Working in the car = Bad idea

The NYT is doing a whole series on distracted driving. This time, it's talking about people who try to get office work done in the car.

Also, props to Noah, who found a link to the Distracted Driving Summit, which is taking place now.

Texting while Driving Article/Link

I thought this was helpful if anyone wants to know....
http://www.rita.dot.gov/distracted_driving_summit/

Get 3 months in jail for texting while driving in Utah

Here's a great story from NPR that describes the efforts states are taking to stop texting while driving.

Utah Tackles Texting And Driving Problem Head-On

Interesting article on Truckers Texting

The NYT has a fascinating piece on big rig truckers insisting that they be exempt from any legislation on texting while driving.

Class: 9/24

Thursday in class we....
interpreted m. vs. t. graph into a velocity and acceleration graph, we also worked out those three types graph using only a description of what events unfolded. We also talked about negative and positive velocity, and how the term deceleration is banned from class. We were also informed that the speeding up and slowing down lab and the kinetematic graphs sheet is due monday.

More resources for studying

I've put up the unit 2 review sheet solutions. You can find them here:

Unit 2 Review Solutions

I also made a few videos that might be helpful

1. Doing the Ch3 (mislabeled) self assessment
2. Reading a position vs time graph
3. Reading a velocity vs time graph

A great bio in the NYT, and some AWESOME pics

The NYT has a wonderful feature on Carolyn Porco, head of camera team of
the Cassini space probe which was launched to study Saturn.



You've got to see some of the images (click on the image to see at full resolution):

How to review for unit 2 assessment

We're approaching an assessment this Thursday, and with no class on tuesday, you should not wait until Wednesday to begin reviewing. Here are my suggestions.

1. Begin by reading over the Unit 2 Major Concepts Sheet. Circle any concepts you are unclear on, and email questions to the blog.
2. Make sure you are comfortable solving all the problems on MOP 26—this is a nice review of constant acceleration model, which is one of the more difficult concepts in this unit.
3. Do the problems in the Unit II review. I will post solutions on wednesday.
4. After that, go back to the Major Concepts sheet and try to figure out which problems from MOP 26 and Unit 2 review test which concepts.

?

How do i get to the google doc to put in my texting data?

How to submit assignments electronically

A few of you have been emailing me assignments, and while this as been great, I'm realizing that keeping track of these assignments is difficult, given the number of emails I am getting, so I'm setting up this process for submitting work. If you plan to submit an assignment via email (and I encourage you to do so, I ask you follow these guidelines:

1. Submit a readable document (I can read all versions of word, open office, pages, excel, etc). If you write your stuff in something crazy like wordperfect 1.0, email beforehand to make sure I can read it. If I can't open the document, YOUR GRADE IS ZERO, AND WILL REMAIN THAT UNTIL YOU SUBMIT A READABLE ASSIGNMENT (AND YOU WILL SUFFER A LATE PENALTY).
   
   
2. Follow the following convention for naming your document:
   "Period number Last Name First Initial Assignment title. " So Bob Smith, submitting his texting paper from 7th period would title his document: "7 Smith B Texting Letter" without the quotes. Do not name the assignment unrecognizable things like "texting paper" or "stupid physics assignment." (you might lose points for the second one).
   
   
3. If you got an extension from me in advance, please copy and paste my response to your request into the body of your email to me.
   
   
4. Follow the same convention for your subject line that you do for naming the document. "7 Smith B Texting Letter."
   
   
5. Email your attachment, FROM YOUR WMS Account (or otherwise easily recognizable email, not laxgirl17@aol.com) to the following addresses (add these addresses to your address book):
   
   For 1st period: jburkWMS+1stper@gmail.com
   
   For 3rd period: jburkWMS+3rdper@gmail.com
   
   For 7th period jburkWMS+7thper@gmail.com
   
   

Thank you in advance for following this procedure. It will greatly simplify my record keeping, and will allow me to return assignments to you more quickly. AS a reward for submitting your assignments following this procedure, I will give +1 point bonus for all assignments submitted using these procedures (you can resubmit if you've already submitted). In the future, I might deduct points for submitted assignments that do not follow this procedure.

