4 ms·

> I've got some free time this summer so let me know if you have any advice about what else to add. If you're taking nitpicks: some of your example calculation

> I've got some free time this summer so let me know if you have any advice about what else to add. If you're taking nitpicks: some of your example calculations don't track units, like the ones on https://landgreen.github.io/physics/notes/momentum/1-intro/index.html https://landgreen.github.io/physics/notes/momentum/1-intro/i.... I think they should: encouraging students to always track units in intermediate steps is really helpful for getting them to think about what they're doing and catch errors early, in my experience.

lilgreenland 8y ago
Thats an interesting point. I think high school physics teachers are split on units. I'm willing to change teams. The argument for just showing units at the end is that students who are just starting to master algebra have trouble with the extra symbols. I think I should add units for more of the LaTex example problems. Maybe I could color code the units so it doesn't get confusing.
- mncharity 8y ago
  With conflicting objectives, it might be worth providing multiple versions. A version optimized for "the students' bottleneck on their upcoming high-stakes exam is arithmetic, not physics". A version emphasizing units - without which numbers are nonsensical - and deemphasizing numbers, down to dimensional analysis. A version emphasizing the equation's parts, and story, to provide a qualitative feel for the phenomenon. Back when everyone was on desktop, I liked using mouseover popups. VR/AR is going to be great fun. :) There's a style of research talk, which I think of as a "Cal Tech style", merely because the speaker has been from there the few times I've seen this. It's putting up a colorized equation, and spending the entire talk walking through its expressions. If someone knows of a good example on youtube, it might be one way to see the many layers of narrative present in an equation. I had an "F = m a" interactive like this "A feel for: torque"[1], but I don't think it ended up online. That's a step beyond scaffolding a qualitative understanding of the phenomenon - developing a rough quantitative feel for it. [1] http://www.clarifyscience.info/part/ZoomB?v=A&p=CK6Ji&m=torque http://www.clarifyscience.info/part/ZoomB?v=A&p=CK6Ji&m=torq... FWIW, scientific practice is to have a space between number and units. If you'd like them close for pedagogy, perhaps \thinspace?
  - lilgreenland 8y ago
    This Cal Tech style sounds neat. Let me know if you know more, I couldn't find anything on google. HA, I'm so inconsistent with my spaces on units. I'll add that to my summer todo list.
- jacobolus 8y ago
  Poor understanding of / fluency with units is definitely one of the things that sets people back hardest when they get to higher levels. I say start throwing units in as early as possible (grade school?).
- lilgreenland 8y ago
  I'm adding this here as a part of my growing todo list: Add in more explicit unit analysis problems to each unit. Add in unit tracking to more solutions.

lilgreenland 8y ago

Thats an interesting point. I think high school physics teachers are split on units. I'm willing to change teams. The argument for just showing units at the end is that students who are just starting to master algebra have trouble with the extra symbols. I think I should add units for more of the LaTex example problems. Maybe I could color code the units so it doesn't get confusing.

mncharity 8y ago
With conflicting objectives, it might be worth providing multiple versions. A version optimized for "the students' bottleneck on their upcoming high-stakes exam is arithmetic, not physics". A version emphasizing units - without which numbers are nonsensical - and deemphasizing numbers, down to dimensional analysis. A version emphasizing the equation's parts, and story, to provide a qualitative feel for the phenomenon. Back when everyone was on desktop, I liked using mouseover popups. VR/AR is going to be great fun. :) There's a style of research talk, which I think of as a "Cal Tech style", merely because the speaker has been from there the few times I've seen this. It's putting up a colorized equation, and spending the entire talk walking through its expressions. If someone knows of a good example on youtube, it might be one way to see the many layers of narrative present in an equation. I had an "F = m a" interactive like this "A feel for: torque"[1], but I don't think it ended up online. That's a step beyond scaffolding a qualitative understanding of the phenomenon - developing a rough quantitative feel for it. [1] http://www.clarifyscience.info/part/ZoomB?v=A&p=CK6Ji&m=torque http://www.clarifyscience.info/part/ZoomB?v=A&p=CK6Ji&m=torq... FWIW, scientific practice is to have a space between number and units. If you'd like them close for pedagogy, perhaps \thinspace?
- lilgreenland 8y ago
  This Cal Tech style sounds neat. Let me know if you know more, I couldn't find anything on google. HA, I'm so inconsistent with my spaces on units. I'll add that to my summer todo list.
jacobolus 8y ago
Poor understanding of / fluency with units is definitely one of the things that sets people back hardest when they get to higher levels. I say start throwing units in as early as possible (grade school?).
lilgreenland 8y ago
I'm adding this here as a part of my growing todo list: Add in more explicit unit analysis problems to each unit. Add in unit tracking to more solutions.