With an iPhone in the 120FPS or 240FPS video mode, you could record someone bouncing a ball next to a yard stick, plot this in Google Spreadsheet, and teach all sorts of mathematical concepts. I would guess most students wouldn't be averse to being asked to use their cell phones in class...

You can learn about slopes, derivatives, regressions, derive the acceleration of gravity pretty easily, see how common tools (phones/spreadhseets/rulers) can do real science, etc.

I have a friend who has some interesting visualizations to help "ground" geometric concepts using Geometers Sketchpad. Seems like between the internet and software, it should be easy to find all kinds of ways to show kids "why" math is, instead of telling them to memorize when to use Pi.

5/15/2015 2:36:46 PM

^I know an awesome math teacher that does awesome stuff with Geometer's Sketchpad. In general, I think being an awesome teacher is about making the concepts sexy -- interesting enough for the student who is not and never will be a mathematician.

JeffreyBSG said,

Quote :

"True enough, yeah. I guess the presumption is that our silly little children are not smart enough to comprehend the underlying principles, but that something is achieved by teaching them the methods (which they're going to fucking use in real life anyway.) Another interesting thing: in America, our educational system is obsessed with calculus. But there is so, so much more to math than calculus; and in other countries, college students take courses on set theory, the foundations of mathematics, and the basics of mathematical analysis. These are all proof-based courses that are WAY more representative of the soul of mathematical thought."

I always figured that it's not that they're not believed to be smart enough but that they're not believed to be advanced enough. Too much maths for their pretty little heads. I think kids will generally rise to the occasion if scaffolded properly.

I find the thing about different types of math being fascinating. There was never any question that I'd take anything other than calculus; however, now when I talk to math teachers, I find that courses like Advanced Functions and Modeling sound much more interesting.

5/15/2015 2:44:10 PM

for me, MOST kinds of mathematics are more interesting than calculus. a good example of a branch of math that's on the other side of the map from calculus is topology (generalized geometry):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topology

5/15/2015 3:10:43 PM

Video of Mt. St. Helens erupting in 1980 via satellite:

5/18/2015 3:12:12 PM

F-16 better than the 350 billion F-35

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3144873/U-S-air-force-s-sophisticated-stealth-jet-beaten-dogfight-plane-1970s-despite-expensive-weapon-history.html

7/1/2015 2:42:45 AM

Russian Suukhoi T-50 fighter better than F-22 and F-35

http://rt.com/news/262657-pakfa-better-us-5g/

7/1/2015 3:17:49 AM

The wright flyer is better than the F35.

7/1/2015 6:58:17 AM

^^^F-35 was not designed to dog fight. it was designed for whole-theater missions.
^^North Korean media also claim they have the most advanced military in the world.

7/1/2015 12:05:54 PM

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/07/f-35-project-team-says-dogfight-report-does-not-tell-whole-story/

7/1/2015 12:58:08 PM

magnus effect

http://www.iflscience.com/physics/spinning-basketball-drops-and-swerves-away-due-magnus-effect

7/19/2015 4:11:24 AM

magnus effect

http://www.iflscience.com/physics/spinning-basketball-drops-and-swerves-away-due-magnus-effect

7/19/2015 4:11:24 AM

magnus effect

http://www.iflscience.com/physics/spinning-basketball-drops-and-swerves-away-due-magnus-effect

7/20/2015 4:07:19 PM

magnus effect

http://www.iflscience.com/physics/spinning-basketball-drops-and-swerves-away-due-magnus-effect

7/21/2015 10:00:10 AM

I never saw this before

http://m.space.com/26888-sea-plankton-space-station-russian-claim.html

7/25/2015 11:22:42 PM

Lol, igNobel-type research collection

http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=54065

7/26/2015 7:27:41 AM

"Prince Rupert's Drop" = Mind Blown

(pun intended)

Coolest thing I have seen in a long time. Amazing high speed videos... 130,000 fps!

https://curiosity.com/paths/mystery-of-prince-ruperts-drop-at-130-000-fps-smarter-every-day-86-smarter-every-day/#mystery-of-prince-ruperts-drop-at-130-000-fps-smarter-every-day-86-smarter-every-day

And in case you are wondering how fast it... that's 5 times the speeds of sound!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert%27s_Drop

8/4/2015 1:57:28 AM

Y'all have to see that ^

And this is pure mathematical and algorithmic sorcery

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/05/429720274/obstructions-vanish-from-images-treated-with-new-software-from-mit-google

8/5/2015 5:20:04 PM

That's crazy

8/5/2015 5:40:25 PM

^^ i wish i was smart...

8/6/2015 10:29:04 AM

^ me too

8/6/2015 10:55:41 AM

BLOW YOUR MIND

https://curiosity.com/paths/a-piece-of-paper-as-big-as-the-universe-nikola-slavkovic/

8/10/2015 11:31:15 PM

^^^^^ Look at the video -- they use a moving camera and differences in how the fore- and background move to discern them. I'd guess if the fore and background are super close, it has a tougher time separating them.

8/11/2015 8:21:29 AM

i'd guess there is some sort of "parallax" algorithm they came up with to figure out what pixels to filter/replace.

