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Re: [Phys-L] The Make-Believe World of Real-World Physics

Anthony,

I like the sentiment.

How far are you able to push them to do quantitative analysis? Conceptual physics is a good start. There are some really good "aha!" moments to be found in the process of crunching the numbers.

Paul


On Jul 12, 2013, at 8:40 AM, "Anthony Lapinski" <Anthony_Lapinski@pds.org> wrote:

To me, fun means fun! My kids can do more "serious" physics in college.

Doing demos and labs -- rolling cars down tracks, dropping balls, shooting
dart guns, hitting softballs, riding skateboards, spinning stoppers,
investigating charged balloons, etc. These are the many fun days in my
classes, and what I have been talking about. Fun!

I also have those "aha" moments in class when kids "get it." Still,
physics (especially concepts) is challenging for most of my students, even
the brightest ones.