Monthly Archives: March 2017

Top 10 Businesses in Bellingham, WA

Posted on 31 March 2017 by zolltan

It’s my last day (for the time being) in Bellingham, and what better way to celebrate than with commerce! Here are some business establishments in the town that come with the Rated Zed seal of approval: Vital (Bouldering Gym) — … Continue reading →

Posted in reviews, whimsy | Leave a comment

Schrödinger’s Cat of State News

Posted on 27 March 2017 by zipppa

Looking at the news out of Russia today required a thorough understanding of quantum mechanics.  It appears that either protests involving 100’s of arrests took place in Moscow and a host of other cities, as Moscow Times or Dozhd’ would have … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Gorsuch, TransAm dissent

Posted on 24 March 2017 by zipppa

Attention Deficit Warning: you’re about to read a long boring text with no pictures. In Neil Gorsuch nomination hearings, two of his opinions were seized on by his detractors. One is “TRANSAM TRUCKING, INC. v. ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW BOARD, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT … Continue reading →

Posted in law, politics, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

How people think about scientific concepts

Posted on 20 March 2017 by zolltan

A couple of times a year, I taught a class in introductory physics for non-science majors. Once for this class, I was discussing a problem in Newtonian mechanics with some students. I think maybe we were looking at a moving … Continue reading →

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Grades

Posted on 14 March 2017 by zolltan

Grades are a bad system. Before I began teaching, and even for a while after, I considered being against grades to be the philosophical realm of kumbaya-singing hippies (by the way, why is that song such a strong cliché associated … Continue reading →

Posted in INMJTEY, shit we have no idea about | Leave a comment

Teacher Evaluation

Posted on 6 March 2017 by zolltan

One of the biggest, if not the biggest, controversy in education in the US is about standardized testing. And specifically, using standardized testing to evaluate K-12 teachers. Intelligent people, whether supporters or detractors, generally agree that good teaching can be … Continue reading →

Posted in INMJTEY, shit we have no idea about | 1 Comment

Grade Inflation

Posted on 4 March 2017 by zolltan

Before I began to teach, I thought most concerns about grade inflation were silly. I still think that, but now I also think grade inflation is a big deal. Because after starting to teach at a technical college, I realized … Continue reading →

Posted in INMJTEY | 1 Comment

The Flipped Classroom

Posted on 3 March 2017 by zolltan

This is a thought I’ve just recently started having, as I’ve started teaching in a “flipped” classroom, and I’m not sure if it’s at all true. I wanted to share it in case someone who is more knowledgeable about the … Continue reading →

Posted in INMJTEY, teaching | Leave a comment

Cost Disease in Education

Posted on 1 March 2017 by zolltan

At Slate Star Codex, Scott Alexander writes a post on a pretty important question: why do things cost so much more these days, without there being any particular benefit to the average person? Like he mentions, there are many people … Continue reading →

Posted in INMJTEY, politics, shit we have no idea about | Leave a comment