Into The Unknown
Thursday, 9 February 2006 00:20![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_phil_physicsRoughly some twelve hours from now, plus or minus a bit, my two PHYS-2050 Mechanics and Heat physics classes get hit with their first exam. What fun! Well, maybe not. It's a lot of work and a lot of stress and chaos.
Our Main Enemies Are...
Lack of confidence and lack of experience are the twin-headed monsters of the first semester Physics course... and they feed off each other. It matters not what grades you got in the prerequisite math courses, in some sense, this is the first time one uses the algebra and calculus "for real". It's not just plug-and-chug, slam some numbers into an equation, pound the calculator keys and move on. You have to learn how to "Put The Physics Back Into The Problem", see where the equations and the numbers take you, figure out if the answer you just found makes physical sense. Check, check, check your results.
It's a different way of thinking.
Giddy As A Schoolgirl
(A strange sentiment if there ever was one.) But it's 12:30 am EST, and both exams are long done. Sometimes I'm just starting to work on the second exam by now. Whee! I'm free. I can afford to blog, while watching a rerun of BRAVO's Project Runway -- the episode with the (literal) garden party dresses. Yikes! Actually as a so-called reality TV show, I wasn't impressed when I first heard about it, but having seen a couple of episodes, these are people actually working in their calling. Which makes a huge difference! Interesting... doing fashion is not something I've ever wanted to do, but knowing more about fashion is something I have been researching for my 29th century romantic hard SF "epic". (eep!)
Unwarranted Giddiness
Actually I don't have the solutions to the exams done yet. This first exam is pretty easy -- there are solutions to these problems. But my big plan is to get some SLEEP tonight. We still aren't sure if we're coming down with something, we both feel nasal and drippy and so damned tired. So my plan is do solutions twenty-two hours from now (grin) and get the exams to the grader on Friday.
If you think writing is hard, you should try "typing" equations with MathType. (gurk!)
Dr. Phil
Our Main Enemies Are...
Lack of confidence and lack of experience are the twin-headed monsters of the first semester Physics course... and they feed off each other. It matters not what grades you got in the prerequisite math courses, in some sense, this is the first time one uses the algebra and calculus "for real". It's not just plug-and-chug, slam some numbers into an equation, pound the calculator keys and move on. You have to learn how to "Put The Physics Back Into The Problem", see where the equations and the numbers take you, figure out if the answer you just found makes physical sense. Check, check, check your results.
It's a different way of thinking.
Giddy As A Schoolgirl
(A strange sentiment if there ever was one.) But it's 12:30 am EST, and both exams are long done. Sometimes I'm just starting to work on the second exam by now. Whee! I'm free. I can afford to blog, while watching a rerun of BRAVO's Project Runway -- the episode with the (literal) garden party dresses. Yikes! Actually as a so-called reality TV show, I wasn't impressed when I first heard about it, but having seen a couple of episodes, these are people actually working in their calling. Which makes a huge difference! Interesting... doing fashion is not something I've ever wanted to do, but knowing more about fashion is something I have been researching for my 29th century romantic hard SF "epic". (eep!)
Unwarranted Giddiness
Actually I don't have the solutions to the exams done yet. This first exam is pretty easy -- there are solutions to these problems. But my big plan is to get some SLEEP tonight. We still aren't sure if we're coming down with something, we both feel nasal and drippy and so damned tired. So my plan is do solutions twenty-two hours from now (grin) and get the exams to the grader on Friday.
If you think writing is hard, you should try "typing" equations with MathType. (gurk!)
Dr. Phil
