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History
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Mark and I left Columbia for the U. of Illinois in the summer of 1959.
He had accepted a
post-doctoral position there and we anticipated staying in Champaign-Urbana for three years.
The
Department was extremely friendly and made us feel very welcome – a great contrast with
Columbia.
We were therefore disappointed when, at the end of only one year, we felt that we had
to return to New York.
Bob Novick, with whom Mark was collaborating, decided to accept a
position as a professor in the Columbia Physics Department.
It was clear that if Mark were to
decide to stay at Illinois, their joint research project would remain with him and Bob would not be
able to participate.
We reluctantly left Illinois for New York in the summer of 1960.
Soon after we returned, I became an Instructor in the Physics Department at CCNY.
I was
able to accept a full-time appointment there because my mother and my great-uncle volunteered to
care for Bruce.
I taught introductory calculus-based physics.
In those days students had the same
instructor for lectures, laboratory, and recitation sessions.
I relearned (or learned) a lot of basic
physics.
I also learned an important lesson about teaching.
Student enthusiasm and good
evaluations are not reliable indicators about what students have learned.
In particular, I remember
one student who sat near the front of the room and appeared fascinated during my lectures.
(I still
remember his big brown eyes.)
My illusions were shattered after the first exam, which placed him
at the bottom of the class.
After we had been in New York for two years, Mark began looking for a more permanent
position.
He received a number of offers, mostly from universities but also from research labs.
He
finally narrowed the choice down to U. of Maryland and UW.
On returning by plane from one of
his visits to College Park, he noted the continuous stretch of bright lights on the land below.
Knowing that he did not want to live in that kind of environment forever, Mark accepted the UW
position (a decision with which I fully concurred).
In addition to the beauty of the area and his
Washington roots, the presence in the Physics Department of Hans Dehmelt (an atomic physicist,
who was later awarded the Nobel Prize) was as an added incentive for Mark.
The events described
in the main narrative of this monograph begin with our arrival in Seattle in September 1962.
Appendix B:
Some Overseas Experiences
I have discussed our group’s research and research-based curriculum development, our
programs in teacher preparation, and our experience with underprepared students at many
conferences and universities abroad.
I have been an invited speaker and/or leader of workshops in
Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, and Cuba.
I have done the same in many countries is
Europe, including Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy,
Portugal, Spain, and the UK.
I have been on professional trips to South Africa on more than one
Lillian C. McDermott
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History
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occasion.
In addition to universities in Australia and New Zealand, I have been an invited speaker
at conferences in other countries across the Pacific, including China, India, Japan, Korea,
Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. With others in our
group, I have traveled to Singapore almost annually since 2004.
The Ministry of Education
(MOE) and the National Institute of Education (NIE) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
have asked us to prepare teachers at all levels to teach by inquiry and to help faculty begin to
conduct research in physics education.
MOE and NIE regularly send staff members, K-12
teachers, and university faculty to our Summer Institutes.
In addition to classroom teachers who
have come to our Summer Institutes, the visitors have included See Kit Foong, Chor Yam Lau,
Paul Lee, Chew Leng Poon, and Darren Wong.
I enjoyed and learned much from the overseas conferences that I have attended.
A few
stand out in my memory because of certain personal experiences associated with them.
The 1979
GIREP Conference, which was followed by my family’s trip to Greece, established a precedent for
my professional trips abroad.
Whenever possible, Mark would meet me afterwards and we would
travel together in the surrounding area.
My work with underprepared students led to my first invitation to South Africa.
In 1986
the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) made it possible for me to
spend three inspiring weeks at the University of the Western Cape with faculty dedicated to
preparing “colored” students to succeed in scientific and technical fields. Afterwards, Mark joined
me on visits to other universities and on an unforgettable trip to Kruger National Park.
Fond
memories of South Africa returned in 2008 when I spoke at the annual meeting of the South
African Institute of Physics (SAIP) at Limpopo and also gave a talk at the University of Pretoria.
Two of my trips to give talks in Asia provided an opportunity for Mark and me to visit
Melanie (1989) and Connie (1994) during their service in the U.S. Peace Corps.
I especially
remember a feast in our honor in Kakilingan (a small village in San Marcelino, Zambales) near
Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines, where Melanie was posted.
The dinner included local delicacies
that are unknown to most Americans (
e.g.
, sautéed beetles), which Mark gamely ate but which I
was too squeamish to try.
Another special memory was a side trip to Nepal to visit Connie in
Barkhola (a small village in the Syangja District).
During a hike in the Himalayas, Mark suddenly
became ill from the altitude.
Kind villagers took us in and cured him with garlic soup.
The three
of us later traveled to Tibet, to which Mark and I would never have gone had we not visited
Connie at her post.
I also especially remember the trip to Papua New Guinea (PNG). Mark and I had both
been invited to give talks at the University of PNG.
Our visit was slightly marred by an accident
