving a presentation.

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But I think by the
end of 8.13, everybody

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is at a level where they
have no problem giving

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a 15-minute professional
presentation.

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I think 8.14, the
focus really moves

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from just being able to
fill the 15 minutes somehow

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to a much more
detailed discussion

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of the professional elements
of the presentations--

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the uncertainty analysis,
really the depth

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in which they examine the
data that they've taken,

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and the sophistication
of the analysis methods.

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I think that is more
of the focus in 8.14

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after 8.13 has really
prepared them to--

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just the basic tools.