OT: Physics teachers

[forty_three]

Ok being serious anything tat says the final step can't be something ranged like a fan

By the way, you are allowed to power any point, but it has to be initiated within the machine and turned off without interaction.

One kid has rigged up an electric leaf blower, and somehow has gotten it to turn itself off.

 

[Darkstone42]

Fuckity-fuck fuck fucking fuck-faced fucker.

Machine tested, working. Powerpoint done, video presented today. He liked it. Except "make sure that nothing is within ten inches of the tassel". Presentation in full is tomorrow.

Rules state "Final step must start at least ten inches from the tassel". Our final step had a pendulum that swung (from 20 inches above) and smacked the tassel. The pivot was mounted on a camera tripod over the head. Feet of the tripod are within ten inches. Basically, two of the feet straddle the head.

But the impetus of the final step is 20 inches above (within spec in my mind). But since the base for the final step is within ten inches; minus 10 points.

So, now the pendulum starts way far away, and instead of a small hook slapping the tassel at the apex of the lower arc, there is now a 12 inch CCM glove that glances a punch right off that fuckers face. 8 out of ten, the tassel moves. 5 of those 8, the hat comes clean off.

If she is losing ten points, she is going to earn it.

Clarkson, rep for you sir.

If the base is, at its closest point, more than ten inches away, not if one of the components of that vector is less than ten inches, that shouldn't be a problem.

Is the tassel really that close to the ground?

 

[forty_three]

If the base is, at its closest point, more than ten inches away, not if one of the components of that vector is less than ten inches, that shouldn't be a problem.

Is the tassel really that close to the ground?

The tassel is on a styrofoam head mounted to a piece of plywood that the student can place where they wish. Since our final step was a pendulum, we placed the head on the floor.

And yeah, per spec, the base being within ten inches shouldn't be a problem. But he has made it a problem. The two feet are more than ten inches away, but it's a tripod, so the legs angle and pass within ten inches.

We could have gone ahead and extended the pivot for the pendulum, but that's just letting the man win.

 

[oaknightshockey1]

for a high school physics class, this seems a bit extreme. unless you have the capability to do huge numbers of calculations, you cannot be sure to get something right on the first try. last summer i had an internship where i was in charge of keeping track of calculations for a big project...there were hundreds of calculations that were 50-100 pages apiece. i think that would be a bit excessive for a high school physics project.

 

[Wingingit]

Make your 7 steps with the final step being designed to be a dead mans style weight drop, hangmans trap door if you will.

Make a frame or use two tripods that get you the minimum distance away from the hat top or plaster board. Attach a horizontal slide device such as a drawer guide (kitchen draw style), horizontal across the tripods (or frame). Your basically making a bridge.

Attach to the side of the slide a gaff or round ended hook. Attach a weight to the slide section (hangman's trap door), where when the door opens the weight pulls the guide with hook across the underside of the plaster board the full distance of the hat from point to point (left to right ear), making sure the hook will clear the face. When the hook travels being rounded it will capture the tassle and drag-it accross the front of the hat, past the front corner and drop-it on the other side once past.

For the string use a thread spool or a wheel for the horizontal to verticle string drop to the trap door opening. Make it have a slight resistance so it travels slowly (not flipping the tassle off) and enough weight that it can't stop.

Just a suggestion,

 

[RangersReds03]

for a high school physics class, this seems a bit extreme. unless you have the capability to do huge numbers of calculations, you cannot be sure to get something right on the first try. last summer i had an internship where i was in charge of keeping track of calculations for a big project...there were hundreds of calculations that were 50-100 pages apiece. i think that would be a bit excessive for a high school physics project.

I only got to deflect a laser of two crystals to hit a target, this sounds more fun.

 

[forty_three]

for a high school physics class, this seems a bit extreme. unless you have the capability to do huge numbers of calculations, you cannot be sure to get something right on the first try. last summer i had an internship where i was in charge of keeping track of calculations for a big project...there were hundreds of calculations that were 50-100 pages apiece. i think that would be a bit excessive for a high school physics project.

