The last couple years I have been having an end of year party with my classes at school. We hang out, eat food and play games. Yesterday was my last of these at SCC. I made chocolate chip cookies, which went over pretty well. People brought donuts, chips, brownies, bagels, soda and pizza. I ate…
Category: Teaching / School
Goodbye Party with Friends at SCC
Today my department held a goodbye party for me at work. They brought in sandwiches and crumbl cookies. And there were donuts as well. The food was great. But it was the people that mattered. A number of people in my department came by for a while to chat. And there were also a few…
What is the Purpose of College?
I have been in the college system for a long time. I have 21 years of teaching in the college system and 6 years of college prior to that. So, I would like to think that I have some experiences in the system of what college is about. And that is the question I am…
Live Online is Dragging Me Down
Ever since the pandemic starting in Spring of 2020 I have been teaching at least 1 class as a live online physics class. For those that don’t know what that is here you go. It is where the students have to log into a live class using Webex (Like zoom or google chat) and we…
Weekend Update
So I was planning to write an update on the bicycle accident stuff, but instead I am going to write about the weekend and how things went. I will give you update on the bicycle stuff later in the week (maybe tomorrow if time allows) I mentioned that on Friday I got to do interviewing…
Course Development Day (on top of the regular stuff)
It has been a long while since I have had to really think about the development of a course. It is hard. I am glad I have help. I work on my classes all the time in little ways, but I am working to design and build a fully on your own time online physics…
What Order to Teach Mechanics In
So, what is the best order of topics to teach a physics 1 class (mechanics) in? If you look in most books out there there is a clear order that almost all of them go in, and have gone in forever. That order is: Motion/Kinematics, Forces, Energy, Momentum, and Rotational Dynamics. There is nothing wrong…
Online vs In Person Education (in physics)
Today I want to talk a bit about the world of education we live in. Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic, when everyone went online for education for a period of time, there has been this shift by some to think that online education is the best option for them. I taught online for a while….
The problem with the BS and BA (are there other B#?)
As you all know I have been a college teacher for a long while now. I teach at a two-year community college. A large majority of the students I have had over the years have gone to the community to work their way through their first 2 years of college before going to a 4-year…
Artie-Palooza at SCC
This last Saturday, Scottsdale Community College held an open house that it called: Artie-Palooza! It was a time to showcase the school to the community. I was asked by my division if I could help and I decided that I would. I offered to do rocket launches and water balloon launching. I was told that…