Browsing all posts in "Teaching".

Complete: 1 Semester

The semester is over.
My grades are posted.
My students have received their grades.
I am 3 forms (paperwork will kill me) from starting my summer.
And I plan to play a bit, write a lot, travel too much, and try and remember how to jump horses over itty bitty fences designed to restrain dachunds.
w00t

Engineers are Fun

As I think I’ve mentioned before, this semester I’m teaching good old fashioned physics. More specifically, I’m teaching the second semester (E&M) half of calculas-based physics for scientists and engineers. I somehow ended up with a class of 47 boys. While this course generally is predominantly male, the zero girls is unusual and it has [...]

Soldiers in the Classroom

I think I might have mentioned on this blog a couple of times that one of the classes I  sometimes teach is physics for elementary  education majors. All told, I have probably interacted with 100 different education students across a couple different years. It’s not a lot, but we try and keep the class sizes [...]

Let it Begin (again)

Monday is the first day of a new semester. I’ll be teaching just one class this semester (the rest of my time is going to IYA), second semester calculus based physics for Scientists and Engineers. This will be my first time teaching this course, although I’ve taught the algebra-based version several times. At this stage [...]

Summer Days Drift toward Syllabus Time

Last Friday I looked at my calendar and had the terrifying realization that I had 3 days of freedom before I started a long series of trips that would culminate in the first day of classes.
Then I realized it was July 18, not July 25, and that I actually had 1 week and 3 days.
Let [...]

The Big Bang and the Universe’s Big Future

From September 10-14, I’ll be working with the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program to put on an online colloquium titled, “The Big Bang and the Universe’s Big Future.”
Abstract: Astronomers, on a CSI-style mission, have followed the clues to find the culprit behind the formation of the universe. Going by the alias, “Big Bang,” the perpetrator [...]

An Amazing and Expanding Universe in Motion

From August 7-11, I’ll be working with the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program to put on an online colloquium titled, “An Amazing and Expanding Universe in Motion.”

Abstract: Looking for something entirely different? Take a tour through our ever changing universe that is (loosely) guided by Monty Python’s “The Galaxy” song. In this colloquium, students will explore the cosmic history of our planet, how we are evolving and revolving though space, and where we and our galaxy are headed in the future. Basic geometry and algebra will be used to understand the math a physics behind our planet’s position in time and space, and to understand why the numbers that apply to England don’t apply to Ecuador!

Not familiar with the song? Check out this rated [PG] google video.

An academic life punctuated with bullets

Every university seeks to convince parents (and itself) that it is a safe place where learning and personal development are fostered in a protective yet stimulating environment. This is part of the myth of the Ivory Tower: we form the intellectual fortress where the knowledge-wealth of a society is stored, and intellectual returns roll in at double-digit rates as papers are published and student sponges absorb the words of the marble and bronze professors we’ve placed on pedestals.

In truth, universities are just places that strive to be more, but often struggle to make their dreams reality. As places run by humans and often open to the public, they aren’t as secure as we may desire. While the majority of crimes are related to random strangers entering campus to thieve, and peep, and sometime grope and rape, the most tragic crimes we see are the ones perpetrated by the students and staff who become broken as they try to run the academic gauntlet.

A Few Caveats regarding Day Length

I have to admit I have spring fever. I seem to have moved to a part of the country where the seasons actually follow the solstices and equinoxes, and politely divide themselves into 4 fairly equal parts. My crocuses are blooming, shorts are starting to appear on some of the more robust males on campus, the Canadian geese have paired off (which is actually very freaky), and tonight the Sun crosses the equinox at 7 minutes after midnight in Greenwich (that’s GMT-0). The Sun, when it rises over Edwardsville and campus tomorrow, will be hanging out over the Northern Hemisphere.

When I teach about equinoxes and solstices in class, the observant student may notice a slight discrepancies between what is taught and what they find in their newspaper. For instance, I’ll say that on the Equinox, the Sun rises exactly in the East and sets exactly in the West (totally true). I’ll say the Sun passes directly over the Equator at the Equinox (also, totally true). And, I’ll say the day and the night are equal on the Equinox (kinda sorta true). What I don’t do is define sunrise and sunset, and this is where that last “kinda sorta, huh?” moment comes into play.

Fun with Mnemonics

In Astronomy we have two terrible patterns of words to try and remember. One is the order of the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune (image left, credit: NASA). The other is the spectral types of stars: O, B, A, F, G, K, M. For both these patterns we have unsatisfying mnemonics. This week I am assigning my students to please come up with a new one for spectral types (and they can submit them in the comments here as well as in their HW if they want to share).

As well as getting their ideas, I thought I’d ask what you, my often silent non-student readers, think are useful ways to remember the planets and stars. So, in the comments, give me a sentence to remember you and the stars and planets by!