Via Tom, a site giving problem-solving advice for physics. While the general advice is good, and the friendly, Don’t-Panic tone is great, I do have a problem with one of their steps, Step 7: Consider Your Formulas: Some professors will require that you memorize relevant formulas, while others will give you a “cheat sheet.” Either… Continue reading Physics Is Not a Mad Lib
Category: Academia
Should We Want Students to Go into Finance?
Via Steve Hsu, a GNXP post about the benefits of elite college educations, based largely on a graph of income vs. US News ranking. While the post text shows some of the dangers of taking social-science data too literally (the points on the graph in question are clearly binned, so I would not attribute too… Continue reading Should We Want Students to Go into Finance?
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog in the South
One of the things I’ve been stressed about lately is next week, when I’m making a trip to the South, specifically Georgia and Alabama. As I mentioned here earlier, the original inspiration was a get-together with friends from college for the Florida-Alabama football game next Saturday, but it seems a shame to go all that… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog in the South
A Quick Reputational Poll
In a place I can’t link to, I encountered the somewhat boggling statement that “Nature leans more in the direction of Popular Science than Critically Peer Reviewed [Journal].” Thus, a quick poll: Nature is:online surveys Context is for the weak.
Academic Etiquette Poll: Office Hours
A simple one, that I’m sure all the faculty in the audience will recognize. What is the proper approach to meeting with a professor outside of class: You email a professor asking to meet, and he responds “My office hours are from X:00-Y:00, or I’m free at Z:00.” You:online survey Even if we’re talking about… Continue reading Academic Etiquette Poll: Office Hours
College Turning Points
Over at EphBlog, Stephen O’Grady has a post giving advice to the entering class at Williams. A bunch of this stuff is school-specific stuff that will only make sense to another member of the Cult of the Purple Cow, but there’s some good general advice in there as well. I particularly liked his story about… Continue reading College Turning Points
How to Read Scientific Papers Without Reading Every Word
Over at Tor.com, Jo Walton is surprised that people skim over boring bits of novels. While she explicitly excludes non-fiction from her discussion, this immediately made me think of Timothy Burke’s How to Read in College, which offers tips to prospective humanities and social science majors on how to most effectively skim through huge reading… Continue reading How to Read Scientific Papers Without Reading Every Word
Teacher Self Management vs. Going to the Dark Side
The New York Times has an article about the opening of a teacher-run school in The City. It sounds like an interesting experiment: Shortly after landing at Malcolm X Shabazz High School as a Teach for America recruit, Dominique D. Lee grew disgusted with a system that produced ninth graders who could not name the… Continue reading Teacher Self Management vs. Going to the Dark Side
Academic Poll: Labor Day
Today is Labor Day in the US, which is the traditional end-of-summer holiday. The top link in today’s Links Dump is a survey of the history via Slate, headlined “Why Do We Get Labor Day Off?“ Of course, my reaction to that is “What do you mean, ‘we’?” Today is also the first day of… Continue reading Academic Poll: Labor Day
Worst. Evaluation Scheme. EVER.
Speaking of teacher evaluation schemes, as we were, Doug Natelson draws my attention to a new proposal from Texas A&M: [Frank] Ashley, the vice chancellor for academic affairs for the A&M System, has been put in charge of creating such a measure that he says would help administrators and the public better understand who, from… Continue reading Worst. Evaluation Scheme. EVER.