Reply to comment

The Motivation Factor

Thinking back to my teaching experiences one major theme sticks out in my mind: laziness. Many of my students constantly fought me to try to get out of working. With the amount of time and effort they spent trying to get out of working, they could have been honor students if it was directed toward completing assignments and learning. I did not give in to their requests and I believe they became better students because I did not.

The reason why I bring the idea of laziness up is because inquiry requires you to work. How can we encourage our students to explore, learn and break bad habits? Motivating students can be an exhausting process, but I am determined to keep trying. How will this change the way my classroom (whether in the cyber world or not) is organized and managed? I am not sure...

Using Mathematical Truths

I have been giving thought to how math is a man made construct that has definite "Truths" because the science I am most interested heavily uses math; physics. Physics uses math to calculate many things. The math equations are models of physics concepts...something seems a little funny about this relationship. It seems to be a working relationship, but it is nevertheless funny. There is something about it that does not make sense.