Teaching Award 2022

First Award Ceremony of the Joint Teaching Award for Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science

For the first time, the Group of Active Student Representatives (GAF) presented the Teaching Award for Mathematics (Golden Caratheodory) and Computer Science. This award was combined with the existing Teaching Award for Physics (Golden Sommerfeld) and was presented at the beginning of January. Both instructors and students were recognized for their achievements.

What makes a good tutorial?

First, the top three tutors in each subject were awarded certificates in the Arnold Sommerfeld lecture hall. In each subject, three bachelor tutors and one master tutor were honored. In Physics, Jonas Märtens, Florian Zacherl, and Nepomuk Trauner received certificates for their bachelor tutorial. Jonas Späth received the most votes for his master tutorial. Benjamin Zayton, Leonard Wetzel, and Jago Silberbauer were awarded the Golden Carathéodory for their bachelor tutorial in Mathematics. The now habilitated Prof. Arnaud Triay held the best master tutorial and was also recognized. In Computer Science, Jonas Thomsen, Tea Barisic, and Lukas Bartl received an award for their bachelor tutorial, and Maximillian Hoeb received recognition for his master tutorial.

Prior to the event, the winners were asked what they believe constitutes a good tutorial. The most frequently emphasized aspect was the importance of contextualizing the topics within broader frameworks. This fosters motivation and helps in understanding complex problem sets. The awardees also mentioned creating a good atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable. It is important that everyone feels encouraged to ask questions without fear of being laughed at or belittled. Only then can the tutorial reach its full potential. Finally, it was noted that taking time is important. Not everyone grasps topics at the same pace, but everyone should have the opportunity to do so.

What makes a good tutorial?      Kriterien.pdf

The 2022 Teaching Awards for Instructors

The Golden Sommerfeld awards for instructors were awarded to Prof. Tobias Ried and Prof. Jochen Weller this year. Prof. Ried taught the bachelor lecture "Mathematics III for Physics Students" in the winter semester 21/22. His lecture was praised in advance for being highly visual and logical. It was also noted that he had an answer for every question. Since he is currently employed at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences (MiS) in Leipzig, he could only participate in the award ceremony online. The lecture "Cosmology and Large-Scale Structure" by Prof. Weller received the most votes in the category of Best Master Lecture. It was praised for his ability to explain complex topics in a simple manner. The presentation of various master project works at the end of the semester was well-received by the students. He expressed special thanks to his tutors, as they supported the lecture just as much as he did.

For the first time, the Golden Carathéodory was awarded as the Teaching Award for Mathematics. Prof. Franz Merkel received the most votes for his bachelor lecture "Analysis 3". He emphasized that teaching is a delicate balance between explanations that are too difficult and ones that are too simplistic. It is important not to unnecessarily abstract topics when the fundamentals need to be understood initially. However, important aspects should not be omitted either. Prof. Sabine Jansen was awarded the Best Master Lecture for her lecture "Probability Theory". Students praised her friendly and personal demeanor and her never condescending approach. Questions were always answered extensively.

Lastly, Prof. Claudia Linnhoff-Popien was recognized for the Computer Science bachelor lecture "Computer Architecture". She was very pleased with the award, as she devotes a lot of time to teaching and usually does not receive much feedback for it. She also thanked her tutors for their assistance, without which the lecture would not have been feasible. Prof. Gideon Ernst received the Teaching Award for the Best Master Lecture for "Methods in Software Engineering". He also thanked the student representatives for organizing the Teaching Award and expressed his joy at receiving the recognition.

See you next time!

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all the awarded instructors and tutors. Their dedication to teaching promotes the motivation of many students. Only with good teaching can good science be guaranteed. For this reason, we will once again present the GAF Teaching Awards for the winter semester 22/23 and the summer semester 23. Last but not least, we would like to thank all the students who participated in the survey and provided their feedback. Special thanks go to Antoine Pihet and Tom Körner for planning and hosting the Teaching Awards.

**Article and images:** Matthias Heim