How to submit assignments electronically

A few of you have been emailing me assignments, and while this as been great, I'm realizing that keeping track of these assignments is difficult, given the number of emails I am getting, so I'm setting up this process for submitting work. If you plan to submit an assignment via email (and I encourage you to do so, I ask you follow these guidelines:

1. Submit a readable document (I can read all versions of word, open office, pages, excel, etc). If you write your stuff in something crazy like wordperfect 1.0, email beforehand to make sure I can read it. If I can't open the document, YOUR GRADE IS ZERO, AND WILL REMAIN THAT UNTIL YOU SUBMIT A READABLE ASSIGNMENT (AND YOU WILL SUFFER A LATE PENALTY).
   
   
2. Follow the following convention for naming your document:
   "Period number Last Name First Initial Assignment title. " So Bob Smith, submitting his texting paper from 7th period would title his document: "7 Smith B Texting Letter" without the quotes. Do not name the assignment unrecognizable things like "texting paper" or "stupid physics assignment." (you might lose points for the second one).
   
   
3. If you got an extension from me in advance, please copy and paste my response to your request into the body of your email to me.
   
   
4. Email your attachment, FROM YOUR WMS Account (or otherwise easily recognizable email, not laxgirl17@aol.com) to the following addresses (add these addresses to your address book):
   
   For 1st period: jburkWMS+1stper@gmail.com
   
   For 3rd period: jburkWMS+3rdper@gmail.com
   
   For 7th period jburkWMS+7thper@gmail.com
   
   

Thank you in advance for following this procedure. It will greatly simplify my record keeping, and will allow me to return assignments to you more quickly. AS a reward for submitting your assignments following this procedure, I will give +1 point bonus for all assignments submitted using these procedures (you can resubmit if you've already submitted). In the future, I might deduct points for submitted assignments that do not follow this procedure.

How to blog

I finally had a spare moment to put together a short jing on how to blog, and a couple of other neat features of the website. Check them out here:

How to blog (< 2min)

How to put an equation in a blog post (< 2 min)

How to search the blog and use the class calendar (< 2min)

The constant acceleration model

A key idea we learned today was how to find the constant velocity model by calculating the area in a position vs time graph.

Class 9/15/09

Today in class we took the fourth reassessment then we went over some housekeeping rules. After this we split up into our stopping distance lab groups and did activity 25 in our MOP books. We learned how to find the area of a graph with constant velocity. To find this you find the area of the rectangle by doing time multiplied by the velocity and then add the area of the triangle by doing half the time by the velocity. Then we graphed the the velocity's and areas. That was what we learned and did in class.

Links you need for the texting project

We're going to be working on the texting project in the next few days, and you will need to use these links for your work.

• Online reaction time test: use this to measure your reaction time. (you must also measure your reaction time using the ruler test). You should post your data to the google spreadsheet so that everyone in our class can see it.
  
• NYT Distracted Driving Simulator: This is a great simulation that will tell you how your reaction time is affected by texting while driving. Please enter your data into the spreadsheet.
  
• Stopping distance: Here's a table of stopping distances that might help you to get a sesne of how far a car can travel during your reaction time.
  
• Stopping distance spreadsheet: this is a useful spreadsheet for determining your stopping distance based on a number of factors.
  
• Find your legislator. Useful for writing your letter.
  
  

In class today...9/24/09

Erica accidentally posted this to the other class:

In class today, for our lab we measured the velocity of Ryan and Kyle while they were running. We placed different members of our class at different positions for 26 meters. When Kyle and Ryan passed a person, that person would record the time that it took for Ryan and Kyle to reach them. Kyle and Ryan ran in both the positive and negative direction. Once we collected all of the data we were able to make a position vs. time graph for both Ryan and Kyle. Once we graphed the position vs. time graph for each runner we created a best fit line and calculated the average velocity for Ryan and Kyle. We calculated two average velocities, one when they were running in the negative direction and one when they were running in the position direction. Because we were on a hill, the negative direction was downhill, and the positive direction was uphill.

More gold from study hacks

I've already told you exactly what you need to do to ace physics (go back and read my post about how to study for a physics assessment. But maybe acing physics isn't enough for you. Maybe you want to ace all your classes, become deeply intellectually engaged by what you're learning, and change the world. Well, Study Hacks strikes again, with a great post titled "The Definitive Guide to Acing your Schedule." The post is again more aimed at college students, but easily adapted to high school, and the advice is pure gold.

