This is a class of eight juniors majoring in physics/astronomy and one
professor. Here are our names:
The class meets at 3:00 pm (sometimes 2:40) in Room 120-PA on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the students take turns giving talks on what's happening in physics, astronomy, biophysics, etc. So far each of them has given two 10-minute talks, and starting Feb. 19 they will give two longer talks.
When there is time, some of us attend the Physics Department Colloquium, learning something about the subject matter, but also observing the good and bad of the speaker's delivery. Between classes we communicate with each other in person and sometimes viaE-mail.
The students do some writing, too. For each talk the student writes
a brief abstract and distributes it in class. The professor returns it
with comments. For the final round of talks each student will write a paper
of about four pages. If a student writes a senior thesis, the Tier II writing
requirement of the University will be satisfied by that thesis and by the
writing done in this class. 