Category: Math education

August 16, 2015

Solar system model for your classroom ceiling

In my physics classes at Carondelet High School, I had mostly seniors and a few juniors in each class. Seniors graduate two weeks early, so I’m always looking for a project for the juniors to work on during this time (the juniors take their physics final with the seniors). In the spring of 2013, I decide to create a model...

Geology/earthquakes/Math education/Physics/Science Education Comments: 2

July 31, 2015

How close are you? The “Why” behind Percent Error

There’s an old saying, “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” People would say this in response to someone saying “Well, I was close.” So, why does close count in horseshoes and hand grenades, and why is this the introduction to a science paper? Horseshoes: If you’ve never played before (I bet most of you haven’t), the goal is...

Chemistry/Math education/Modeling/Physics/Science Education Comments: 0

September 29, 2014

Order of operations in math equations; a new take on explaining PEMDAS

A recent discussion on the NSTA physics teacher list, the question of “order of operations” came up. In math, the order of operations defines which operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc.) one performs first. A writer asked for solutions to the following expressions: 2 + (3 x 2) + 3 (2 + 3) x (2 + 3) 2 + 3 x...

Math education/Science Education Comments: 0