Freaky Fzx Fridays

"Sorry, we won't be covering that.  Not in the curriculum."

That's the answer I used to give to students who asked about Quantum, Relativity, Nuclear, Astronomy, and most of the other cool stuff in Fzx.  The most interesting topics are just not a part of a standard curriculum or a regular book.  It's seriously shortsighted of us not to deal with those fascinating topics.  That's where all the research is and that's where the great ideas are.

But now that Freaky Fzx Friday is in it's second year, we've remedied some of that.  Honestly, it's great.  Perhaps even wonderful - as in "full of wonder."

We'll spend some time every Friday on some Freaky Fzx.  Enjoy.

The Reason for Freaky Fzx Fridays

Teach Fzx Tuesday - Corrected Accuracy

Grading papers is low on may list of favorites in my chosen career.  My mind wanders and I miss things on a regular basis.  I'm especially inconsistent in grading when I do it over several sessions.

Years ago I witnessed a colleague do this so I asked why.

My friend explained that he only corrected one or two items at a time as he stood and walked back and forth among his students' papers.  The advantage, he claimed, was grade consistency and speed.  I have found both to be true.

I miss things every time I try to correct an entire page at a time.  My mind wanders when looking for subtlety of answer so I have to go back often and pick up mistakes in my correcting.  It's a lot better with this new method.  I can also correct a few items and take a break every few minutes without worrying about grade inconsistency.

Now I use the same concept even when I don't have the state of Kansas on which to lay my papers.  Shuffling papers I run through one or two items at a time.  It's a ridiculous amount of shuffling but it gets the job done well.

My wandering mind requires this technique.  Your steel trap may not but pass along the idea for those who need it.

BIG PROBLEM - we've just gone to a 1:1 iPad thing here.  They expect us to go paperless so this won't work any more.  That sucks.

My Newest Bicycle Creation

It's an obsession.  An addiction.  I've bought a lot and found more.  Gifts given and received.  A basement full.

Here's my latest bicycle creation.  Enjoy.  I do.

Teach Fzx Tuesday - Making Mini Engineers

Most of my high school Honors Physics students will never even consider being engineers.  They're not interested.

But it sometimes seems like we're trying to make little engineers by  being all technical and using the 'proper' math and 'proper' symbols.  So let's simplify.  Maybe they'll understand.  Maybe they'll be inspired to become engineers or at least we won't turn them off by making Fzx another math class.

Equilibrium is the easiest example.