“Science is something that is gained by logical thinking, close observation of natural phenomena, and finding laws of nature. But the current Korean education system is largely dependent on teaching scientific theories instead of giving chances to students to observe nature and to understand it,” said Prof. Kim. “The demonstration lectures will help POSTECH students to get a motivation in learning science and aid them in learning basic science in more fun and long-lasting ways.”
The issue of a demonstration lecture hall first came to light in 2007 when President Baik insisted that a more effective way of teaching basic science was needed. In the beginning of this year the project for a demonstration lecture hall was launched and after 10 months, including one and a half months of remodeling construction, the demonstration lecture hall was finished.
The lecture hall was built by putting together two floors. The lecture hall is equipped with seats for 120 people and has state of art devices such as a three-beam projector, up-to-date sound devices equipped with digital mixers, and a multimedia control system. Also there is an experiment stand in front of the class.
As for equipment needed for experiments, it is scheduled to increase the number of special items to 15, advanced items to 50, and elementary items to 90 by 2010 for more substantial lectures.
Changes will be made to the General Physics course, which is to use the demonstration lecture hall next semester The course will have two demonstration lectures and also a session lecture to offer the theoretical parts to complement the demonstration lecture.
