One of chemistry Professor Michelle Francl's classes leads off about "the virtues of stillness and silence" in the classroom.
From the article:
Francl is nudging students toward understanding the Bohr correspondence principle, a cornerstone concept in quantum mechanics that鈥檚 as easily discernible as Mona Lisa鈥檚 smile. Bohr鈥檚 principle illustrates how classical mechanics (which predict how objects viewed with the naked eye will move) and quantum mechanics (which predict how microscopic objects will move) yield the same mathematical answer when the objects are large enough to observe. Francl has students work together to calculate a quantum mechanics probability on their laptops and projects their findings as a line graph. Then she asks students to do something odd: 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to take a minute and a half and just look at it.鈥
Francl will once again be taking part in the 360掳 Contemplative Traditions in the fall of 2016. She'll be teaching a course on "Silent Spaces: A History of Contemplation in the West."