Groundhog day. I can’t think of a way to incorporate that in the class. I must make time for group work, and for feedback from the groups. That should probably be working on the homework assigned for next Tuesday, which some of them may have looked at. There’s some vocabulary to introduce: order of magnitude, ballpark, scientific notation and the metric prefixes. The trick will be to lay it out and not get bogged down.
I’ve just finished reading (I don’t want to say “grading”) the first homework assignment. I’m generally pleased that most of the class understands the idea of estimation. I wonder if it will stick.
What happened:
Talked about grades and grading – in answer to a “quick question”. There’s no curve – in principle everyone can earn an A. (In practice it never happens, but I always start the semester hopeful.) But exams are curved. Since I am constitutionally capable of writing one that’s easy enough, the top grade might well be as low as 60%. Since I know that there are some A students in the class, that must be an A.
Talked about ballpark, order of magnitude, counting zeroes and metric prefixes, but did not spend time on scientific notation.
Broke into three groups to work out Jessica’s homework problem on fitting 1,255,000 species into a 50 minute lecture. Had three solutions (to just parts a and b) written on the board (while I left the room, so writing was anonymous) and “graded” them as if they were homework problems. I hope I modelled “use the units to tell you what to do” well enough for them to copy.
I hope to write more tonight or tomorrow. There’s really not enough time between this class ending at 3:15 and my next one starting at 4.
blog home page