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fandomhigh2008-09-01 12:21 am
carter-i-am.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2008-09-01 12:21 am
Entry tags:
Physics, Monday, Class #1
Sam had gotten to class very early that morning. On her desk were a number of different textbooks, open to different lessons, and a notebook, full of ideas for classes and lab experiments. On the front chalkboard, she'd printed her name. On the chalkboard to her left were a number of complicated formulae which had nothing to do with anything she'd be teaching her students, but she'd had an idea, and there they were.
"Hi," she greeted the class, walking around her desk and leaning against it as she spoke, occasionally sipping from her cup of coffee. "Welcome to Physics. I'm Professor Carter, but I guess you can call me Sam. Most people do. It's a pretty standard class format--I'll be teaching you a concept, then you'll try to observe it in action, or try to predict what will happen based on what you've learned so far. Hopefully we'll be able to have some fun."
"Oh," she added, "I suppose I should warn you about a couple of things--first, I graduated from Fandom High a year ago, so I have a pretty good idea of how this island does and doesn't work. Feel free to ask questions or come to me with problems. Turning into an animal is not enough to miss class, and if you get gremlin-bit, you get a half absence only if you provide videotape footage. For those of you from other planets, universes, timelines, or centuries, I'll be teaching you primarily twentieth and twenty-first century Newtonian Earth physics, although we may branch off into relativity and astrophysics, primarily because I enjoy them and they raise some interesting ethical questions, as well."
"So. First, I'd like you to introduce yourselves, explain where and when you're from, any experience with physics, astronomy, or mechanics. Then, I'd like to have a discussion, so I can see how you approach issues. Since we're starting with Newton, more or less, I'd also like to discuss one of his quotes--'No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.' What do you think the place of guesswork is in science? What do you think the biggest leap of intuition was? How do you know whether or when to trust it or not? How far do you trust it?"
"Finally, as a final project, you'll be designing and building pumpkin chuckers in teams of two. Which, for those of you who are uninitiated, are like catapults or trebuchets, but with pumpkins. So, start thinking about your design ideas and who you want to pair up with, and get back to me with the pairs by next week, okay? Now. Who's first?"
[ooc: OCDcoming is here! Have fun!]
"Hi," she greeted the class, walking around her desk and leaning against it as she spoke, occasionally sipping from her cup of coffee. "Welcome to Physics. I'm Professor Carter, but I guess you can call me Sam. Most people do. It's a pretty standard class format--I'll be teaching you a concept, then you'll try to observe it in action, or try to predict what will happen based on what you've learned so far. Hopefully we'll be able to have some fun."
"Oh," she added, "I suppose I should warn you about a couple of things--first, I graduated from Fandom High a year ago, so I have a pretty good idea of how this island does and doesn't work. Feel free to ask questions or come to me with problems. Turning into an animal is not enough to miss class, and if you get gremlin-bit, you get a half absence only if you provide videotape footage. For those of you from other planets, universes, timelines, or centuries, I'll be teaching you primarily twentieth and twenty-first century Newtonian Earth physics, although we may branch off into relativity and astrophysics, primarily because I enjoy them and they raise some interesting ethical questions, as well."
"So. First, I'd like you to introduce yourselves, explain where and when you're from, any experience with physics, astronomy, or mechanics. Then, I'd like to have a discussion, so I can see how you approach issues. Since we're starting with Newton, more or less, I'd also like to discuss one of his quotes--'No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.' What do you think the place of guesswork is in science? What do you think the biggest leap of intuition was? How do you know whether or when to trust it or not? How far do you trust it?"
"Finally, as a final project, you'll be designing and building pumpkin chuckers in teams of two. Which, for those of you who are uninitiated, are like catapults or trebuchets, but with pumpkins. So, start thinking about your design ideas and who you want to pair up with, and get back to me with the pairs by next week, okay? Now. Who's first?"
[ooc: OCD
Re: Discussion Question
Re: Discussion Question