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…
Category: Teaching / School
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…
Newton’s 1st Law of Motion – my version (and apparently Newton’s as well)
Time for another physics lesson. I like teaching about Newton’s 3 laws of motion. Most people know the first and third. They get quoted all the time in different places. The thing is that most people don’t understand what they mean. I think a lot of people think they know what they mean, but in…
Mass vs Weight
As I get ready for classes to start tomorrow I felt it was time for another physics teaching moment. (and I have re-read and re-written this a few times, and I still feel like I ramble too much). Most of us out there think that these two words are the same thing. I can’t blame…
An Amazing Group of People
This week I finished another semester of teaching at SCC. I want to take a moment and talk about one class in particular and the students that were in it. The class was a PHY 241 class. This is the third class in the series of physics classes that engineering and/or physics majors need to…
Relationships with Students
What a title coming from a teacher. I strive to get to know my students. Over my 20 years of teaching there have been good relationships, poor relationships, but mostly no real relationships. I really like getting to know the people in my classes. I like hearing about their lives outside of class. I like…
Deceleration – I hate this word!
I have written before about how I teach physics, and how I love it. I have done this for 20 years (not counting what I did while still in college), and I love it. But there are things I hate about physics and the world. I am talking about using words that add to the…