24, No. 7, Oct. 7, 2004
2004 Distinguished Teacher/Scholars
share talent for teaching
Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor
photo to enlarge
by Kwame Ross
to focus on enhancing interaction in large lectures
Paul Kelter, a professor of chemistry and director of general chemistry,
is passionate about several things: chemistry, teaching, long-distance
running, international folk dancing and layer cakes.
Kelter’s enthusiasm for teaching shows and has been honored by
his being named one of two 2004-2005 Distinguished Teacher/Scholars
on the Urbana campus.
Kelter said he is “stunned, grateful and feel(s) darn lucky”
to be honored, especially because he is a relative newcomer to the Urbana
campus, having joined the UI faculty in May 2003.
“There are people on campus who have been teaching the lights
out for years who are at least equally honorable,” Kelter said.
“I don’t know why I won it, but I plan on making good use
of it. There are ideas and techniques about teaching that are worth
sharing, and I plan on being part of this culture that we have well
entrenched on this campus.”
Along with their award, Distinguished Teacher/Scholars propose activities
that they will use to enhance teaching on campus. Toward that goal,
Kelter is meeting with 22 faculty and professional staff members to
share techniques and strategies for stimulating high teacher-student
interaction in large lectures. The group also is examining assessment
methods that can help teachers determine their students’ level
of comprehension “in real time instead of waiting until it’s
too late, instead of waiting until the exam,” Kelter explained.
“Our goal is to know what students know and understand so we can
Asking questions of the teacher and perhaps conveying confusion or a
lack of comprehension can feel very risky to students, especially in
large lectures, where “peer pressure is off the charts,”
Kelter said, and he is enthusiastic about the I-Clicker program under
development whereby students will be able to respond to questions using
Enrollment in general chemistry increased nearly 20 percent this fall
compared with last fall, and the increased demand prompted the addition
of a second section to the department’s preparatory course. “And
I’m delighted because I get to work with the kids on the core
ideas of chemistry,” said Kelter, who is teaching the course this
The contents of Kelter’s office in the Chemistry Annex –
which include a Cabbage Patch doll wired to measure solutions’
conductivity, a pyramid of frosting cans, and an engraved oak toilet
seat and lid given in gratitude for his organizing a conference –
and his attire – a golf cap with the Walt Disney World logo and
running shoes – indicate that Kelter is a guy who enjoys having
fun, and that attitude is apparent in
“Anybody that teaches any subject that they love and can’t
find a way to make it interesting and demonstrate why it’s meaningful
to the students should get another job. Every new class is a group of
people that can enjoy chemistry, and they will remember the day the
teacher exploded balloons filled with hydrogen and oxygen,” Kelter
said, referring to a demonstration he performed for his class earlier
in the day.
Kelter is widely known for his contributions to undergraduate science
education, particularly in multimedia technology, and he has led the
design of education-training workshops for high school and college educators
locally and nationally.
To provide a forum and clearinghouse for information on entry-level
chemistry education, Kelter formed the International Center for First-Year
Undergraduate Chemistry in October 2003. In addition to UI faculty,
its members include faculty from Purdue and Clemson universities and
a number of other U.S. universities as well as universities in Argentina,
China, Mexico and Scotland. An international conference on first-year
undergraduate chemistry education will be held on the Urbana campus
in May 2005.
Kelter’s work has garnered more than 40 grants totaling approximately
$6 million from agencies such as the National Science Foundation and
the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. During his career, Kelter also
has been recognized with numerous teaching excellence awards, including
three from the University of Nebraska in 1999, and he was the recipient
of the Nebraska Student Association’s Outstanding Teacher of the
Year for 1997.
