Two Hurricanes This Week
For those in North America, the big news this week has been the inundation of hurricanes and dealing with their aftermath. While some are pointing the finger at climate change as a cause for the increased severity of storms this year, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab at NOAA argues that such claims are premature. The consensus, however, is that increased air and water temperatures mean hurricanes can carry more water, and will be more powerful when they do form. In short, if climate change hasn't made hurricanes worse in 2017, it will in the future.
Climate change will also result in sea levels rising, and the loss of low-lying islands in the Pacific and elsewhere. This week, New Scientist reported on island losses in Micronesia and the Solomon Islands.
Physics Education carried a nice article this month about the origins of rolling friction [paywall]. The author uses foam to show the forces involved. It would be a good one to show students, if you have an IOP account.
Natasha Holmes and her collaborators published a paper earlier this year about the null value of labs on exam scores in university classes. They argue that labs need to be revamped in order to be more educationally useful. The paper has gotten a rare stamp of approval by a psychologist.
A team in Greece did a study [paywall] of FCI (mechanics) scores and psychological symptoms in high school students. They found small negative correlations, which suggests that students with symptoms do less well on the physics test. Here's their plot relating depression to FCI percentage score:
If you're looking to talk physics education with fellow educators, the #iteachphysics Saturday chats are a great way to do it. To join, just search for the #iteachphysics hashtag on Twitter. Some participants use TweetDeck to keep up with the discussions.
This week's talk, on physics and public policy, brought up some interesting points. A highlight for me was Dr Enrique Suárez reminding us of this report [paywall?] about why efforts to improve equity in our field have made so little traction.
Another resource, which I hadn't seen before, was Marshall Thomsen's collection of resources about ethical issues in physics. It is focused on research, and preparing future researchers, but the question of ethics is an important one at all levels, I think.
Relatedly, Mother Jones published a piece this week about Florian Jaeger, another star university professor guilty of lecherous behavior toward female students in his department.
September 15th marks the dramatic end of the Cassini mission to Saturn, a tremendously successful effort that has led to a better understanding of that planet's rings, the nature of its moons, and the origin of the planet itself. I want to finish this with, perhaps, the most famous of Cassini's photographic library. With the sun eclipsed by Saturn, we can see (shown in the arrow) a bright star in the Saturnian sky: our home, Earth.
Climate change will also result in sea levels rising, and the loss of low-lying islands in the Pacific and elsewhere. This week, New Scientist reported on island losses in Micronesia and the Solomon Islands.
Physics Education carried a nice article this month about the origins of rolling friction [paywall]. The author uses foam to show the forces involved. It would be a good one to show students, if you have an IOP account.
Natasha Holmes and her collaborators published a paper earlier this year about the null value of labs on exam scores in university classes. They argue that labs need to be revamped in order to be more educationally useful. The paper has gotten a rare stamp of approval by a psychologist.
A team in Greece did a study [paywall] of FCI (mechanics) scores and psychological symptoms in high school students. They found small negative correlations, which suggests that students with symptoms do less well on the physics test. Here's their plot relating depression to FCI percentage score:
If you're looking to talk physics education with fellow educators, the #iteachphysics Saturday chats are a great way to do it. To join, just search for the #iteachphysics hashtag on Twitter. Some participants use TweetDeck to keep up with the discussions.
This week's talk, on physics and public policy, brought up some interesting points. A highlight for me was Dr Enrique Suárez reminding us of this report [paywall?] about why efforts to improve equity in our field have made so little traction.
Another resource, which I hadn't seen before, was Marshall Thomsen's collection of resources about ethical issues in physics. It is focused on research, and preparing future researchers, but the question of ethics is an important one at all levels, I think.
Relatedly, Mother Jones published a piece this week about Florian Jaeger, another star university professor guilty of lecherous behavior toward female students in his department.
September 15th marks the dramatic end of the Cassini mission to Saturn, a tremendously successful effort that has led to a better understanding of that planet's rings, the nature of its moons, and the origin of the planet itself. I want to finish this with, perhaps, the most famous of Cassini's photographic library. With the sun eclipsed by Saturn, we can see (shown in the arrow) a bright star in the Saturnian sky: our home, Earth.
Danny