Category: Science

Teaching, Research, and Teaching Research

Melissa at Confused at a Higher Level has a nice post on the tension between faculty research and teaching: Malachowski writes, “We all know that working with undergraduates is time consuming and in some cases it slows down our research output, but work with undergraduates should be supported, celebrated, and compensated at a high level.… Continue reading Teaching, Research, and Teaching Research

“Line Plot” is Never the Right Choice (Why Excel Sucks, aleph-nought in a series)

There have been a bunch of interesting things written about education recently that I’ve been too busy teaching to comment on. I was pulling them together this morning to do a sort of themed links dump, when the plot at the right, from Kevin Drum’s post about school testing jumped out at me. This shows… Continue reading “Line Plot” is Never the Right Choice (Why Excel Sucks, aleph-nought in a series)

How to Teach Physics to [Your Pet’s Name Here] (DonorsChoose Challege 2010)

As you may or may not be aware, we are once again in the middle of a DonorsChoose fundraiser to support public school students and teachers. The good news is, the Uncertain Principles entry for the 2010 Challenge is in second place among ScienceBlogs blogs with $373 in donations thus far; the bad news it… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to [Your Pet’s Name Here] (DonorsChoose Challege 2010)

Poll: Religious Beliefs of Scientists and Science Blog Readers

A big and important argument about religion and science has flared up again on Twittter. It occurs to me, though, that nobody has taken the obvious step of polling people about their actual beliefs, so let’s see if we can’t settle this question with (social) SCIENCE!: I would prefer to be a member of:Market Research… Continue reading Poll: Religious Beliefs of Scientists and Science Blog Readers

How to Teach Physics With How to Teach Physics to Your Dog

Emmy and I are in Buffalo today, after a long drive last night, made longer by the NY Thruway authorities decidin to randomly sprinkle lane closures along the westbound portion of I-90. They also made the sadistic move of putting on the “tune to this radio station for information” flashers before the big back-up, and… Continue reading How to Teach Physics With How to Teach Physics to Your Dog

Experiment vs. Theory: The Eternal Debate

Melissa at Confused at a Higher Level offers some thoughts on the relative status of experimental vs. theoretical science, spinning off a comprehensive discussion of the issues at Academic Jungle. I flagged this to comment on over the weekend, but then was too busy with SteelyKid and football to get to it. since I’m late… Continue reading Experiment vs. Theory: The Eternal Debate

The Astrophysics of Bedtime Stories

SteelyKid is a big fan of the classic children’s book Goodnight Moon, which, if you haven’t spent the last sixty-odd years in a cave, you probably know features a bunny saying goodnight to a variety of objects in a great, green room. The attentive toddler will find a lot to look at in the pictures–… Continue reading The Astrophysics of Bedtime Stories

Physics Is Not a Mad Lib

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

Save Science Friday

Via Sheril, Science Friday on NPR needs money: We at SciFri are facing severe financial difficulties, i.e. raising money. NSF [National Science Foundation] has turned us down for continuing funding, saying they love what we do, we are sorely needed, but it’s not their job to fund us. At the same time, NPR has said… Continue reading Save Science Friday