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Online demos can be as effective as classroom teaching

February 28, 2020

YouTube has become the go-to for quick tutorials on almost any topic, from how to replace a zipper to how to install a water heater. But could some of the most memorable parts of a STEM course — live demonstrations — be brought to the screen effectively? In a new paper, Harvard researchers show for the first time that research-based online STEM demonstrations not only can teach students more, but can be just as enjoyable.

Researchers hope these findings will help spur the creation of a catalogue of free online STEM video demonstrations to supplement lectures at institutions that cannot...

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A "discharging capacitor" demo performed in Physical Sciences 3, taught by Louis Deslauriers

From YouTube to Your School

February 28, 2020
YouTube has become the go-to for quick tutorials on almost any topic, from how to replace a zipper to how to install a water heater. But could some of the most memorable parts of a STEM course — live demonstrations — be brought to the screen effectively? In a new paper, Harvard researchers show for the first time that research-based online STEM demonstrations not only can teach students more, but can be just as enjoyable.

Researchers hope these findings will help spur the creation of a catalogue of free online STEM video demonstrations to supplement lectures at institutions that cannot...

Read more about From YouTube to Your School

50th Anniversary of Africa at Harvard

February 28, 2020

 

50th Anniversary of Africa at Harvard

On February 28th – 29th, 2020,  the Center for African Studies, the Department of African and African American Studies and the Hutchins Center for African & African American Researchcelebrated the 50th anniversary of African and African American Studies. The two-day symposium kicked off at Harvard Memorial Chuch with a full agenda that commemorated this occasion as well as highlighted the...

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Caroline Light Honored by Class of 2020

February 28, 2020

The class of 2020 has chosen WGS's Director of Undergraduate Studies, Caroline Light, as one of their favorite professors. She will be featured in this year's edition of the Harvard Yearbook.

This is the eighth time Professor Light has been selected for this honor. Please join WGS in congratulating her!

Bridging the Gap from Bench to Bedside

February 28, 2020

by Edna Chiang

**Editor's note: This post is part of a series highlighting members of the ComSciCon community who recently attended the AAAS Annual Meeting, which took place from February 13-16, 2020 in Seattle, WA.

Spinal cord injuries affect ~17,810 people each year in the U.S.1 and can leave surviving patients physically and financially paralyzed for a lifetime. Jessica Chen was researching a treatment for this condition when a car accident left her...

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How scent, emotion, and memory are intertwined — and exploited

How scent, emotion, and memory are intertwined — and exploited

February 27, 2020

“… I carried to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had let soften a bit of madeleine. But at the very instant when the mouthful of tea mixed with cake crumbs touched my palate, I quivered, attentive to the extraordinary thing that was happening inside me.”

It’s a seminal passage in literature, so famous in fact, that it has its own name: the Proustian moment — a sensory experience that triggers a rush of memories often long past, or even seemingly forgotten. For French author Marcel Proust, who penned the legendary lines in his 1913 novel, “À la...

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Key coronavirus question: How are children affected?

February 27, 2020

This is the latest piece in our Coronavirus Update series in which Harvard specialists in epidemiology, infectious disease, economics, politics, and other disciplines offer insights into what the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak may bring.

As coronavirus cases continue to spread around the world, American officials acknowledged this week that cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, are likely to become much more widespread across the nation. That announcement comes...

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‘Surveillance Capitalism’ author sees data privacy awakening

‘Surveillance Capitalism’ author sees data privacy awakening

February 27, 2020

For the first time since 2007, Shoshana Zuboff is feeling optimistic.

Zuboff, an emerita Harvard Business School professor and internet privacy advocate, said the outpouring of concern she’s seen at stop after stop on what has been a 14-month speaking tour for her latest book has given her hope that people are finally waking up to the dangers of freely sharing their data with tech companies like Facebook and Google.

Zuboff said that 2007 was...

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