produce light, or tribo luminescence. So far, students at Rhodes have not recorded any detectable luminescence at the point of impact, although it is possible ambient light could make it hard to see. However, repeating the experiment despite a consistent negative result has become a campus tradition. The pumpkin drop exemplifies the kind of creative, collaborative experiment that has come to characterize the student experience of the sciences at Rhodes. “In the 1970s, the teaching model was ‘cookbook’ experiments,” explains John Olsen, associate dean of Academic Affairs and a biologist by specialty. Industry standard back then was for students to replicate results that had been
“We give the students amazing experiences, but the laboratory spaces were not designed to maximize the kinds of technical and scientific equipment that are in the current labs.”
demonstrated in the lab many times over, just like following a recipe. “We knew what the outcome was going to be,” Olsen says. “Now, with faculty guidance, students design their own experiments. Science is a much more open-ended discussion.” Olsen adds that, “It also means that a lab that was designed to produce a certain
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For information on naming opportunites, contact Jenna Goodloe Wade at 901-843-3852 or goodloe@rhodes.edu.
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