Analysis of a jackassian video…
Category Archives: Education
The Bohring Part of Physics is Wrong
Overall I agree — there are a lot of people who seem to remember the Bohr atom but not that it’s wrong. Unfortunately, some of them seem to want to build their own personal physics theories on it. I understand the motivation to teach it — there is an historical context, and it’s an opportunity to dip one’s toe into some quantum theory rather than jumping into the deep end.
One nit, though. Even thinking of electrons as “buzzing around the nucleus” still implies a trajectory and motion, and you get into trouble trying to reconcile those classical notions with angular momentum, which is one of the failures of the Bohr model: the S orbital has no orbital angular momentum.
I do like the orbital ballon animals, but I don’t recommend a science clown doing them for kids’ parties.
At Least it's Expensive
Study: Many College Students Not Learning to Think Critically
An unprecedented study that followed several thousand undergraduates through four years of college found that large numbers didn’t learn the critical thinking, complex reasoning and written communication skills that are widely assumed to be at the core of a college education.
Many of the students graduated without knowing how to sift fact from opinion, make a clear written argument or objectively review conflicting reports of a situation or event
That Which Will Occupy Your Time
'Tis the Season for Endorsements
Fear not, this is not about politics. It’s October, which is the time of year various physics blogs I read vie for your hard-earned money to support some worthy classroom projects through DonorsChoose. Rather than run a separate campaign against blogs that are in consortia and have wider readerships, I will merely point you toward them, and I will be donating through one of them.
The first announcement I have seen is from Dot Physics: It’s That DonorsChoose Time of the Year, and a post at Uncertain Principles has just appeared
Update: The Bad Astronomer also has a donation page
You Can Handle the Truth
Teaching children the real truth about science
”Science is totally misunderstood … It is the only philosophical construct that we have to determine the truth with any degree of reliability, and that requires evidence, which elevates it to a different plane – it elevates it to something that every child should have,” he said.
…
‘[Science] can’t be a belief system, because belief by definition is to accept something without evidence,” Professor Kroto said. He pointed to the push in some parts of the US to teach creationism alongside evolution in schools.
”There is no theory which is more proven than evolution and the evidence for evolution comes from every discipline within the sciences,” he said. And so he is on a mission to reinvigorate science education and teach the next generation to think with reason to uncover why things are the way they are.
Gimme an "A"! No, Really, Gimme an "A"
People who were doted on in childhood, driven a mile to Cross-Country practice, aren’t going to accept spending four years someplace where they aren’t comfortable and emotionally supported. We began to see a Vice-President of Student Success, a Residential Communications Coordinator, a Coordinator of Learning Immersion Experiences, a Director of Intramural Athletics. And a sushi chef. The next thing you know, it takes two hundred thousand dollars to have a proper college experience. But hey, cheer up. At least you know they’ll graduate with an A average.
Motivated by Wanting to Understand the Punchline
Shooting Back at Helicopters
What teachers really want to tell parents
In all honesty, it’s usually the best teachers who are giving the lowest grades, because they are raising expectations. Yet, when your children receive low scores you want to complain and head to the principal’s office.
Please, take a step back and get a good look at the landscape. Before you challenge those low grades you feel the teacher has “given” your child, you might need to realize your child “earned” those grades and that the teacher you are complaining about is actually the one that is providing the best education.
Fulfilling Their Expectations
The Preconception Eliciting Tennis Ball
While holding the ball near the ceiling, I ask, “When the ball is at its peak, what is its velocity?” (They confidently say “zero!”)
I now expose their preconception by immediately asking, “What is its acceleration?” (The answers are split between “9.8 m/s/s” and “zero!” depending on the class) I keep the ball near the ceiling and ask one of the students who enthusiastically answered “zero!”, “If its acceleration is zero and its velocity is zero, what would happen to the ball?” After some thought, the student realizes that the ball wouldn’t fall. I then release the ball and it sticks to the ceiling.