Interactive Lecture Demos, Oumuamua, and Quantum Leaps
Emily Smith and Natasha Holmes have a new preprint that looks at interactive lecture demos and traditional "verification"-style labs. Interactive lecture demos get the students thinking in a way that primes them to learn new concepts, while traditional labs do not. It's an insightful argument and a valuable read.
I'm a SETI fan, so I was delighted to read the wild speculation about Oumuamua, the cigar-shaped asteroid from beyond our solar system. Unfortunately, it seems not to have been an alien spaceship.
In Physics World, Ken Zetie writes about a database of extracurricular physics reading for especially-motivated high school students. This could potentially be a valuable resource (databases are here).
For those using or considering the use of clickers, Brian Frank has some excellent wisdom in this twitter chain.
I'm fascinated by Quantum Leaps, a project that is soliciting pop-sci articles from scientists about quantum research. The articles will be reviewed by high school students, with the best submissions being published.
It was a good week for YouTube videos, with Physics Girl talking about acoustic levitation, Veritasium on time-reversal asymmetry, and Smarter Every Day looking really carefully at dominos.
Seen online this week:
I like so much about this energy conservation demo from Dan Burns's classroom.
Mark McCaughrean posted this image of Newton's rings from an iPhone 7. Can anyone replicate it?
We see a bit of the workflow (Desmos, whiteboards, worksheets) for Frank Noschese's students.
Matt Blackman took the LED in a water electric field to a glorious new level.
Nathan Belcher has a pretty standing wave.
Patrick Kaplo does a pendulum slice, and it is brilliant.
Dianna Cowern got a lot of great replies when she asked teachers for their favorite demos.
More summer programs for students: