Independent post #1

Ouch! That is what I seem to say most of the time at the grocery store. Everything I touch shocks me. I find myself tapping things with my elbow before I grab it. I am sure it looks ridiculous. I have often wondered why this continues to happen to me. I do not hear or see anyone acting the way I do. And also, why in a grocery store? I have not experienced this in clothing stores or electronic stores. 

What I would like to find out is what conditions cause someone to be shocked and why it may be more intense in the grocery store.

“You Hate Math???”

There are not many things I can think of which have a definite right and wrong answer but math is one of those. I have said, probably in high school, “I hate math”. I realized years later that I did not hate math. It is that I did not understand math. Saying I hated it covered up for answers I may have gotten wrong. “Well, I hate math so it was expected that I missed those.”

This may be the way students hide that they do not understand. They may feel embarrassed or not as smart as their peers for getting the wrong answers.

“Pendulum Motion”

I found this article harder to read than the others. I did find it more interesting about the changes that came from the pendulum motion than the dispute over the correctness of it.

The biggest thing I got out the article is that we should question what we may not understand and seek to figure those things out. Something that seems so insignificant  (like the pendulum) could change the world. There will always be disputes over a theory but that is how improvements are made.

Flashlight Experiment

I did my experiment with three flashlights and my car headlights. I used a large dim flashlight, a medium lit flashlight, and a small bright LED flashlight. I expected if my previous conclusion, no beam unless the light hits an object, was incorrect I would notice it on the LED flashlight.

I tested the flashlights in my very dark garage and, like Sarah, outside in a subdivision. I tried testing them alone and with dust and smoke.

From all direction without dust or smoke I could not see a beam. I could only see the light on objects. There was the reflection of light on those objects that kept the garage or outside from being pitch black around and behind me.

With dust in the garage, I could see a few float by the direct beam of light from all the flashlights. When outside I used smoke. In all the experiments, the three flashlights and the car headlights, I could see a defined straight line beam when the smoke cross its path.

 All of my experiments did prove the same, light can only be seen when hitting an object including dust and smoke then it may be reflected or absorbed.

“The Virtues of Not Knowing”

When I was in grade school, answering correctly was the only way. I do not remember a time when it was okay for me or anyone to get the wrong answer or take more time to figure out the correct one. The chapter is right, go quick and move on to the next standardized test. I would think, “I hope I answer correctly”. Most of the time there is a 25% chance I got it right.

Over the last year, I have had courses in college that have allowed me to explore getting something wrong and working toward finding the correct answer. I found this a real task because I had never thought before that it was  a good thing to be wrong. And because I had never done investigations and experiments in grade school, the courage and confidence was not there. I felt defeated many times but luckily I have learned to work through this.

My experience may be one that many have. It is important and will be important in my classroom to allow students the opportunity to find “the virtues of not knowing”.