Kids Who Hate Math

I like to think that I live in a perfect world where all children love all subjects, but I know that is just not true. I know when I get into my own classroom I will be faced with a child who will exclaim "I HATE MATH!!" This saddens me because I feel it is truly notthe child's fault that he/she hates math,but simply that they are a result of poor teaching. I know from experience that the majority of the reason  that I disliked a subject in school came from the teacher that illuminated an  image of distaste on a subject. In my classroom, when I am faced with this child I will simply try to show enthusiasm for all subjects and engage students in subjects that truly interest them so that they will be able to at least tolerate subjects of dislike.

Pendulum Motion

This was a very interesting article. I can honestly say that a pendulum is not something I think of on a regular basis. Really my only exposure to one that I can remember is the grandfather clock that stood in the corner of my grandparent's living room, and even then I really just thought it was for decorative purposes. I did not realize the pendulum provided so much insight to early time keeping. I was not aware that Galileo played such an important role in early usage of the pendulum. Keeping time was a major advantage of the use of the pendulum. It changed the way early travelers navigated the world. Which I feel is a great outcome of the pendulum because it probably aided in explorers discovering new lands.
The pendulum was also used in the pursuit of creating more accurate clocks. Many of the scientists working with Galileo came to a conclusion that : "for a given pendulum length, all periods of time are the same." This idea helped these scientists work to create a more accurate clock and navigate the world more easily because of it.
Del Monte disagreed with Galileo's ideas on the pendulum. He thought he was a very poor physicist. He tried many of Galileo's experiments and claimed they did not work. Galileo died before his idea could be proved but Christiaan Huygens took his idea further and created the first pendulum clock, which "launched the era of precision time keeping". This clock aided in Western science's progress.

Home Flashlight Experiment

        For my experiment, I was forced to use my dad's very large 19.2 volt shop flashlight because apparently it is the only flashlight with batteries in our house. Hope we are all together when an emergency arises! :) For this experiment at home, I tried the flashlight out in two places: down my hallway and in my laundry room that is in my parent's basement with no windows. When I shined the flashlight down the hallway I was surprised to see a bullseye effect on the opposite wall mostly because my main argument in class has been "the stronger the wattage, the mor apparent the beam would be." I was dealing with a pretty large flashlight, so naturally this was still my thought. When I turned the flashlight on, all I saw was the flashlight illuminating the hallway, hitting the opposite wall in a bullseye fashion.
        When I tried the flashlight out in my parent's laundry room, I saw a similar effect as I did in the hallway, but the light appeared brighter than it did when I shined it down the hallway. I think I saw a brighter light in the laundry room due to the fact that the laundry room is a much smaller space than the hallway, causing the light to fill the laundry room more than it did in the hallway. I still saw a bullseye, like many of my other classmates, in the laundry room because it was bouncing off the opposite wall.
    I think so many of us have conflicting view points about what we actually think a "beam" looks like that we are having trouble coming to an understanding. This experiment helped to clear up my ideas that stronger flashlights would produce more of a beam.

The Virtues of Not Knowing

"The virtues involved in not knowing are the ones that really count in the long run. What you do about what you don't know is, in the final analysis, what determines what you will ultimately know." I feel that this quote is the most important quote from the entire article. Sometimes, the right answer is not the most important thing. Sometimes working through the problem with your peers will gain you so much more knowledge than if you were to sit and memorize something on your own. Yes, your test scores will reflect that you know your subject, but what is really absorbed is little to none. I wish I had been taught in this way when I was in school. My teachers focused on memorization and getting the highest test scores in order to compete with other schools. Once an exam was over, the information escaped from my head. I feel that teachers should focus on problem solving with their students in order for students to become fully aware of the subject they are learning. Comprehension is so important, and I feel if this strategy was focused on more that the world would start producing more students with a desire to learn.

First Blog!

This blog is a test. :) Hope everyone had a great day off of school!
Rachel