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Category Archives: Challenges & Frustrations
Lose 25 Points in 25 Seconds
When I give tests/exams to my physics students, the tests are usually comprised of problems that range from straightforward to a little challenging to very challenging. I let them use their notes, textbooks, old homework assignments, and anything else on … Continue reading
Motivating Through Fear
On Saturday morning I found myself in a classroom at a local charter school (grades 5-8), and the motivational sign on the classroom wall contained the following quote: Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must … Continue reading
The Devil You Know…
…is better than the devil you don’t. I just finished correcting the end-of-quarter exams for my honors physics students. While they did quite well and will be pleased with their grades, I did notice a trend that was noteworthy: several … Continue reading
The Vicious Cycle of Algorithmic Learning
It seems like the harder we work at teaching students to be good at math, the more problems they have, and the worse they become. We seem to be trapped in a vicious downward spiral. I believe that a lot … Continue reading
Practical Alternative to “Algebra for All”?
Anyone who has read my blog probably already knows my feelings about high-stakes tests. In a nutshell, I think the tests do more harm than good. I think the tests are emphasizing the wrong skills, and I think we’re teaching … Continue reading
Request to Math Teachers: Teach Graphical Solutions
The instructions seemed adequate: plot your data, draw a best-fit line, and extrapolate the line to find the y-intercept. Graph paper and rulers were available on a table at the front of the classroom. To me, the implication was crystal … Continue reading
Seizing the Moment
When I’m teaching, I live for teachable moments. Right now, I’m teaching my physics students about fluids—pressure and hydraulics, to be followed by buoyancy, gas laws, and Bernoulli’s Principle. However, today one of my students innocently asked, “Maybe you can … Continue reading
Keeping a Lab Notebook for Inquiry Labs
Isaac Asimov once quipped, “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I found it), but ‘gee, that’s funny …’ ” The phrase is exciting because it means the scientist … Continue reading
Creating Problems For Themselves
During Christmas vacation, I was talking with my eleven-year-old daughter about school. She loves math (as do I). I asked her about her experience with word problems, knowing that most of my students struggle with them. She said that they … Continue reading
Escalating and De-Escalating
One of the things I have the hardest time watching at school is when a teacher or administrator starts challenging a student over some infraction, and the student doesn’t immediately capitulate. +2-4