2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Science Department of Physics Graduate major in Physics
Advanced Presentation in Physics
- Academic unit or major
- Graduate major in Physics
- Instructor(s)
- Jie Shi
- Class Format
- Lecture (Livestream)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 7-8 Tue (M-119(H-118))
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- PHY.P611
- Number of credits
- 200
- Course offered
- 2025
- Offered quarter
- 1-2Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 19, 2025
- Language
- English
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
This course aims to provide students of intermediate and advanced level of English with opportunities to practice presentation skills for academic research purposes through activities and projects common in academic contexts. The course focuses on fostering students’ competences of:
(1) academic discussion for international communication
(2) academic presentation for international conferences
(3) active participation in lab presentation and discussion
(4) persuasion, argumentation and problem-solving
Course description and aims
By the end of the course, students are expected to make individualized improvements in the following aspects:
(1) participation in and leading group discussions
(2) sharing information and expressing opinions
(3) communicating with researchers at international conferences and socializing outside of conferences
(4) delivering ppt presentation with more confidence
(5) initiating and persuading others with reasoning
(6) defending individual research
Keywords
language competence, academic discussion, ppt presentation, reasoning, confidence
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Each class is divided into four stages, the review, orientation and warming up stage, the lecture and controlled practice stage, and the free and application stage. Students are engaged in active participation in class activities either individually or collaboratively in small groups.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Guidance, Self-introduction, Icebreaking, pre-course survey | Reading the handout on group discussion; Preparing for sharing difficulties of participating in and leading a group discussion in English |
| Class 2 | Group discussion skills: active participation and leading | |
| Class 3 | Sharing research: summarizing, reporting, interpreting (Review Advanced Writing in Physics) | Exercises on the various types of cognitive thinking and types of questions |
| Class 4 | Sharing research: commenting, questioning and evaluating | |
| Class 5 | Communication at international conferences: in and out of presentation sessions | Watching TED talks and choosing one to present it to the class (3-5 minutes) |
| Class 6 | Reporting and summarizing 1: TED Talks | |
| Class 7 | Persuasiveness, argumentation, and presentation strategies: TED Talks | Self-evaluation on body language |
| Class 8 | Non-verbal communication, body language, confidence | |
| Class 9 | Initiating and propose research ideas/topics | Interviewing senior members of students' labs for past experiences with Ph.D defense |
| Class 10 | Presentation for Ph.D defense | |
| Class 11 | Topics proposed by students | Reading academic presentation outlines |
| Class 12 | PPT presentation | Reading and analyzing common problems with language used for PPT presentation |
| Class 13 | PPT presentation | PPTプレゼンテーション練習 |
| Class 14 | PPT presentation, End-of-Course Evaluation | |
| Class 15 | PPT presentation, End-of-Course Evaluation |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
None
Reference books, course materials, etc.
To be announced in class
Evaluation methods and criteria
Students are required to keep a high percentage of attendance and to actively participate in class. Creativity and critical thinking are highly encouraged and valued. As cooperative learning is a crucial point of training, students will need to be willing to work with other classmates in various kinds of activities. Student participation and collaboration in class are also part of the final evaluation.
Attendance, attitudes, performance and collaboration with other students in class: 30%
Presentations: 50%
Homework: 20%
Students' self-evaluation and peer evaluation will also be considered.
Related courses
- PHY.P411 ： Basic Presentation in Physics
Prerequisites
None