Professor works to create an experience in both classroom and orchestra Playing along with the string theory

The study of physics explores many theories including sound, however Lee Loveridge takes it a step further by playing in the San Fernando Valley Symphony Orchestra.

Loveridge, as associate professor of physics and astronomy, is involved at Pierce College and spends the majority of his time enjoying the sciences as well as the arts.

For about two years, Loveridge has also played the viola with the Pierce Orchestra.

“I feel like I make a contribution that makes the music richer,” Loveridge said.

Loveridge wanted to play string instruments because his older sister, who he idolized, was playing them. But he was also inspired by his television hero.

One day, Loveridge was watching an episode of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,” and Mr. Rogers brought out the four-stringed instruments: the violin, viola, cello and the stringed bass. Viola was the only instrument that he was unfamiliar with.

Loveridge knew he wanted to be a physics major when he was a junior in high school. He had previously wanted to be a nuclear engineer until he saw a particular physics demonstration.

“When I saw it, I was so amazed that I knew I had to do that for a living,” Loveridge said.

For about three years, he attended the University of

California, Berkeley, where he received his master’s degree, and he continued on to do his research.

A number of things were not going well in his life, so he took a break and taught high school for two years, but he wanted to go back to school and finish his doctorate.

He continued his education for another four years and earned his Ph.D. in physics at UCLA. However, he also focused on particle astrophysics.

Loveridge was looking for ways to understand fundamental particles better and focused on what kinds of insight he could get from recent discoveries in astronomical physics.

“My short answer to what it took to get my Ph.D. is 9 years, two children and a marriage,” Loveridge said.

While Loveridge was teaching high school, he was introduced to constructivist theory, the idea that students don’t simply absorb what you tell them. According to Loveridge, students have to construct their understanding based on previous experience, new experiences and what they are told.

He loved this idea, and he worked hard while he was teaching high school to include the constructivist theory while teachings.

Later, when he was searching for a new full-time job, he saw that an opportunity was available at Pierce.

“I was interviewing, and I talked all about how constructivism was important to me. That matched up very nicely with the ideals of the school because that is something they put a lot of effort into,” Loveridge said. “It turned out to be a very good match,”

Loveridge has been working at Pierce since spring 2009.

He saw that positions were open to teach astronomy, and he was interested in applying the active learning techniques he was using to teach physics. However, he said it is not working out as well as he had hoped.

“It’s a different student population, and learning exactly how to work with them is still something I struggle with, but I feel like we are making progress all the time,” Loveridge said.

Loveridge said that he enjoys physics, and he thinks it is amazing to see that, with a few basic principles, predictions can be made about the world.

According to Loveridge, in physics, you are looking for the simplest description that is accurate and precise and gets right to the fundamentals.

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