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My husband got me a Labquest for my birthday (well, that’s what HE says - I say it was to settle a bet that I won). 
It arrived on Tuesday, we worked to get it set up on Wednesday (new software for the computer had to be installed, and, by the time the Labquest arrived, it had an update to the OS). On Thursday, we had parents visiting classes at our school.
It took some coaching and tweaking to get them working with the colorimeters, but, once we had them set up, they worked a charm. The new Spectrovis from Vernier worked well, also. In all, a very impressive first trial.
I’m at the North Carolina Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers this weekend. Lots of interesting presentations, and good interactions with other Physics teachers.
Not enough high school teachers are members - I really don’t understand that. It’s relatively inexpensive, there are multiple benefits (association with other science teachers, exposure to cutting-edge physics, giveaways, etc.), and many school districts will reimburse for meeting expenses.
I’ll get some pictures, and post again later.
One of the most interesting things I’ve noticed lately is the way that students are reacting to Powerpoint presentations.
They largely tune them out. Isn’t it interesting that the students have begun to be bored with the technology?
Not that I blame them, of course. Many, if not most, presentations are drivel. They aren’t tightly focused on what is absolutely essential. They have too much text. They go on, and on, and on…Just like the Energizer bunny. But without the charm.
I’ve been sick with a sinus infection. I only had the energy to come to school (and, for 3 days, not even that).
I’m frenzied trying to finish all the state standards before the end of the grading period - next Friday, 3/21. I still have to test Energy, Electricity, and Magnetism. And, to cover Waves, including Sound, Light, and Electromagnetic Waves.
It truly can’t be done, but I’m going to give it a good effort. Fortunately, at the end of the craziness, there’s Spring Break - or, for us UN-PC people, Easter Break.
I’m doing my favorite unit, electricity, right now. My only problem is the lack of working batteries. I finally offered students extra credit for bringing in gently used batteries tomorrow.
Now, if I can just manage to get more tape for the electrostatics experiments.
Normally, I don’t get all that excited about Fridays, but, after this week, I’m ready to go.
By Monday, I’ll probably be back to normal. As normal as I ever get.
I’m usually fairly good with equipment, but I’m having trouble getting my MacBook to recognize my microphone. I want to teleconference (using either Zoho or Skype), but can’t figure out what’s wrong.
Any suggestions? I’m new to the Mac, and can’t see anything I’m doing wrong.
dy/dan offers a different perspective on teaching - he says that the most effective teaching, like the most effective presentations, tell a story.
In Science, we start with the “hook” - the problem. Today’s was:
How does heat move in a gas?
I’ll try to get some pictures of the set-up I used today from the afternoon block, and edit this post. It worked like a charm. All students could complete, all were engaged.