Sunday, December 28, 2008
Physics Education on the Interwebs
So I've been scouring the intertubes trying to vet resources for good physics content. I've found too many, I think, because I don't know what to use or how to use it. One blog that really has good info is hippocampus. Here, I found links to a few sites that run some great simulations. One I already knew about was Phet. The second was hippocampus. The third was the Physlets. They all have great stuff, but how should I use them? Too many options! HALP!.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Hello World
Here's Alexander:
The birth was all natural and Jennifer was amazing. Thanks to everyone, especially our CNM Lisa!
The birth was all natural and Jennifer was amazing. Thanks to everyone, especially our CNM Lisa!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Usage Wars
I found this article about the EL usage wars. We discussed this a little in Diversity class... but thought this was a pretty good, balanced article. Plus, it has to be the most entertaining review of EL usage, evah. The short story: the author (David Foster Wallace) has an interesting writing style and is basically a pragmatic prescriptivist regarding proper EL usage.
DFW: Tense Present
DFW: Tense Present
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Graduate at 16?
Early Graduation
The article linked above describes an interesting idea. New Hampshire is developing a set of rigorous tests for 10th graders that would allow students to graduate and move on to vocational or community college by age 16. Some argue that it could be a solution to the 'crisis' that the U.S. is falling behind other nations in education. While I'm not sure how early graduation would help international competitiveness, I could see how this may help some students who may explore early college or vocational options. I'm also a little unsure about how it would save money if the schools have fewer students. In any case, I thought it was an interesting article so if people want to comment please do!
Baby News
I know many of you are looking for updates on the baby. Well, everything is going well, but Jenn has developed some symptoms of preeclampsia, so our outstanding nurse-midwife Lisa took Jenn off her feet for the last few weeks of the pregnency. We went up to U-M hospital for an ultrasound screening/biophysical analysis and all is well. I'll send out an email to the group when any news hits, so if I'm absent for a day or two, expect a brief email update.
2008: Great Year or Greatest Year? (Warning: Political Content)
What a year! I mean, except for the whole economic downturn and all. Election, Olympics, SMAC, election, SMAC , election, election. A few quick comments about the discussions from this week: Breakfast was mmmmmm good. It was a really exciting day Tuesday and also Wednesday after the election. First, the gay marriage thing came up (AKA, Prop 8 in Cali). I still don't get it. Just let them get married. It doesn't affect anyone else but the people involved. And why does the government have to specifically exclude a certain group of people? Some say that anyone can have the same visitation rights and tax benefits as long as they just don't use the word marriage. Fine, then rename everyone'smarriage cert. a civil union cert. and let the churches call it whateverthehecktheywant. Also, why does the church have ownership over the word marriage? I just get the sense that if gay people getting married civil unioned makes you uncomfortable about your marriage civil union, then that is not a 'gay' problem, that is a 'you' problem.
Another thing that came up is the 'he's not my President' convo. I have to say that I've never been impressed with GWB. I was beyond shocked when he won the nomination in 2000 over McCain and others. He never seemed to express opinions and/or knowledge very well. Essentially, he was Joe Sixpack before Caribou Barbie came around. Some people like to think that the image he projects to the media (or when he talks, period) is due to a lack of charisma or not being comfortable speaking in public. I don't buy that. Al Gore had zero charisma in 2000, but he could communicate his understanding of topics at a level that did not require 3 second pauses to search for words like 'good' or 'decider.' It was the same in 2004 with John Kerry, who has never been accused of having charisma.
Most politicians have spent their entire lives in public service thinking about and dealing with issues that come up in debates and press conferences. GWB? Not so much, apparently...IDK. When one has a deep understanding about a topic, they feel confortable discussing it and answering questions about it on the fly. When you don't spend your entire life thinking about and studying issues like economics or international relations or domestic policies, you don't develop the same level of knowledge. What's the result? Alaska being near Russia means you have foreign relations experience. War is hard work. So yeah, do I want a Joe Sixpack or a soccer MOM in the White House? No, I guess I have higher expectations for a POTUS or VP.
That being said, he's my President and he's been so for 8 years. But did I (only half jokingly) say I'd consider moving to Canada? You bet (but honestly, part of the reason is that Canada is awesome). So what does a conservative/republican do? You can suck it up, stay and vote for change while respecting the office of the President like I did, or GTFO. Don't worry though, it will only be 8 long, excruciating years. Except without a new war, a Patriot Act, useless tax rebates, a $10T deficit, torture and world wide disrespect. Actually, I guess that wouldn't be so excruciating.
The article linked above describes an interesting idea. New Hampshire is developing a set of rigorous tests for 10th graders that would allow students to graduate and move on to vocational or community college by age 16. Some argue that it could be a solution to the 'crisis' that the U.S. is falling behind other nations in education. While I'm not sure how early graduation would help international competitiveness, I could see how this may help some students who may explore early college or vocational options. I'm also a little unsure about how it would save money if the schools have fewer students. In any case, I thought it was an interesting article so if people want to comment please do!
Baby News
I know many of you are looking for updates on the baby. Well, everything is going well, but Jenn has developed some symptoms of preeclampsia, so our outstanding nurse-midwife Lisa took Jenn off her feet for the last few weeks of the pregnency. We went up to U-M hospital for an ultrasound screening/biophysical analysis and all is well. I'll send out an email to the group when any news hits, so if I'm absent for a day or two, expect a brief email update.
