I have been teaching physics for a while now (this is year 22 for me not counting teaching while still in college). Over those years I have given the following question on and off pretty regularly. “Captain Bialar Crais has a mass of 81-kg, and he has been captures in a secret laboratory. He wants…
Category: Teaching / School
Comments From Students – And a God Need Filled
I am a few weeks into teaching labs at Boise State University. It has been an interesting time. I am basically leading students through weekly labs that are tied to what they are supposed to be learning in their lecture portions of class. This is a very traditional method of teaching physics at universities. I…
So Much Work
I am getting ready for my teaching schedule to get into full swing. I started my Live Online class already. Having done live online since covid it hasn’t been too bad. I have never done this class fully live online before so it is a challenge in some ways. But not too bad. My labs…
A Final Class Party
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…
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…