Setup a separate chat with your professor, your TA, and a student who took the same course in a previous semester.
In each chat session, ask the same question:
If you were to write an advice guide about doing incredibly well in this class, what would the chapters be?


It takes around an hour to complete this exercise. But it’s results are near magical. Gone is the guesswork about notetaking, reading, and how best to review. In its place is specific advice that is tuned to the specific challenge you face. You’d have to be a real slacker not to do well with this treasure map in hand.

Ok, so you don't have a TA, but imagine if you set up a meeting during backwork with one of your teachers and you asked him/her this question. What would you learn? You might also help your teacher to think carefully about what is necessary to ace a class.

Thursday, September 10

Today in class, we started off by taking reassessment 3. After that, we learned about acceleration. Acceleration is the time rate at which velocity changes. We looked at a velocity vs. time graph with a diagonal line with a positive slope.The slope of the graph was acceleration. The graph showed constant acceleration. We also went over the fact that if you take the are of the figure made from the line and the x axis, this figures out displacement, or change in x.
Next, we looked at the acceleration of a basketball using a motion sensor. First, we dropped the ball while the motion sensor was hanging above the board pointing down. We mad two graphs: position vs. time and velocity vs. time. We figured out the acceleration of the basketball, which was 9063 meters per second squared. Then, we threw the ball towards the motion sensor and made the two graphs. We also repeated this for the bounce of the ball.
After this, we split off into groups and did a lab involving stopping distance. We pushed a felt covered block through a photogate and took data: the velocity and the stopping distance. We measured the stopping distance by measureing the distance from the edge of the photogate to the front end of the block. We answered some questions on the lab sheet, one including knowing the difference between average velocity and instantaneous velocity.

The next blogger is Erika.

Class on Wednesday

Today in class we did Re-Assessment number 2 and got back Re-Assessment number 1 and we looked over it and asked questions we had about it. After that we finished up the photo finish follow up sheet and we corrected it and answered questions we had about it.

The next scribe is Tanner

Humorous idea for the day

Luckily, in this class pain doesn't have to be your teacher.

Are you living well or preparing to live well?

Another great post from study hacks. Here's a quote:

The happiest students are those who try to shape their life into something that’s meaningful, quality, and enjoyable right now; the type who get excited about the philosophy seminar they got into, and then spend an early Fall day outside getting acquainted with the reading. These students aren’t afraid of hard work, but they keep it carefully contained, because they know there’s a lifetime more where that came from, and if they can’t handle it well now, when will they ever?



If you’re not trying to live well now, what are you waiting for?

Remember, I'm always free during backwork (or just about any other time) to talk to you about how to put these ideas into action.

Changing Velocity Model

Thursday in class, we discussed the grading system and how school originated, all the way back to "cave school".After our discussion, we set up a photo finish between the impact carts and the buggies. We then measured and plotted the velocity of the impact carts using the motion sensor.

The next blogger is Carter

Class on Monday

Today in class, we took a re-assessment on velocity.  We then finished the lab that we started on Friday.  In that lab, we focused on instantaneous velocity, which we also learned about in class.  Actually, learning about instantaneous velocity was probably the most important thing we did in class today.

The next Scribe will be Mary Ann

Definitely worth 20 minutes of your time

No matter what your politics are, you should take 20 minutes to watch this speech by the president today about how hard work and goal setting can help you to achieve your dreams, and solve the world's problems. It's wonderful speech worth serious thought.

Videos you will need for the "Photo Finish Lab"

I've created a set of short, instructional screencasts on how to use excel. You will need these when we get started on the "photo finish" lab.

1. How to export data from logger pro

2. How to make a position vs time graph in excel.

3. How to find the instantaneous velocity using excel.

4. How to make a velocity vs time graph in excel.

Friday, August 28

In last friday's class we worked with motion sensors to locate positons of a moving person. the motion sensors send out a sound and once it hits something thats in its path it bounces back giving the position of that object. When we used the sensors they would be plugged into the computor and the computor would collect all the data using a position Vs. time graph. From there we would calcutate the constant velocity at which the person/object was moving.

chip capper

the next person has already been named but it was caroline