2008: Great Year or Greatest Year? (Warning: Political Content)
What a year! I mean, except for the whole economic downturn and all. Election, Olympics, SMAC, election, SMAC , election, election. A few quick comments about the discussions from this week: Breakfast was mmmmmm good. It was a really exciting day Tuesday and also Wednesday after the election. First, the gay marriage thing came up (AKA, Prop 8 in Cali). I still don't get it. Just let them get married. It doesn't affect anyone else but the people involved. And why does the government have to specifically exclude a certain group of people? Some say that anyone can have the same visitation rights and tax benefits as long as they just don't use the word marriage. Fine, then rename everyone's
Another thing that came up is the 'he's not my President' convo. I have to say that I've never been impressed with GWB. I was beyond shocked when he won the nomination in 2000 over McCain and others. He never seemed to express opinions and/or knowledge very well. Essentially, he was Joe Sixpack before Caribou Barbie came around. Some people like to think that the image he projects to the media (or when he talks, period) is due to a lack of charisma or not being comfortable speaking in public. I don't buy that. Al Gore had zero charisma in 2000, but he could communicate his understanding of topics at a level that did not require 3 second pauses to search for words like 'good' or 'decider.' It was the same in 2004 with John Kerry, who has never been accused of having charisma.
Most politicians have spent their entire lives in public service thinking about and dealing with issues that come up in debates and press conferences. GWB? Not so much, apparently...IDK. When one has a deep understanding about a topic, they feel confortable discussing it and answering questions about it on the fly. When you don't spend your entire life thinking about and studying issues like economics or international relations or domestic policies, you don't develop the same level of knowledge. What's the result? Alaska being near Russia means you have foreign relations experience. War is hard work. So yeah, do I want a Joe Sixpack or a soccer MOM in the White House? No, I guess I have higher expectations for a POTUS or VP.
That being said, he's my President and he's been so for 8 years. But did I (only half jokingly) say I'd consider moving to Canada? You bet (but honestly, part of the reason is that Canada is awesome). So what does a conservative/republican do? You can suck it up, stay and vote for change while respecting the office of the President like I did, or GTFO. Don't worry though, it will only be 8 long, excruciating years. Except without a new war, a Patriot Act, useless tax rebates, a $10T deficit, torture and world wide disrespect. Actually, I guess that wouldn't be so excruciating.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Halloween Video!
Abby had a great time trick or treating on Friday. She didn't want to wear her ladybug makeup, but the costume worked out fine nonetheless.
The weather was perfect... clear skies, no wind and 68 degrees.
Abby says thanks to Aunt Linda, Uncle Ron and Jessi for her new computer and to Aunt Karen, Uncle Larry, Larry, Greg and Sarah for her Halloween shirt, Peeps, drinking cup and to everyone for thinking of her on Halloween.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
I almost forgot...
Cristi and Gren did really well.... i just threw in some slides that didn't totally ruin it.
Great Ideas
I attended a seminar I heard about in the cognate course I'm auditing (EDUC 737). The seminar was called Active Learning in Engineering. It really gave me some great ideas to use in the classroom. They are simple, but they fit into the structure of the classroom I’d like to implement. Here’s my idea:
Student’s attention spans empirically drop off a cliff after 15 minutes, so I don’t plan on lecturing more 15 mins at a time.
Along those same lines, I’d like to have a timer with a buzzer to facilitate timing, much like a football practice. The key here is to keep a quick pace in class. One of the things I’ve noticed in my placement is that boredom == trouble. That's what I'd like to avoid.
Some of the activities to break up the lecturing that came out of the seminar (they are all intended as 1-3 minute exercises):
• One minute stretching: you don’t even need to engage the students in content. Our Sec. MAC instructors use that technique for our classes occasionally.
• One-minute paper: instruct students to write a quick essay that address what was confusion for them in class so far and what they thing the important point of the class was today. They came hand these in or you can discuss it in class, but either way it provides a good formative assessment.
• Summarize/clarify notes: another good one-minute exercise for students to engage the material using dispositional thinking.
• Have students generate potential HW or test questions: I love this idea b/c it stimulates more dispositional thinking by considering the material from a different perspective.
• Have students make predictions or explain new phenomena: this activity can activate prior knowledge or apply what they just learned.
Student’s attention spans empirically drop off a cliff after 15 minutes, so I don’t plan on lecturing more 15 mins at a time.
Along those same lines, I’d like to have a timer with a buzzer to facilitate timing, much like a football practice. The key here is to keep a quick pace in class. One of the things I’ve noticed in my placement is that boredom == trouble. That's what I'd like to avoid.
Some of the activities to break up the lecturing that came out of the seminar (they are all intended as 1-3 minute exercises):
• One minute stretching: you don’t even need to engage the students in content. Our Sec. MAC instructors use that technique for our classes occasionally.
• One-minute paper: instruct students to write a quick essay that address what was confusion for them in class so far and what they thing the important point of the class was today. They came hand these in or you can discuss it in class, but either way it provides a good formative assessment.
• Summarize/clarify notes: another good one-minute exercise for students to engage the material using dispositional thinking.
• Have students generate potential HW or test questions: I love this idea b/c it stimulates more dispositional thinking by considering the material from a different perspective.
• Have students make predictions or explain new phenomena: this activity can activate prior knowledge or apply what they just learned.
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