Physics World‘s news aggregator had a story yesterday with the headline Chilly solution to neutrino mass problem, and the one-sentence teaser Ultracold atoms could be used to measure the mass of the neutrino. This creates a wonderful image of somehow turning a magneto-optical trap or a Bose-Einstein Condensate into a neutrino detector, which is a […]
Month: January 2009
Grading Methods Don’t Matter
Over at Dot Physics, Rhett is pondering grading curves: Should you grade on a curve or not? If you are student, the answer is clear: go by whatever the instructor does. Otherwise, you have a choice. I don’t like to tell other instructors or faculty what to do because I respect their freedom. For my […]
Message from APS: Support Science Funding
The American Physical Society has sent out another of its email alerts encouraging people to write to Congress in support of more funding for science. Actually, they’re urging people to send two messages: a thank-you to Speaker Pelosi for the generous science funding in the House stimulus bill, and a letter to your Senators asking […]
links for 2009-01-28
Mike the Mad Biologist : To Restore Science to Its Rightful Place, We Need to Redefine Elitism "Our Benevolent Seed Overlords ask "What is science’s rightful place?" which refers to a line from Obama’s inaugural address where he vowed to "restore science to its rightful place." Since ScienceBlogling Jake discussed the importance of basing policy […]
Jesse Ventura Is to Blame for This
I realize it’s been several years now since the World Wildlife Federation won their lawsuit against the World Wrestling Federation, forcing Vince McMahon to re-brand his whole preposterous enterprise. Still, when I see a press release with the headline: WWF seeks innovative solutions to bycatch through worldwide competition I expect the “competition” to be settled […]
Blackboard and WebAssign
Several other people in the department have started using WebAssign to handle homework assignments in the introductory class, because it provides a way to assign and grade daily homework without forcing the faculty member to do a ton of grading (the college has a policy against student graders). WebAssign takes textbook problems, randomizes the numbers […]
How Far Did You Roam as a Child?
Via Kathryn Cramer (on Facebook, of all places), an article from the Daily Mail about how kids these days don’t get around much: When George Thomas was eight he walked everywhere. It was 1926 and his parents were unable to afford the fare for a tram, let alone the cost of a bike and he […]
links for 2009-01-27
We Need a Civilian GI Bill :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education’s Source for News, Views and Jobs "Unlike the original bill, which rewarded service, this new bill would be a rescue measure. As in the past, a primary goal would be to decrease pressure on what today is a shrinking job market and […]
The Graveyard Book Wins Newbery Medal
In what will surely come as a surprise to the people who say mean things about the award, the John Newbery Medal for children’s literature was awarded to Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. Mr. Gaiman, 48, won for “The Graveyard Book,” a story about a boy who is raised in a cemetery by ghosts after […]
Gatekeeping vs. Bad Teaching
Much of LiveJournal has been sunk in a sea of suck for the last couple of weeks, but there’s a really interesting discussion of science education over at “Faraday’s Cage is where you put Schroedinger’s Cat.” The first post has to do with the idea of “gatekeeping”: In my class today, a very brief discussion […]