Roger Korn on sun 17 feb 02
Hi John,
A similar story: at NAU, Jason Hess and I started talking about a glaze chem course
for the upper division Ceramic Arts majors. I focussed on what I imagined to be the
tough part: getting the students to stick with the icky math long enough to come to
grips with the Unity Molecular Formula. I was coming from experience with a similar
course taught by Ritchey Bellinger at Portland Community College. Jason decided to
emphasize the value of the UMF as a problem analysis and solution tool, using Val
Cushing's Handbook for examples, and to preface the recipe-to-UMF part by having
the students more or less memorize the functions of the fifteen most commonly used
oxides before starting the math-laden portion.
A requirement for scheduling the course was to get 15 students to sign up. Instead,
40 students signed up, and 2 sections were scheduled, surprising us. Now, 5 weeks
into the course, the enthusiasm is high and there have been almost no drop-outs.
Jason is a great teacher, which helps, and the syllabus is evolving. I hope to get
Jason to bring the syllabus to NCECA, and perhaps pull together a conference on
teaching this "left-brain" subject either here, at Arkysanto in the Verde Valley,
or at NAU, sometime in the next year or two. Jason's experience, Ritchie's course,
the Rhodes material, Val Cushing's writings, Ian Currie's stuff, and now your book,
plus everyone's experience in teaching this subject, would make for an interesting
exchange of ideas, with the hopeful result of developing a 'kind and gentle' course
syllabus that gives students the tools they need to work their way through glaze
challenges with more thought and less blind chance, leading to success in dealing
with glaze development goals and problem solving.
Just dreaming for now, but I'm willing to commit time and effort to make such a
convocation/seminar/whatever happen.
Roger Korn
John Hesselberth wrote:
> ... When I first proposed
> talking about glaze stability, I was told it was a topic of little general
> interest and was rejected. It was only through the generous offer of Howard
> Axner that we had a first session in his suite 2 years ago. I was then able
> to go back to NCECA with photographic proof (provided by Bonnie Hellman)
> that we overflowed the Axner suite and there was a lot of interest. I could
> only see some people's heads because they were sticking through the door
> sideways. I am convinced that is what got me on the agenda last year.
>
> John
> ...
--
Roger Korn
McKay Creek Ceramics
In AZ: PO Box 463
4215 Culpepper Ranch Rd
Rimrock, AZ 86335
928-567-5699 <-
In OR: PO Box 436
31330 NW Pacific Ave.
North Plains, OR 97133
503-647-5464
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