fandomhigh | 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: OCD ~~coming~~ is here! Have fun!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Unless you're the person who can think quickly enough on their feet to keep everyone from dying," she shot back. "Improvisation and ad libbing isn't all bad."

"I never said it was," he shot back. "But if you're talking about a situation in which time is of the essence, then it's even more important to some sort of logical starting point. I mean, if you just walk in and start pushing buttons at random, you're practically asking to be killed."

"But what if there is no starting point? What if you're dealing with technology, for instance, that you don't completely understand, and have no idea whether any one action will be the one that dooms you to failure? Do you just give up?"

Rodney frowned. He hated failure. "So, you're basically saying that the bomb's ticking down to zero and all the wires are red, so you might as well cut one randomly since you'll certainly die if you do nothing? I really don't like this situation," he huffed.

"Well, sometimes you don't get a choice."

"I know," he rolled his eyes. "Fine, if it's really that dire, I suppose it's better to take a wild guess and try something rather than give up. Is that what you want to hear?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I want to hear, thank you." Then, because she hadn't been mean enough to herself today, added, "Now, tell me why you think I'm wrong, because I know you do."

Rodney sighed. He'd been hoping she'd let it go if he agreed. "No, I do understand that in an extreme situation there may be no other choice. I just think that the majority of the time, there will be at least one somewhat familiar element on which to base a more logical course of action."

"You're probably right," she admitted, "and generally here we're not going to be dealing with worst case scenarios. Here there will be formulae and constants and ideas of which you're already aware, but I'm also hoping you'll learn to extrapolate those things into unfamiliar situations."

Rodney grinned. "My point exactly. I'm looking forward to it." A little sucking up never hurt, right?

Sam didn't eyeroll, but it was a close, close thing. "I'm so glad you approve."

Rodney was pleased with the good impression ~~he thought~~ he'd made. He was sure she'd want him to be the TA.

Physics, Monday, Class #1

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