One of the things I frequently bleat about is that physics isn’t synonymous with stuffing numbers into formulae. Therefore, it’s with some horror that I’ve watched through my attempts at doing the 2012 NZQA Scholarship Physics exam and seen myself stuffing numbers into formulae. At least, that is how many of the videos come across […]
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2012 Scholarship exam finished
Yesterday Sam and I finished filming my attempts to do the 2012 Physics Scholarship exam. There were some tough questions in there. I got on top of them, I think, with some careful thinking through the principles involved, which is a very good way to start when you are bemused by a question. I’m sure […]
Continue readingTests: Assessment for learning
With the start of semester less than four weeks away now, I’ve been writing my exam papers, test papers, assignments etc for the A-semester papers that I teach. If I don’t get them done before the semester starts, it will be a real rush job to do them later on. Since the key to good […]
Continue readingScholarship exam 2012: Videos now uploaded
Sam has now uploaded the videos I talked about last week onto physicslounge so you can view them for yourself. They take some time to go through (it is a three hour paper after all) but if your internet connection is up to it they are there in glorious high definition. Before you go through […]
Continue readingScholarship physics: When the obvious is not-so-obvious
On Tuesday my physics skills were put under the spotlight. Back in November, I think, I was discussing with Sam Hight from the Physics Lounge (www.physicslounge.org) ways that we could, together help high-school students in their physics. One of the things we came up with is that I had a go at doing the 2012 […]
Continue readingCelebrating Teaching Day
This morning we were treated to some talks by some of the award-winning teachers at The University of Waikato. It was a bit unfortunate that none of the talks were from the ‘scientific’ disciplines, but that’s not because none of the winners were from scientific disciplines. We have our good share of excellent teachers in […]
Continue readingA tip for the scholarship physics exam
My last entry gave a couple of tips for exams in general. Now, here’s a tip specifically for the NZQA scholarship physics exam. In part, it comes from an assessment of the interviews I’ve been doing with first year students and practising physicists on the way that mathematics is used in physics. One really strong […]
Continue readingMy top two exam tips
Yes, it’s that time of year again that a sizable slab of the population dreads. Exams. University exams are in full swing here, and the school ones are creeping up. So, here are my top two exam tips to help you on your way. You might think they are very, very obvious, but it is […]
Continue readingNeed more grunt
When I came to New Zealand nearly nine years ago (it doesn’t seem that long – a sure sign of aging) I had to learn some new words. Or rather, new meanings for existing words. Things like ‘jug’, ‘dairy (as in the shop down the street), ‘five-eighth’ , ‘bush’, all have different meanings to what […]
Continue readingPhysics is different for girls…
The Institute of Physics (in the UK) has just released this report looking at the uptake of the physics A-level (done in the final two years at secondary school) by girls. The report, titled ‘It’s different for girls‘ makes for some very interesting and perhaps dismal reading. While it’s a UK report, not a NZ, […]
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