Jeffrey Weston >physics
Acme Physics
... in 1990, he came across articles written by David Hestenes, a physicist at Arizona State. Hestenes got the idea for the series when a colleague came to him with a problem. The students in his introductory physics courses were not doing well: Semester after semester, the class average never got above about 40 percent. "I noted that the reason for that was that his examination questions were mostly qualitative, requiring understanding of the concepts rather than just calculational, using formulas, which is what most of the instructors did," Hestenes says. Hestenes had a suspicion students were just memorizing the formulas and never really getting the concepts. So he and a colleague developed a test to look at students' conceptual understanding of physics. ... more »
Road Runner cartoons can easily and meaningfully be worked into the physics and physical science curriculum. Many vignettes involve fairly direct misrepresentations of specific physical principles. I developed the table below for my own use in deciding which clips to show and when. The two compilation videos are still in print as far as I know. I hope you find the information useful. (An asterisk denotes a particularly useful cartoon or vignette.) ... more »
etc
Oct 10, 2011
Nov 17, 2010
Nov 09, 2010

Doubt is uncomfortable, certainty is ridiculous
Jun 02, 2010
randomly
Jun 28, 2008

Nov 19, 2011
My Quantum Computer is simultaneously working and broken
Aug 22, 2005
You Got Your Video In My Print
Sep 01, 2009
Issac Asimov On Man And Machine (Pre-Chops)
Apr 25, 2009

Mar 01, 2010
Jun 16, 2008
Apr 10, 2006
Certainty, Uncertainty, Openness, Balanced Anarchy
Oct 20, 2010
Jul 16, 2006

"Objects are out. Concurrency is in."
Dec 20, 2009
Mar 18, 2006