It is Honors Physics, and this douchenozzle likes to think he's a college professor.

I'm going to have a discussion and help him understand all the ways he is not. And all the ways his students, while extremely bright, are not college students. She is a sophmore, by the way. The only non-senior in the class.

She's getting turned off of science.

 

[dboy97]

It is Honors Physics, and this douchenozzle likes to think he's a college professor.

I'm going to have a discussion and help him understand all the ways he is not. And all the ways his students, while extremely bright, are not college students. She is a sophmore, by the way. The only non-senior in the class.

She's getting turned off of science.

Unfotunately, this also happened to my daughter in her freshman honors physics class. When she went to high school hoping to be a forensic scientist and he combined with her biology teacher sophmore year turned her off on science. Now she is graduating and going to college for political science / history then on to law school.

 

[Darkstone42]

It is Honors Physics, and this douchenozzle likes to think he's a college professor.

I'm going to have a discussion and help him understand all the ways he is not. And all the ways his students, while extremely bright, are not college students. She is a sophmore, by the way. The only non-senior in the class.

She's getting turned off of science.

We don't do that stuff in college, either... And in graduate school, you get to keep trying stuff until your experiment works. It's just better to get it right early so you can graduate.

 

[forty_three]

We don't do that stuff in college, either... And in graduate school, you get to keep trying stuff until your experiment works. It's just better to get it right early so you can graduate.

Next year, she will be out of traditional school for most of the day. She is going to be in a program where she interns at the zoo. She will have a college credit statistics class, but the rest of her time is a research project on whatever animal they assign her to study behavior and habitat. Her entire grade is her research paper at the end of the year.

But she was so distressed about science, it was like pulling teeth to get her to agree to go even though there are only 20 kids in the whole state who got accepted. She had decided that she was going to be a sign language interpreter.

Unfotunately, this also happened to my daughter in her freshman honors physics class. When she went to high school hoping to be a forensic scientist and he combined with her biology teacher sophmore year turned her off on science. Now she is graduating and going to college for political science / history then on to law school.

I keep telling her that High School sucks and the real world doesn't work that way. I think I am getting through to her. Shame your daughter moved away from forensic science. There's a solid job market there. I do Computer Forensic and malicious software reverse engineering and research.

Kinda wonder if it's male science teachers with a bias against talented female scientists...

 

[dash]

My oldest daughter seems to have a real affinity for the sciences as well. She may follow in my wife's footsteps and become a nurse, but I'm not all that crazy about how nurses are treated in BC. I'm starting to think that lab tech work or maybe something along the lines of speech pathology might be a better career choice.

 

[Darkstone42]

By the way, this thread is :sagan: approved.



Also, I'm pretty sure Neil deGrasse Tyson would have some not-so-kind words for your physics teacher.

 

[dare2be]

WWBNTSGD?

 

[forty_three]

Okay, last time dragging this one up. The epilogue:

So, the machine had to be transported to school. In the process, one of the parts of it got broken, and she did not have the tools necessary to fix it adequately on the spot. A problem we would not have had if it did not have to be transported.

So her machine only completed five of 8 steps and failed. She got two tries, but alas no win. As the teacher was giving her the "sorry about your luck" speech, another kid came up and released the last step which knocked the hat across the room. The Tassel DID move. Which was a small victory, as NO OTHER machine flipped the tassel. 17 machines, none worked. And all had demonstrated success elsewhere.

Fast forward to later in the week, and there is a program going on at the school to raise funds for the senior trip. The deal is you go up, pay a dollar and put a vote in for one teacher in the school. The teacher with the most "votes" will take a pie to the face on the day before the Senior trip in the middle of the cafeteria. He went down to the place himself with his checkbook to make sure another teacher won it.

That is where he found out that his AP Physics class had taken up a collection of their own and he was ahead of any other teacher by a 4 to 1 margin. He paid up anyway, and brought second place up to first by five dollars.

That is when my daughter stepped up and got the last vote(s) with a 20. He is NOT happy. Especially when he supposedly overheard another kid tell my daughter that they should deliver the pie with her machine. POW.

