During a recent holiday I took some time to do a deeper review of the teaching methods of Eric Mazur. If you are unfamiliar with his ideas and have a bit of time, I strongly recommend watching this video: My colleagues and I have already been using some of his methods, in particular we have been … Continue reading Annotations in Physics class?
This is my first year teaching a 10th grade Integrated Science course that will prepare students for the IB Diploma Program science courses. As the physics teacher I was tasked with developing a unit relating to physics that would fit in with the NGSS. The standard I chose to address is as follows; "Evaluate the … Continue reading Wave/Particle Debate
For the first unit in our 6th grade technology course the students became "Middle School Power Searchers". I adapted these lessons to come up with a version of the middle school power searcher course. There are 4 quizzes in the unit and I allowed the students to retake them. Once they had correct answers for … Continue reading Searching Skills Paying Off
5. Cepheid Variable Stars source: astro.princeton.edu What are they? Stars that pulsate so that the diameter and temperature change over time. This means that the brightness (or luminosity) changes at regular intervals. In the early 1900s, Henrietta Leavitt discovered that period of oscillation is related to the luminosity, with brighter stars having a longer period. … Continue reading The 5 Coolest Things in Outer Space
In my new role as Middle School Tech Integration Specialist, I was looking for some ways that I could help the students and teachers. I found this article from last year about skills we should be teaching students in the first five days. This quote from Alan November stuck with me the most: “It’s my … Continue reading Becoming a Good Searcher
For the final project in our middle school technology class, I wanted to do something special. So far we have done a few projects with digital media, we've made infographics, and I've introduced coding through Scratch. Taking inspiration from the Google 20% projects and Genius Hour projects, I decided to do a Passion Project that … Continue reading The Passion Project
A few years ago, my friend James (aware of my interest in science fiction) sent me this flowchart based on the NPR's Top 100 Sci-Fi and Fantasy books. For a few months I used it to select new books and I found that almost every book I read was a good one. I decided that … Continue reading On a Sci-Fi and Fantasy Quest
For my first post on my brand new website, I tried to think of where my love of physics began. In high school, I usually told adults that I wanted to be a computer engineer (it sounded nice and I would get a "good job"). At some point along the way, the allure of the … Continue reading Where I’m pretty sure it all began…
The Physics Boss 