8/11/2015 12:40:26 PM

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/540076/surgeons-smash-records-with-pig-to-primate-organ-transplants/

8/12/2015 5:37:41 PM

Trillion frames per second camera, so you can see a beam from a flashlight in slow motion!

https://m.curiosity.com/paths/super-fast-cameras-nova-pbs

8/16/2015 2:50:54 PM

^ that's ridiculous

OK, so I was excited about this video before I saw it, but it is not as exciting as it could have been:

https://m.curiosity.com/paths/googol-and-googolplex-numberphile-numberphile

8/17/2015 1:31:22 AM

^yeah that's a huge number... but the part where he starts talking about the possibilities of duplicate people... doesn't sound like he takes into account the likelihood of any one particular "quantum arrangement of space" or whatever... just because i am here doesn't mean that an exact copy of me is likely to exist even with an infinite set of volumes.

8/17/2015 2:05:18 AM

http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=62520

That's awesome, as long as it is safe. One of the best modern inventions!

8/18/2015 4:33:41 AM

http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=62520

That's awesome, as long as it is safe. One of the best modern inventions!

8/18/2015 4:33:41 AM

http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=62520

That's awesome, as long as it is safe. One of the best modern inventions!

8/18/2015 3:18:32 PM

Natural rotating gears found, in the jumping mechanism of an insect!

https://m.curiosity.com/paths/mechanical-gears-in-jumping-insects-cambridge-university

Click for YouTube video.

Science paper: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6151/1254.full.pdf







[Edited on August 22, 2015 at 3:03 AM. Reason : ]

8/22/2015 2:35:28 AM

10 awesome paradoxes to ponder over!

http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=59040

8/25/2015 12:59:56 AM

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34039054

Quote :

"Most people can readily conjure images inside their head - known as their mind's eye. But this year scientists have described a condition, aphantasia, in which some people are unable to visualise mental images. Niel Kenmuir, from Lancaster, has always had a blind mind's eye."

Also, "This score suggests that your visual imagery is less vivid than average, but you score above the range of people lacking imagery altogether, the state termed aphantasia. Around 9% of people fall in the same range as you.
You scored 17 out of 40"

8/26/2015 10:52:52 AM

Biological immorality... very interesting.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150622-can-anything-live-forever

8/27/2015 2:47:22 AM

That's really cool. The headline made me think of the immortal jellyfish, and I was pleased to see that it's described there. Sharing with my students.

8/28/2015 10:23:07 AM

https://curiosity.com/paths/how-to-see-without-glasses-minutephysics

I tried this, it works! If you wear glasses, take them off and look at an object far enough that it looks very blurred (for me, this was something across the room, about 10 ft away lol). Then do as the video says, and it should look a lot more focused!

9/1/2015 10:12:28 AM

Floating Spoon on Mars.

9/1/2015 4:38:16 PM

learn about the 3 different north poles and 3 different south poles

https://curiosity.com/paths/where-is-the-true-north-pole-minutephysics

9/2/2015 11:35:24 PM

See the first blue whale heart ever preserved whole!

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150820-see-the-worlds-biggest-heart-blue-whales-is-first-to-be-preserved

9/3/2015 12:26:29 AM

Google has indexed only 0.004% of the internet. So what's the rest?

https://testtube.com/testtubeplus/how-much-of-the-internet-is-hidden

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/how-the-deep-web-works.htm

Internet = 5 thousand terabytes

Google has indexed = 200 terabytes

9/3/2015 6:52:48 AM

Quote :

"Internet = 5 thousand million terabytes "

ftfy

9/3/2015 9:05:26 AM

Yup, thanks!

9/3/2015 1:41:39 PM

Castrating Parasitic Zombie Barnacle

https://m.curiosity.com/paths/the-castrating-zombie-parasite-gross-science

9/5/2015 12:30:22 AM

On World naming conventions and the implications for digital forms, sorting, and programming:

http://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-personal-names.en.php?changelang=en

It's a fascinating intersection between sociology and programming

9/8/2015 1:07:32 PM

http://gizmodo.com/the-largest-air-purifier-ever-built-sucks-up-smog-and-t-1729298355

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1777606920/the-smog-free-tower

9/9/2015 1:53:24 AM

https://curiosity.com/paths/through-the-wormhole-blindsight-science-channel/

Sixth Sense -- People with "blindsight" can recognize emotions on people's faces despite their blindness!

9/11/2015 4:04:15 AM

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34290981
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11874711/The-astonishing-village-where-little-girls-turn-into-boys-aged-12.html

9/20/2015 3:32:18 PM

Animals which are split down the middle of their bodies with one side male the other side female

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150916-these-animals-are-male-on-one-side-and-female-on-the-other

Nature, you crazy!

9/22/2015 3:58:20 PM

^...and that is why Caitlyn Jenner is a hero

9/23/2015 10:42:51 AM

^ lol

'Triple sunrise' in Russia!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2958409/Sun-two-three-Triple-sunrise-seen-Russia-amazing-optical-illusion-caused-tiny-snow-crystals.html

9/23/2015 7:37:27 PM