Kelter earned a bachelor of science from the City College of the City
University of New York in 1976 and a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1980. He is the author or co-author
of several chemistry textbooks and study guides as well as numerous
articles on chemistry and instructional methods.
will explore UI involvement in educational outreach activities
photo to enlarge
by Kwame Ross
When Lenny Pitt,
a professor of computer science, wants to illustrate for his students
how a binary computer works, he calls upon a revered source: the Amazing
Dr. Nim. A child’s game from the mid-1960s, the Amazing Dr. Nim
is a plastic machine that uses mechanical levers and marbles to demonstrate
Students in the Discovery course Pitt is teaching this semester, “Programming
for the Rest of Us,” likewise get to play with – and learn
from – a program called Squeak, a media authoring tool based on
Smalltalk-80 language. The software enables users to quickly create
animations, computer games, and other interactive and graphically rich
programs without the overhead and learning curve associated with typical
programming languages. Squeak, a freeware program, also is used by elementary-school
children, some as young as second grade.
And what does Pitt want his students to gain from these fun-and-games?
history of teaching excellence
The Distinguished Teacher/Scholar program is one
of several activities sponsored by the Teaching
Advancement Board to strengthen teaching on campus
and to underscore the importance of high-quality
instruction. For the past four years, TAB has been
working with various colleges on campus to expand
their teaching academies and help teachers succeed
in the classroom.
Although the Distinguished Teacher/Scholar appointment
lasts just one year, honorees carry the designation
with them throughout their UI careers.
Buriak, agricultural engineering
Vernon Burton, history
F. Diehl, political science
A. Gentry, finance
Bruce Litchfield, engineering
C. Loui, electrical and computer engineering
Pitt, computer science
J. Schmidt, food chemistry
Schwandt, educational psychology
C. Smith, library and information science
C. Squier, art and design
Willis, curriculum and instruction
“I want them
to have a blast, to feel like they understand how to model things using
a computer, to know that they can do more with a computer than just
run spreadsheets and that a computer can be used for creative expression
as well as a tool for testing hypotheses,” Pitt said.
Distinguished Teacher/Scholar, Pitt, who loves to share what he knows
about discrete mathematics and computer science, said that discovering
novel, interactive methods for doing that is what keeps him excited
about teaching and research.
“I have so much fun doing this stuff that I want other people
to have fun also,” Pitt said. “What makes me effective –
when I’m effective – is that I really like the material
and some of the beautiful arguments that arise. A lot of computer science
and math is about puzzles. I love puzzles and my excitement works its
way into my lectures.”
Pitt’s research focuses on formal mathematical models of how learning
agents interact with their environments, precise definitions of learning
and the types of concepts or behaviors that are provably learnable.
For the past several years Pitt has been engaged in educational outreach
activities for elementary and secondary school teachers in Champaign,
emphasizing the development of fun, experiential activities for teaching
discrete mathematics and computer science concepts at the K-12 levels.
“If I can understand things in a simple way, that’s when
I can best explain it,” Pitt said.
Pitt’s repertoire includes one activity that uses fruit and a
number of unusual hats to introduce children to concepts about machine
behavior and modeling computation, and another activity uses magic tricks
to illustrate the binary number system.
Over the years, Pitt has found that the lessons that his undergraduate
students enjoy most and find most memorable are those that involve the
light-hearted activities he uses to teach K-12 students.
Pitt hopes that “sharing the fun” will encourage more students
at all levels to study science and technology.
Pitt also has been a volunteer teacher at Countryside School and in
the past has volunteered at the Champaign Alternative Resources in Education
His work has earned him honors that include the NSF Research Initiation
Award (1988), the C.W. Gear Outstanding Junior Faculty Award (1992)
and the Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence (1999).
For his DTS project, Pitt is exploring UI faculty and undergraduate
student involvement in K-12 educational outreach activities: who does
it, their motivations and the rewards they reap from it as well as any
impediments they may encounter.
By understanding the barriers that discourage faculty outreach with
K-12, Pitt hopes to identify resources that, if available, would facilitate
it, such as a centralized matching service between local teachers and
interested faculty members and students, a database of success stories
and “how-to” guides, or anything that might help streamline
the process of getting faculty and students involved with the community.
A UI faculty member since 1986, Pitt earned an undergraduate degree
in computer science and a master’s degree in mathematics from
the University of Michigan and a doctorate in computer science from