I asked how much extra it would cost to make sure the pie is still frozen. That is not an option, apparently.

 

[KennyBanyeah]

My oldest daughter seems to have a real affinity for the sciences as well. She may follow in my wife's footsteps and become a nurse, but I'm not all that crazy about how nurses are treated in BC. I'm starting to think that lab tech work or maybe something along the lines of speech pathology might be a better career choice.

Geophysics Dash!!

There are not that many women in the field so the job market could be favourable for your daughter.

 

[Dacks]

Okay, last time dragging this one up. The epilogue:

So, the machine had to be transported to school. In the process, one of the parts of it got broken, and she did not have the tools necessary to fix it adequately on the spot. A problem we would not have had if it did not have to be transported.

So her machine only completed five of 8 steps and failed. She got two tries, but alas no win. As the teacher was giving her the "sorry about your luck" speech, another kid came up and released the last step which knocked the hat across the room. The Tassel DID move. Which was a small victory, as NO OTHER machine flipped the tassel. 17 machines, none worked. And all had demonstrated success elsewhere.

Fast forward to later in the week, and there is a program going on at the school to raise funds for the senior trip. The deal is you go up, pay a dollar and put a vote in for one teacher in the school. The teacher with the most "votes" will take a pie to the face on the day before the Senior trip in the middle of the cafeteria. He went down to the place himself with his checkbook to make sure another teacher won it.

That is where he found out that his AP Physics class had taken up a collection of their own and he was ahead of any other teacher by a 4 to 1 margin. He paid up anyway, and brought second place up to first by five dollars.

That is when my daughter stepped up and got the last vote(s) with a 20. He is NOT happy. Especially when he supposedly overheard another kid tell my daughter that they should deliver the pie with her machine. POW.

I asked how much extra it would cost to make sure the pie is still frozen. That is not an option, apparently.

Guy sounds like a real loser.

Also, he must feel really good about himself knowing that NOBODY was able to complete his project. Was the lesson to just set something up that was really simple and straightforward, but worked? Defeats the only exciting thing about Rube Goldberg.

High school teachers, for better or worse, can have a real effect on their students, especially when it comes to choosing a career path in college. I'm thankful I had good physics / calculus teachers.

 

[popeyecv64]

slide rulers are over rated --- just what I thaaaank

 

[forty_three]

Guy sounds like a real loser.

Also, he must feel really good about himself knowing that NOBODY was able to complete his project. Was the lesson to just set something up that was really simple and straightforward, but worked? Defeats the only exciting thing about Rube Goldberg.

High school teachers, for better or worse, can have a real effect on their students, especially when it comes to choosing a career path in college. I'm thankful I had good physics / calculus teachers.

Mrs 43 is a teacher. Her brother is a teacher. All of her friends from college are teachers and 90% of her friends post college are teachers. So I usually get truly offended by the "those who can, do. those who can't, teach" crap.

This guy clearly fits that. And being around so many great teachers in my life, I kind of got shielded to the damage a bad one can do.

 

[pixburgher66]

I hated teachers like that...the ones that seemingly took joy from watching their students struggle and in many cases fail. I'm sorry, but if ALL of your class can't complete something, YOU are very likely the issue. I had a prof last year for Sports Nutrition who spoke only of nutrition as it related to distance running (because that's his one and only love in the world), and maybe 2 students did consistently well in that class. When you're happy with a C in a class, and you truly do apply yourself, there's an issue.

 

[Dacks]

Mrs 43 is a teacher. Her brother is a teacher. All of her friends from college are teachers and 90% of her friends post college are teachers. So I usually get truly offended by the "those who can, do. those who can't, teach" crap.

This guy clearly fits that. And being around so many great teachers in my life, I kind of got shielded to the damage a bad one can do.

I taught for a few years too, and loved it. Now I'm working at Statscan (the "doing" part) and we'll see how I like it. But I could easily see myself going back to teaching in a few years. People who use that expression don't seem to understand that for a lot of teachers, it was a choice, and teaching can be a lot more fulfilling.

Plus the summer vacation is pretty appealing!